On Saturday, January 24, 2026, our group woke up in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, and started the day off with a nice breakfast buffet in the outdoor dining area of our fun hotel.
We all piled in a couple of vans and headed for an amazing day with elephants!
Along the way, we could see an interesting temple on the hill. It is called Loha Prasat Sri Mueang Pong (sometimes called "the Iron Temple", because it is built from so much metal), and was built just in the last 20 years.
We soon arrived at the Patara Elephant Conservation.
Before long, they put some food out, and some elephants started to gather.
Soon we found ourselves right in the midst of the elephants as more joined in.
It was fun to see what they could do with those amazing trunks! This one grabbed the hose to get a drink.
One sign of a healthy elephant is when they have dirt on their backs. It means they've been rolling around on the ground having fun, or sleeping well on the ground. It also provides them some sun protection.
There were elephants ranging in size from great big ones to babies.
One of the workers told us, "The teenage elephants are naughty. And the babies are crazy!" We made sure to keep an eye on the babies to make sure they didn't step on us, since they weren't as careful around people yet.
The elephants really liked this stuff!
We took over 1000 pictures of the elephants, and there were 9 couples to get pictures of, so feel free to scroll quicklly if you need to. But I wanted to make sure all of them were well represented.
Here's everyone taking a thousand pictures.
Well, hello!
This one "accidentally" (?) whacked Roger in the face.
Just being among these magnificant animals was an incredible experience.
The elephant gave trunk "hugs" to a lot of us.
And Lesa even got a "kiss".
Here's a group picture as we finished playing with the random elephants.
Here is a 7-minute video showing the above interactions with these elephants, as we wandered among them without getting squished.
Next, they gave us cotton shirts and pants to wear as we prepared to get even more involved with the elephants.
We walked up a path towards the conservation area.
As we rounded the bend, we saw these huge, lumbering elephants and a safari-like observation post with a thatched roof.
Kelly said, "It's like the Jurassic Park of elephants!!"
We assembled at a hut, and we were each given a basket of bananas and sugar cane to feed to the elephants
Each person was paired up with a specially-chosen elephant. Lesa went first so we could all see how to feed them. They taught us commands in the local language (not quite Thai) that we could use to tell them "open up for some food".
One command I still remember is "Diii diii", meaning "Good job".
Soon we each went out to meet our elephant for the day. They had us feed them so that we could make friends.
It was weird putting your hand into this pink, slimy void.
They don't have front teeth to worry about, though. They just have huge, powerful molars on the sides that can crush the sugar cane.
My elephant was named "Me-gwan". She was one of the biggest ones.
My foot was smaller than Me-gwan's.
We had a lot of fun getting to meet our new elephant friends.
Our host taught us four signs of a healthy elephant.
One, as I mentioned above, was dirt on their backs, which shows that they've been sleeping well on the ground or rolling around.
A second is flappy ears. "Flappy ears are happy ears."
A third is sweaty toenails, which shows that they are hydrated enough. I had no idea that their only sweat glands are around their toenails.
Finally, a fourth sign of a healthy elephant is if its poop is green or yellow, feels like hay, and doesn't stink.
Fortunately, this elephant was healthy!
At this point in the conversation, I said, "I think we need to talk about the elephant in the room."
Their tails end with course, wire-like hair, which acts as a natural fly swatter to protect them from biting insects.
We were going to be riding the elephants, so they taught us the command to have them lie down, and then we brushed the dirt off their backs with a brush made of plants.
They seemed to enjoy it, as I saw flappy ears while this was going on.
After dusting off Me-gwan, we got a picture together.
I thought the shirts they gave us were kind of cool looking.
This 9-minute video shows us learning about healthy elephants, and each of us meeting and feeding our elelphants and brushing them off.
Next, they gave us some cotton pants, and taught us how to climb onto our elephants.
With a certain word, the elephant would raise a front leg and help lift people up. Here is Devaughn showing us how it's done.
Kim was next.
Kelly rides horses all the time, and seemed to have no problem swinging her leg right up over there.
It was important to sit right on the elephant's neck, with our knees behind the ears. Sitting on the front shoulders would cause you to rock back and forth with every step, and sitting further back on the spine might make the elephant sore.
My elephant was big, so they had her lift me up with her trunk.
Linette's elephant wasn't very cooperative, but she eventually made it up as well.
Here goes Lance and Lesa.
Landon's elephant bent down in its knees so he could climb on its head, and then stood up to lift him up.
Soon, everyone was on board.
This 3-minute video shows members of the group climbing onto their elephants. Most people got a "leg up" from the elephant, but I rode the trunk up, and Landon's elephant bowed down so he could climb onto its head, and then stood up to lift him up.
Then it was time for a 45-minute trek up and over a hill, through the woods.
Elephants are so strong that I don't suspect we slowed them down much at all.
Some people reported the elephants helping to hold them on with their strong ears.
It was such a pleasant journey through the woods in the shade. So cool!
Sometimes the elephants wanted a snack. Seems fair enough.
People didn't really smile for the pictures--they were already smiling all along the way!
At one point, we had to cross a street. One of the workers was there to take our pictures as we got to that point (and to make sure the elephants made it across safely).
Soon after that, we arrived at our destination.
We dismounted and walked down a hill to where there was a hut by a pond.
There were large banana leaves down the middle of the hut.
Once everyone was assembled, there was a grand unveiling of what was there.
Under the leaves was a beautiful feast of chicken and all kinds of fruit.
Visible here are small tangerines (Som Khiao Wan), a banana, Rose Apples (Chomphu), white speckled Dragon Fruit (Gao Mung Gorn), Pomelo (Som-O, a sweeter, less bitter cousin of grapefruit), Jackfruit (Khanoon), and some chicken.
At the bottom you can see some traditional sticky rice snacks. The one on the right has an orange Thai custard on it.
Everything is wrapped in banana leaves for several reasons: It is heat resistant, so it doesn't stick to the rice; it adds a bit of sweet flavor when things are cooked in it; and it makes a great biodegradable plate.
It felt like being royalty to sit and eat like that.
The pond was fed by a little waterfall, which made it a beautiful setting.
In this 7-minute video, our group rides their elephants up and over the hill, through the woods. What an amazing experience!
After lunch, the guys took a turn bathing their elephants in the pond.
I'm sure they are completely capable of washing themselves, but it was nice of them to let us help.
As I washed my elephant off, she kept shooting water over her back, adding sand where I had just rinsed her off.
And then sometimes there was some of this to watch out for. (There was a lady with a scooper net to remove this from the water).
Then the ladies took a turn.
Here's a bonus snack for Sharon's elephant.
Kim's elephant seemed to most enjoy the water. At one point, it almost completely disappeared below the surface as it wallowed in the pond (something you can see in the video in a moment).
Finally, they had all the elephants line up with us for a group picture.
The people said, "One, Two, Three..." and then said something in their language that we didn't understand.
Apparently it meant something like, "Let 'em have it!"
On that command, all the elephants started soaking us!
Tyler, our trip host, videod the whole thing, going, "Huh? What? Oh man!" all innocent like. Afterwards, he said, "They do it every time, and it never gets old!"
What a fun day!
Those of us who wanted to hopped back on our elephants to ride them the short distance up to the road (not the whole 45 minutes back to where we started).
When I went to jump back on, I found that my legs didn't work right, so it took a couple tries. (My legs got pretty cramped by the end of the first ride).
Sometimes my elephant stopped for a snack.
The weather was perfect, especially in the shade.
Some people took a picture with their elephant and the elephant's handler.
My elephant, Me-gwan, was the mother of two of the other elephants, including Sharon's elephant, Arun (middle), so we took a "family picture." (Excellent photobomb by Landon).
It was Paul's birthday that day, so we sang Happy Birthday to him, and these two elephants gave him a kiss.
They say "an elephant never forgets." I learned that this is actually kind of true: Elephants have a large hippocampus that helps it remember things very well. The matriarch (oldest female) of a herd is like a survival map. If the herd arrives at a water hole to find it empty, she thinks, "I remember another water hole that was 100 miles over that way..." and leads the herd there. There have also been studies where an elephant remembered a mean handler or kind handler 30 years later.
I know I will never forget this special experience.
This 14 minute video shows the guys and then the gals giving their elephants a bath, including the surprise soaking during the group picture (which occurs at about 10:25 in the video). It finishes with a couple of minutes of elephant riding back to the van, and a farewell to the elephants (along with one more birthday song for Paul).
After that awesome adventure, it was so nice to go sit by the pool and relax and read for a bit.
Jen and Landon took a tuk-tuk somewhere that evening.
This is a little temple around the corner from our hotel, on the way to the little market area.
This suit shop had a suit out front that was really something!
I think we all loved the Thai food, but after several days in a row of it, many of us were in the mood for some "comfort food", so we had dinner at the nearby Hard Rock Cafe.
There was another little celebration for Paul's birthday after dinner.
He wasn't the only one who enjoyed a nice ice cream treat.
("Who, me?")
And apparently Kelly scored some ice cream as well.
As I always say, "All's well that ends with ice cream."
After that elephant ride, it was nice that people could get an hour massage for $15.
One thing that is popular in Thailand is "Muay Thai" or Thai boxing, which is Thailand's national sport. A few people went to go see a local match.
Others went shopping for stuff.
Finally, our hotel welcomed us home at the end of a long but incredible day.
In our next episode, we enjoy a last couple of days in Chiang Mai at a slower pace.