Tin Tin Up Close

Going to the north of Thailand without riding an elephant is a little like going to Vegas without gambling. Yesterday, on our first full day in Pai, we decided to go elephant riding in the afternoon. For our journey, we got “Tin Tin”, a huge female elephant who doesn’t look a day older than 412. Tin Tin, as we learned moments later, is a moody girl with a serious gas problem (the two are related, I suspect).

We rode on Tin Tin’s back, along with our guide, Chai, and were focusing very hard to not fall off. It is very tricky to hold on to the ropes and balance on top of a huge elephant. In addition to being challenging, it is also PAINFUL. Tin Tin had rough skin and very sharp prickly hair that rubbed against our legs as we were holding on tightly. Our guide was yelling orders at her the whole journey to the river but she was disobeying every single one, my kind of girl!

After what seemed like an hour (but really covered only a few hundred meters), we finally reached the river. This was where the real fun began. The water transformed Tin Tin from a grumpy old lady into a playful little girl. She had a great time splashing water on us, dropping us into the river and turning from side to side dipping one of us at a time in the brown waters. We got a real taste of the rodeo and were both super sore. We could barely walk away when the ride was over and we swore to wait another decade (at least) before the next ride.

Bamboo Rafting down the River

Next followed a special treat – we were met by another guy who took us down the river on a bamboo raft. As this is the dry season, the river was very calm and the ride peaceful. We got to see all kinds of animals on the way and wave to people going about their business by the river. The trip ended with the sunset behind the Pai mountains. It was gorgeous.

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