{"id":2515,"date":"2012-09-29T10:21:03","date_gmt":"2012-09-29T03:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/?p=2515"},"modified":"2012-09-29T10:23:08","modified_gmt":"2012-09-29T03:23:08","slug":"chang-mak-mak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/?p=2515","title":{"rendered":"Chang mak mak"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>

A big bull elephant wouldn't leave us alone<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cOh Bill\u201d Julie cried out, \u201clook out!\u201d But I didn\u2019t need this loud advice to realise our awkward situation.\u00a0 I quickly hit the pedal and swerved over onto the dirt shoulder of the road to just barely maneuver the car around the fully outstretched trunk of a huge bull elephant.\u00a0 I nervously glanced back at him in the mirror as we drove off,\u00a0 a look of curiosity and maybe disappointment on his face, possibly regretting that we got away.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
To be fair to our giant new friend, we probably deserved the extra attention.\u00a0 That morning we had stopped by a roadside stand to buy a bunch of fresh bananas as a morning snack, ate two of them and left the rest on the back seat.\u00a0 In the afternoon as we drove through the southern section of Kaeng Krachen National Park, home to about 200 wild elephants, we came around the sweeping corner of this remote road to find this monstrous elephant with beautiful white tusks and a loping gait slowly making his way down the road.\u00a0<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Here he comes again, maybe he smells the bananas<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We stopped, took photos of course, amazed at this rare up-close encounter.\u00a0 But he was interested in us and we had to quickly drive away.\u00a0 He continued his ambling journey but we turned around and went back for another slow passing look.\u00a0 Then we turned around again and passed him again.\u00a0 And every time we passed him we stopped to gawk and snap, and every time he stopped and approached us with his long trunk reaching out, almost to shake our hand.\u00a0 Until finally he seemed a bit too aggressive and we made our narrow escape, hearts beating and cameras clicking.\u00a0 Another close call in the wild jungles of Thailand.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>

Waterfall number 4 out of the 15 cascades - but a tough trail to get to them<\/p><\/div>\n

Kaeng Krachen National Park is a remote part of central-eastern Thailand which covers the dense forests and remote mountain area between the resort town of Hua Hin on the Gulf of Thailand and the Myanmar boarder.\u00a0 We had enjoyed a great morning at the Pa La-u waterfall in the national park, scrambling over rocks to reach the upper series of falls and enjoying lunch from a local stall on the banks of the river.\u00a0 It was on our drive back down the winding mountain road that we met our Jumbo and only after the encounter did we link the left-over bananas to his amorous attentions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>

A girl applies gold leaf to a special statue in a nearby village<\/p><\/div>\n

Having survived our first-hand experience with a giant chang<\/em><\/strong> (Thai for elephant, as all beer drinkers know because a popular local beer is named Chang after their national symbol) we drove safely down to Hua Hin and checked into our favourite little hotel near the waterfront with all the restaurants and bars nearby.\u00a0 Hua Hin is a popular weekend escape for Bangkokians, a well-used destination for visitors and longtime guests who enjoy the beach, nightlife and the slightly milder ocean weather.\u00a0 It\u2019s also the official home of the King, complete with private palace, even though these days he lives in private quarters of Bangkok\u2019s best hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Enjoying a great local lunch between elephant hunts<\/p><\/div>\n

And we enjoyed our stay in the Penthouse, mainly because Julie checked us in while I parked the car.\u00a0 But when you can get the Penthouse for $45 a night, why not?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Relaxing on the Penthouse balcony at cocktail hour<\/p><\/div>\n

That night we enjoyed a stunning meal in a restaurant on a pier overhanging the water, of course eating way too much food, including the best ever whole deep fried sea bass with tamarind sauce. The next morning we headed further south to Kui Buri National Park, a rarely visited area up against the Myanmar border.\u00a0 Like Kaeng Krachen National Park from the day before, Kui Buri is known for its remote beauty and wild elephants, the former much more easily visible than the latter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Beautiful mountains provide the backdrop to the pineapple fields<\/p><\/div>\n

This was a beautiful drive from the coast, through rolling hills and small villages, everything green and healthy, the obvious fertile land providing ample success for local farmers.\u00a0 We passed through fields of oil palm, rubber trees, bananas, mangoes, sugar cane and pineapples.\u00a0 But it was the pineapples that dominated this area, endless fields of pineapples, up and down the hills, around the corners, right up next to the road and spreading out way over there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Manually cutting and loading the pineapples...and there were plenty of them<\/p><\/div>\n

We stopped to take photos and admire the fields, seeing crews hand cut them and load them into baskets and onto trucks, people working hard in the hot sun. \u00a0The villages were modest but most homes had the important satellite dish and \u2018pick up\u2019 parked out front.\u00a0 It was evidence yet again of why Thailand is the wealthiest country of all its neighbours, blessed with good soil, favourable weather and industrious people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

At first we couldn't find elephants but we found a lot of goats<\/p><\/div>\n

Getting to the gate and office of this national park was not easy and we had to ask directions of the local goat farmer and eventually follow a long dirt road.\u00a0 From there we hired a driver, a pick-up with wooden slats for seats that stretched across the back and a young guide to take us into the park on safari for elephants.\u00a0 We were told it was 50\/50 whether we would see elephants on this three hour dusk tour but after the previous day we were feeling lucky.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Panoramic views across the national park as we search for elephants<\/p><\/div>\n

And lucky we were.\u00a0 After only a few kilometres of sitting on these wooden planks in the back of the truck we came across a mother and baby crossing the track in front of us.\u00a0 They were not afraid of us but they didn\u2019t pose for photos either, moving into the dense forest for more privacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Stopping for the cross traffic<\/p><\/div>\n

After waiting near a large watering hole with hopes of a visit from thirsty elephants there was clatter on the radios between rangers as elephants had been sighted elsewhere in the park.\u00a0 So we loaded up again, this time with a couple of other trucks filled with Thais from a local camera club, and bounced over the roads to a couple of places, eventually coming across a pair of female elephants with their babies in the short grass near the road.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

On a wild game safari in the back of the truck, hanging on tight<\/p><\/div>\n

As we watched in amazement from probably 70 metres other elephants joined them and then there was the unmistakable trumpeting sound of another elephant behind us on the other side of the road.\u00a0 And so the two groups communicated to each other back and forth over our heads, an absolutely stunning experience but also a bit scary since we were in between these two groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Time for an afternoon bath, drink and squirt<\/p><\/div>\n

Eventually they all got together to form a group of 18 elephants, munching on the grass and just playing around.\u00a0 Our ranger guide decided we weren\u2019t close enough so we all jumped down from the trucks and started walking across the open bush and grass to get a closer look at this large group.\u00a0 No one seemed to be concerned for our safety down at their level (except Julie), only the risk of maybe scaring them away.\u00a0 Which is exactly what we eventually did.<\/p>\n

Back to the large watering hole when the radios alerted us and there was another family of eight elephants, drinking, swimming and squirting in the large dam.\u00a0 This was a timeless scene of these magnificent animals doing what they do every evening while we had the privilege to watch from a safe hill nearby.\u00a0 Absolutely unreal stuff.<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Chang mak mak indeed, many many elephants<\/p><\/div>\n

As we drove out of the park with darkness setting in we came across the same group after they left the water hole, eating grass with their talented multi-purpose trunks while they mellowed out in the coolness of the evening.\u00a0 What a rare and special privilege to see so many elephants in their natural setting only four hours\u2019 drive from where we live.\u00a0 As they say in Thailand, chang mak mak<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Big Mama and her little friend at dusk<\/p><\/div>\n

We\u2019ve seen wild elephants before, mainly in east Africa, and we\u2019ve ridden more elephants than we can count (all of them great fun) but this was a special weekend, having our seriously up-close encounter on Saturday and then all the different groups and families in another national park on Sunday.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a special experience, perhaps never repeated but certainly worth savouring.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A wise warning about the dangers of beer drink <\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Maybe if we had followed this advice we wouldn't have been hunted by that elephant<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u201cOh Bill\u201d Julie cried out, \u201clook out!\u201d But I didn\u2019t need this loud advice to realise our awkward situation.\u00a0 I quickly hit the pedal and swerved over onto the dirt shoulder of the road to just barely maneuver the car around the fully outstretched trunk of a huge bull elephant.\u00a0 I nervously glanced back at him in the mirror as we drove off,\u00a0 a look of curiosity and maybe …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thailand"],"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DSC_0781.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2515"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2568,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515\/revisions\/2568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}