This entry starts with a big thanks to David Piper, visiting from Brisbane, Australia, who sponsored the mornings outing to The Elephant Conservation Center at Lampang this Sunday.

We were due to get there at 9.30 so it was an early start. Unfortunately Somboon couldn’t come as his Aunty, from Chiang Rai, is ill in Chiang Mai Hospital and he needed to go on an apartment search for his Uncle.

I arrived at the childrens home at around 8am and the kids were milling around, finishing their breakfast.

Glen arrived with David and Marc to, just after 8.30.

After quick hellos and rounding up the children it was time to get on the road.

David, Glen, Marc and myself were in the car ,  and with most of the kids in the childrens home truck, driven by Roz, and the others in the car with us, we got going and arrived at The Elephant Conservation center just after 9.30.

We had a guide from the Center to show our group round, who was very friendly and helpful. First feature was “wash time”.

As usual on such trips, the children were very well behaved and sat at the viewing terrace to watch.

It was quite funny to see the kids jump from their seats when one of the elephants came over to see them after wash time was over. After their previous experience with Elephants, I thought they’d be more relaxed.

This place is much more landscaped than where we had been before, but on the whole, what you see and do is pretty much the same. It is very professionally landscaped, with fairly modern ‘shop’ buildings spotted about, where you can buy the usual Elephant paraphernalia.

After the morning wash, it was up to the Show Ground. The main difference here was the inclusion of Farang Mahuts. This centre offers various Mahut training courses, from 1-3 days, and it was fun to see the current trainees joining in. A testament to the skill of the resident Mahuts, considering that it must take years to build up that amount of trust.

The show included the usual displays of mounting and dismounting;

examples of the sort of work the Elephants would have done in the past, such as log pulling;

one elephant, carrying a farang lady, walking on a log, and turning a full 360 degress on it to;

a cute display where one of the smaller Elephants helped himself to water from a hose outlet and turned off the tap when he was finished;

a musical routine where they played a recognisable Thai tune by tapping bamboo ‘pipe’ sets, in turn…our kids sung the song;

and, near the end, three Elephants showed their skill at painting. These paintings were sold at 500 baht each, with one of them sold even before it was finished.

I think maybe the last one to be finished should have sold for more as this one was actually signed by the Elephant.

Then it was off for a short Elephant ride. I was slightly happier with the level of concern for the weight limit on the Elephants here.

When I stepped forward with two of the children the handlers put one child with someone else as they said I was to fat!!  More trips to the gym I think.

This was a very short 15 minute stroll round, but plenty enough for the children who all enjoyed it.

The visit was nearly over, jsut time to pop up and see the recent arrivals at the Elephant Nursery, including one that was just 2 months old.

David joined in the feeding, actually getting one of the mother elephants to take a banana from his mouth.

One of the slightly older babies was very keen to meet us, unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to catch the point where he tried to get over the fence.

Thanks once again to David Piper for making the visit possible, thanks also to the Conservation Center for giving such a good deal for the group and making it a fun and informative visit for the children.

Back at the Childrens home, it was time for food.

This time around was quite a lively affair with a couple of Davids Australian friends turning up as well as a couple from England, who have been living in Chiang Mai for 18 moths now, and a Swiss gentleman…..sorry folks, I am notoriously bad at remembering names.

One that I do remember,(hope I get it right), was Pam, the English lady who now spends a lot of her time in Chiang Mai painting.

She brought some her work along, including one she had done when she was 10 years old. I thought this was a great idea for encouraging any of the Kids who might be aspiring artists, showing something similar to what they might draw now and then seeing what she does now. The largest one was a stunning example.

After a good feed it was then off to the Mae Tip Reservoir for fun in the water.

I didn’t go in this time. Although generally ok, I had been fighting a thick head all day and was concerned that maybe it was still the effects of the chill I got at Doi Intahnon yesterday.

David seemed to enjoy the dip tho, as did all of the kids.

for many more photos of the elephants and the children, please visit our photobucket album here.