Our last day started like the second one, with a 6:15a wake-up call. (Christine was nice enough to get up at 6a, in order to go next door and wake up the British couple who had no alarm clock.) We headed for the jungle, and this time I was determined not the miss the opportunity to take photos in the morning light --- so I brought my camera along. On the way, we came across a big blotch of a road kill visible from 50ft away... upon closer examination, it was a black jungle scorpion, quite unlike the little brown ones at home. Ew!
When Nuk and I reached Pat Chuop, she had already put on her morning makeup: thick layers of mud all over her back. More ew! But what can you do? Nuk used his mahout tool (a 25-in wooden stick with a metal hook in the end) to remove the dry mud, and I plowed ahead with my hands to wipe off the wet stuff. I just made a dent to Pat Chuop, really, but I got quite messy. I tried to wipe my hands off on a tree trunk, but to no avail... until Nuk suggested I use some broad non-toxic leaves that elephants don't eat. Partially clean, we untied Pat Chuop's chain from a nearby tree, and she pulled it in a neat pile by her side using her trunk. I folded it over her neck, neatly arranged it, and climbed on. Now my butt was on the chain, which had rolled in mud, and so my butt was muddy. Then I bent over the elephant's head to scratch and pat her, and my shirt and hands got muddy. My camera strap was the next mud victim, and I tied my camera around my neck (with the camera body like a bow tie facing backwards) --- that was to protect it from the obvious next activity: to bathe the elephant and her stinky fake mahout.
Boy was that fun! Pat Chuop didn't want to put her head in the water, so cleaning her took so long that I had no time for myself. But the lengthy bath gave me time to realize how tiny I am relative to her: I was standing on her (to move around easily and clean her all around) as a lice on somebody's head, I ran my hands through her hair to remove the mud (individual strands are much thicker than human hair, but the density of hair is fairly low reinforcing the impression of being lice-sized), and my two-handed splashes of water caused barely a trickle down her back.
During this trip to fetch the elephant, Pat Chuop also demonstrated an interesting elephant instinct: sometimes, when they pull a branch of a bush to eat the leaves, the whole bush comes off the ground. Instead of sticking the whole plant into their mouth immediately, elephants first shake it or bang it against other bushes to shake off the soil attached to the roots. There are other interesting feeding-related instinct like the fact that, when the audience gives sugarcane to elephants faster than they can eat it, elephants still reach out for more sugarcane, and hold on to the excess either on their lips, or their trunks, or give it to their mahout (in which case they remember on their own to ask back for it when they are ready to eat it by raising their trunks).
After breakfast, we went through our last training session. That went stellar! We went through the show's routine twice, and did quite a few extra commands. It was perfect, and I gave Pat Chuop plenty of sugarcane (which I stashed in my shirt pockets and gave her as reward treats)!
Then, it was showtime! The first tourist performance is actually a public bathing at 9:45a. Fake mahouts usually don't participate in this, but I was already messy and I love playing in the water (and Pat Chuop enjoys the attention of two men, i.e. the additional water in such hot weather) --- so Nuk let me be part of it. I then rode and led Pat Chuop up to the area where the tourists could pet her and feed her. Nuk was always nearby, just in case, but luckily there was little need for him to intervene. Most of the tourists that day were French, and they were quite pleased that there was one mahout (albeit a fake one) who could answer some very basic questions for them; most mahouts don't speak English, and nobody in the staff speaks French (and the French themselves speak English about as well as the mahouts). Happy tourists bring food to the elephant whose name and age they get to know, so Pat Chuop got a royal treatment that day. Christine picked up on the pattern, so she came over with Cho Cho and spoke some basic French she knows to get some treats for him too!
It was so funny seeing all this from the mahout's viewpoint... The little kids who are delighted to feed the elephant. And the little kids who start crying, or run away, as the gigantic trunk comes close to the sugarcane they are holding, while their parents try to help them overcome their fear. The curosity of adults, but also their cautiousness and fairness (trying to split the sugarcane equally between the different elephants). And the elephant politics, of course, like Cho Cho sticking his trunk inside Pat Chuop's mouth to get the sugarcane she is holding on her lips... I'd either shoo his trunk with my hat or grab the sugarcane and hold it for Pat Chuop, and give it to her when she could eat it without delay or risk of theft. After this feeding session, Pat Chuop also taught me a command: being a hungry girl (she is only 21, after all), she raised her trunk to reach some low-hanging leaves on the tree overhead. She couldn't, so I got them for her, and gave them to her. She got the idea quickly, and a few more times she lifted her trunk, put it down to keep her head stable while I steadied myself and got her leaves, then bring her trunk up again to receive the leaves from me.
The elephants were then lined up, and we went in procession onto the show grounds where the tourists were waiting. The performance was flawless, and when it was over, I climbed down and received my amateur mahout certificate. It was the saddest moment because I knew that I would not ride Pat Chuop again...
Then Supat took all fake mahouts to the elephant dung factory, and Christine and I kneaded shit for a while and made paper. Of course, the dung had been boiled and processed with hydrogen peroxide by the time we got to knead it, so it didn't smell at all. Or was I still so muddy and dirty that I covered up the smell? Hm. Anyway, Christine filmed a short "Martha Stewart" clip showing how to make elephant dung paper, which we'll try to sell to PBS when we return to the US.
Our official stay was then over: we've finished our training, and seen all the public TECC facilities; TECC also houses the royal elephant stables, but they are not open to the public. We just went back to our hut and packed. Then the goodbyes started, and there was one too many... first, the orange lap kitty that meowed for attention; thankfully, Thilo has five cats and was already giving her plenty of loving, so we knew she'd be properly spoiled after we left. Then Funny Face, who came running to us (breaking our hearts to even smaller pieces), and who we treated to some easy-to-chew sweets; her looks are so unique and her personality so loving that she will make many more friends. And finally, our elephants.
Officially, we had already said goodbye. But we had nothing to do until 4p, so we stayed for the afternoon show, after which the new fake mahouts do their training. Cho Cho and Pat Chuop had been assigned two new recruits, and I admit I felt jealous. And maybe it's my impression but Nuk wasn't enjoying his new student as much --- a nice, older gentleman, who was nowhere near as primitive as me, or as much in love with Pat Chuop (and who wasn't spoiling her with stratching and patting her cheeks every available moment by leaning forward and over her head). It must be hard for mahouts to have so many different types of students, which made me admire Nuk quite a bit.
Christine and I helped Supat film the new batch of fake mahouts: each trainee had their own camera, so I took 2, Christine took 1, and Supat took the rest. There is a short break in the training, at which point I went on the audience benches to sit down... Pat Chuop was on the dirt area, where elephants are supposed to stay and get fed --- by their real mahouts during training, and by the audience at the end of a performance. Nuk gave Pat Chuop some sugarcane, and I couldn't resist so I gave her some too (and some to her new fake mahout to use as reward treats). Then I just sat down with the cameras, and Nuk with the other mahouts. Well, Pat Chuop went around the dirt area, and into the audience area (where she wasn't supposed to go, and had never gone since I met her). Her fake mahout commanded her to backtrack, but she ignored him; Nuk repeated the command, but she kept moving. She came in front of me and stopped. I had no food to give her and she knew that (elephants can smell water 9km away in the forest). I have no idea why she came, but she stood there. So I petted her a bit, then got up and walked towards the dirt holding her trunk --- she came along effortlessly! Yes, I know, she wanted food, and she knew who was the softie around who would get it for her. Nevertheless, I felt such an affinity towards her when she came over that I melted inside...
We reached the dirt, and after a short time there I went and got her a treat. It was tamarind paste, which is quite tasty for humans too --- it's sticky, so you need to wipe off your hands, and the easiest way is to wipe them on the elephant's tongue. So I did, and then realized that we had to go or I knew I was interfering with the new fake mahout's enjoyment of his experience. We did, and as we walked away I felt heavy inside. Even now, as I recalled that moment, my eyes water. Sigh.
Supat had a very nice parting gift for us: a CD where he put all his
photos from our training, as well as some photos from the birth of the
baby elephant. With sore muscles, a muddy camera strap, very heavy
hearts, and wonderful memories, we left. We hope we left behind more
than our tips (for the mahouts, which is standard, but also for
Supat). Because it'd be nice to be remembered when we return next year
for the 10-day training program :-)
Posted by Toli at May 15, 2004 06:35 AM