THAILAND Creatures for tourists

THAILAND — Situated in the heart of Southeast Asia, this exotic and amazing country offers tourists a lot of things to discover and explore.

In Chiang Mai, the kingdom’s second largest city (about 500 kms from Bangkok), the things that I enjoyed most, aside from the beautiful sceneries, invigorating spa treatment, food and shopping, were my close encounter with all kinds of animals, and my first elephant ride.

Rich with history and interesting traditions, this ancient walled city sits on the banks of the Ping River surrounded by lush valleys and forested hills.

It’s for this reason, Chiang Mai is quite different from hot and bustling Bangkok. Its refreshingly dry climate and colorful local culture make it a favorite with visitors.

Our two-day tour of this mountain city comprised visits to some of northern Thailand’s famous attractions. These include: Bo-Sang Handicraft Village where Sa paper products, paper parasols in particular are available together with intricately designed paper umbrella and the weaving of Thai silk; Samkampaeng Hot Spring, a popular recreation area; and Angsana Spa Green View Chiang Mai where we enjoyed spa treatment.

But what struck me most and left me pleasant memories was Chiang Mai’s Elephant Camp and city zoos.

In Thailand there are five public zoos, operated under the supervision of the Zoological Department, namely: Dusit Zoo in Bangkok, Khao Khieo Open Zoo in Chonburi, Chiang Mai Zoo, Songkhla Zoo and Nakhon Rachasima Zoo, usually offering low admission fees: 30 baht for adults and 5 baht for children.

We can see from these large number of zoos, crocodile farms, and elephant camps not to mention butterfly havens that these creatures are used for Thailand tourism advantage to lure and entertain foreign visitors numbering 13 million last year.

Historical accounts tell us that some 3,000 years ago a Chinese emperor kept a collection of animals in what he called an Intelligence Park. If the emperor kept the animals alive to study and learn something of their habits, his "Intelligence Park" was perhaps the first zoo. Because a zoo today is that sort of place – a large, enclosed area where wild mammals, birds, and reptiles are kept for people to see and for scientists to study. As ages passed, wild dogs were caught and tamed by hunters. Later wild horses, cattle and goats were tamed for domestic use. And then as the villages and towns grew, some men kept wild animals in enclosures on their property. Sometimes they taught the animals amazing tricks to entertain the household and visitors. But men often collected wild animals to show how rich and powerful they were. To make themselves popular, on occasion they allowed people to enter their parks and look at their animals.

Here in Chiang Mai, like in other parts of Thailand, thousands of animals from hundreds of species are kept in large enclosures for tourists to see and admire.

But our first encounter with animals in Thailand was not in a zoo but in an elephant camp in Maesa in the Muang district of Chiang Mai. Right after our hotel breakfast, we motored to this place to watch and be amazed by an elephant show. It started with elephant parade where tourists were encouraged to feed them bunches of bananas and sugarcane cut in foot-long pieces.

Elephants are important part of Thai culture and Thai way of life. They are the traditional symbol of royal power, and an essential feature of Buddhist art and architecture.

The number of elephants in Thailand today is limited to almost 2,600, found mostly at various elephant camps around the kingdom.

Elephants are the largest land animals in the world. They may tower 10 or 11 feet high at the shoulder and weigh 5 or 6 tons. Nobody including children could ever mistake an elephant to anything else. There it stands – a mountain of flesh in wrinkled suit of rough, gray hide. Its legs are like pillars. As tourists approached to feed them their huge ears flapped gently back and forth like wings. Out came its long flexible trunk and daintly picked up a bunch of fruits with this fleshy "finger’’ at the tip of its trunk. Then the huge beast tucked the food into their mouths and rumbles with satisfaction.

After the parade, the elephant bathing followed as it is part of a daily routine of an elephant herd. Elephants enjoy water. They travel daily to a nearby river or stream where they cool off, drink, and wash away insect pests. They drink too by sucking water into their trunks and then squirting it into their open mouths. And they bathe – snorting and bathing and squirting water over themselves.

Other interesting parts of the show were:

* Demonstration of the various ways of getting on or getting down the elephants.

* Musical talent show and dancing. Elephants seemed to have a certain talent for dance and love for music. Their trainors lined them up and when the music began they received the command to start. They swayed and danced around to the rhythm, trunks swinging, feet keeping time with the beat, and heads swaying to and fro. When the music changed, their steps also changed with it from a fast tempo to slow, melancholy waltz.

* Demonstration on how the elephants sleep. They sleep lying on their side or standing up.

* Elephant football league (soccer show). In this game, the elephants toss around a rather large ball, using their trunks and competing to see who can score the highest.

* Elephant artist show. The only place where elephants paint realistic style. This we found really amazing. I could not believe my eyes but elephants can really paint.

* Show off by mahouts (elephant trainers) and their gigantic partners;

* The elephants competition: Sticks pickup game;

*Logging show and Lumber Work Show.

After the elephant show, the Philippine media group was invited to ride on an elephant on a short trek around the forest and at the edge of a cliff. I found the ride on the wooden seat fixed at the back of the elephant a bit more physically demanding and scary than I thought it to be. We climbed steep hills of mud and earth as we swayed back and forth in our struggle to maintain our balance. But our elephant seemed not afraid in terrain like that.