Elephants!

My family's favorite part of our adventures in Thailand was our visit to the elephant camp. Let me tell you, the Thais are serious about elephants and take very good care of them. At the age of 3, most elephants go to "Elephant University" (yes, it's real!). At school, they learn how to build things, (They are sometimes used to life sandstone for construction projects), play musical instruments, dunk a basketball, kick a soccer ball, dance, and paint. Below are some pictures to prove it, but you have to see it for yourself to really soak it all in and comprehend the wonder of it all.

Soccer

The elephant is painting

The finished products painted by three elephants. I bought the one on the right!

As if the show wasn't entertaining enough, there was more in store for us on that day. A ride on the elephants! We rode 2 to an elephant through the river and up the bank and around for an hour and a half. It was quite a bumpy, but amazing experience!

 The guy sitting on the front of our elephant is a mahut. Every elephant is required to have an identification card and a mahut. The mahut stays with the elephant until one of them dies. It is likely that the mahut will die before the elephant because elephants can live until their nineties. However, they are allowed to "retire" at 65 years old and can just enjoy life instead of having to perform in front of people. Essentially, these animals work from age 3 to 65, and we thought we had it hard!

If you ever find yourself in Thailand, don't miss out on this experience! It's memorable, for sure.

Trunk up = Good luck!