Uhuhuuhuhuhuhuu

Uhuhuuhuhuhuhuu
 
Is the sound I have heard for the last 3 days and it is how I feel at this moment. Well I feel 

!HAPPY!

And that's why I am here again so soon with my next episode ;)

On April 19th I met Yom. Yom is very big, strong, smart and very friendly; in other words: Yom is very clever.
We spend 3 days together and every day we became closer and closer.
Every morning at 6.30 A.M. we had breakfast together, then we took a swim in one of the lakes and afterwards, we walked in the forest for a couple of hours.
After a break during the hottest hours of the day we went back to the lake to swim again and then went home to have dinner. Yom became my best friend.

The elephant being my favorite tropical animal for years already, I decided to go to the -Thai Elephant Conservation Center- in Lampang to learn to be a mahout of my own elephant. I learned how to talk to her (in Thai language :)), how to clean her and take a bath together with her; what to give her for breakfast and how much :D, To let her eat and sleep at the right place (an elephant needs to eat for 18 hours and the other 5 hours are reserved for sleeping) and... how to mount an elephant, which especially in the beginning is less easy than to mount a horse to which I more used.
There are different ways to mount an elephant, but the easiest way for the elephant is by taking his ear and using his forearm (he lifts his forearm a little bit) and so you can pull yourself on his back.
I was lucky Yom always helped me a bit by pushing me upwards with her ear (at my bottom:))
I became better and better in mounting an elephant, but after 3 days practice I am now actually very stiff and not able to do as much as I am used to :) 

During the 3 days I wasn’t alone of course. Yom's Mahout named Yumrut taught me the first things to be a mahout and Pat was someone who translated into English if talking with hands and feet was not enough. And Pat also cooked for me in the evening. He cooked green curry without using chili :D:D:D So I was finally able to taste the delicious Thai curry, without dying because of the spiciness. He also avoided coriander and took the information I wrote down for him at my arrival very seriously (about me being half vegetarian: no pork and beef but chicken and fish are ok) :) He surprised me with fresh fish from the lake, still alive, and after watching him from a distance while he prepared the fish, I had a delicious meal. :)
 
Sleeping alone in a private sleeping resort somewhere in the forest was an interesting experience. It was very nice to sleep and wake up with sounds of the animals in the background. The Tji(k)tjak was my roommate again (I already met it in Indonesia) and very welcome because he eats the mosquitoes in my bedroom. But this time also the Gekko came into my room to wake me up at 5  o’clock in the morning :) Before, I only saw him around the house.
 
My trip back to Chiangmai unexpectedly turned into a hitchhike trip, although I was waiting for the local bus. Now I wait for the moment that I will be able to walk normal again and be prepared for a new experience!
 
Uhuhuhuhuhuhu!

Stephanie