Thursday: chores at Elephant Nature Park

Today we stayed put at the park and did chores around here. It was rewarding to be working in the midst of the elephants and hearing their random trumpets among all of the other animal noises. The other reward was having lunch here as it is a buffet of Thai food. Absolutely heaven!

Our first chore was to clean up the girls poop, or as Jane, our leader said, "shovel shit" in his Thai accent. The girls are kept in shelters at night so they don't leave the park and destroy local crops where there safety is then at risk. 

A bit too full, little arms here couldn't make it to the pile.

 Although Sarah has informed me I would be on her team for my physical strength is this was Survivor! I'm honored! 

Left is one of the shelters, middle is the poo pile. I've learned Aussies call it poo, while we Americans call it poop. I am learning such valuable information! 

This doesn't capture it well, but this is the gargantuan (female) spider. The leg span is larger than my palm. And no, this is not my hut. Wishful thinking! We are in more of an apartment type building, with 4 rooms.

After poo duty we got to do an ele walk. Each of us had a bunch of bananas and a mass bucket of snacks for all to share. Our first stop was go see Navaan. I have mislead you all and was mistakenly calling him Dok Mai, who is the 2 month old. Navaan is 7 months. 

 

We were told if he came our way, to walk away. He ran right towards us twice.  I was mistakenly recording as he ran towards us.  He's so clumsy on his feet. 

Whoops!

We got to feed Jokia (the blind one) again. You must touch her trunk so she knows you are there. (Josie from Perth also)

Mae phun's booty. She was Lek's first elephant, her baby. She and Jokia are best friends. She keeps Jokia on track through touching and communication.

They were checking in on one another, entangling trunks. (One of the mahouts in the background)

I can't remember this one's name. I did find out there are 35 elephants, again I misinformed you all. 

The last ele to be fed, but of course I don't remember her name either. She is blind in one eye and "a fat old lady" according to Can, our party loving leader.

One of my favorite shots of the day. Jokia. 

We then had lunch, which lasts 2 hours. Lots of time to sit around and chat. Today was life advice to the youngins.

After lunch we were assigned "garden poles". My dream if being a stone mason came true! All around there are cement pillars with rocks mashed in. That's what we did!

Our group's pillar was by far the best! (Sarah)

Just as we were calling it a day, the rain started to really come down. Monsoons are my favorite. Walking through the jungle in them makes them even better! I caught myself waking around soaking wet with a gigantic grin on my face, especially after a few loud trumpets. 

As we went to grab our things to head back, Jokia and Mae Phun were walking by and decided we were more interesting than where their mahouts had intended for them to go. 

What ya got for me? 

I can't believe how I worked all day in the midst of these beauties and standing beside them is so natural now. 

I finally had a warmish shower this afternoon, AFTER I had soaped up and my then cool shower water had completely stopped. I hurried to a neighboring shower with a working heat source, although it wasn't too warm. 

Pre dinner view from the platform. Ele's are already having din din in the background. 

This evening was quite fun as the group is settled in and really having a great time carrying on together. So many laughs shared. 

Several friendly rounds of UNO were had.

Elephant in Thai: Chang

The post it shows it written in Thai several different times. 

A centipede seen from the dinner table. Things grow huge around here! 

This guy meets us for dinner every night, ours and his. He enjoys the bugs that flock to the lights while we hang out. He's probably the length of my hand from wrist to finger tip.

Last random of the day: I love this!

Apparently a couple had come here and ridden bikes through Thailand raising money to rescue an elephant and they were successful. Unfortunately these are not available for sale here. 

And off for my hard earned sleep! Tomorrow is more chores around "home", already looking forward to it.