Kwan squeaked at me. She flapped her ears. She looked me in the eye, and most important, she wanted that banana in my hand.
I was supposed to put the banana on her tongue. But Kwan deftly snatched it from my hand. Elephants eat 10 percent of their body weight a day. That's easily 300 kilograms of leaves, fruit or whatever.
At Patara Elephant Farm in Chiang Mai, Thailand, you become an "elephant owner for a day." You inspect your elephant, feed it, brush it, wash it and then ride it to a waterfall. There is a serious side to this. Forty years ago, there were 6,000 domestic and 10,000 wild elephants in Thailand. Today, it's down to 3,200 domestic and only 1,600 wild.
"If we let it go on," said Theerapat Trungprakan (Pat to us), "in another generation there would be no elephants left. " This in a country with 30 words for elephant. And so, I met Kwan. I learned to check her skin for streaks of dirt - a sign she is sleeping lying down as a healthy elephant should. I fed her a basket of fruit and sugar cane (甘蔗).
"Bon, bon."
A signal for Kwan to open her mouth, then, "Dee, dee. Dee, dee." Good girl.
After lunch (hers, not mine), I brushed the dirt off her back with a bundle of leaves so I wouldn't be scraped raw while riding.
The elephants spray themselves with dirt to keep bugs off, but sitting on all that dried dirt is like sitting on sandpaper.
And then we went to the river. I scrubbed with a brush. She sprayed water from her trunk. I hugged. She squeaked. We played.
Getting up on her, though, was another matter. The more limber fold stepped on their elephants' knees and were raised, like an elevator, to chest height, where they scrambled aboard. I took the easy way out. Kwan kneeled and two mahouts grabbed my arms and dragged me aboard. You sit right behind the head. Yeah, you're way up there. But it's far more stable than sitting in one of those giant wooden seats you usually find at elephant rides.
To go, it's "pai." Stop is "how." I said "how" a lot.
Pat started his elephant farm as a rescue program 10 years ago. Kwan, for instance, had been begging for food on the streets of Bangkok. Of the 22 elephant farms in Chiang Mai, this is the only breeding farm. When we visited, six of his 18 females were pregnant. Pat made a point of telling us that his elephants are not trained and that the babies are not separated from their mothers. In some places training can be brutal, involving separating babies from their mothers, imprisoning them in cages and jabbing them with sharp sticks until their wills are broken.
"We specialize in care and breeding," Pat said proudly. "Our elephants are special." We went to a waterfall where the elephants drank, stole more bananas and played. They squirted each other, swam and ducked under water. One fellow turned like a top, throwing his head back and slapping the water with his trunk. I thought about my previous visit to Thailand 12 years ago when I had fed one of those begging Bangkok elephants. Who knows! Maybe it was Kwan.
More Information:
Chiang Mai is in northern Thailand, about an hour's flight from Bangkok.
The coolest and driest time of the year for Chiang Mai is November through February. April is the hottest, with temperatures that easily top 37 degrees Celsius.
When the temperatures drop in the evening, the Chiang Mai night bazaar, or night market, comes to life. Tourists sample Thai cuisine and shop for Chiang Mai's renowned handicrafts.
Grammar Tips:
Pat made a point of telling us that his elephants are not trained and the babies are not separated from their mothers.
" to made a point of ..." = "to put attention on doing something."
Robert really cares about environmental issues and always makes a point of telling people how they can better protect the environment.
The manager always makes a point of showing her appreciation to her entire staff at the company's Christmas party.
Vocabulary Tips
squeak-短促的尖叫或嘎吱作響.
*During the night, you can hear mice squeaking on the roof. 老鼠在房頂上吱吱的叫
*The door squeaks when you open or close it.
deftly-靈巧地,熟練地 deft-靈巧
*In just minutes, the mechanic deftly changed the engine oil. 手腳靈活的,熟練的換好了機油
*The doorkeeper deftly caught the ball. 手腳靈活的,熟練的接到了球
streak-條紋,條痕,
*The dirty streaks on the wall aren't easily washed off. 髒汚的痕跡
*the truck's windshield is covered with streaks of mud. 一條條淤泥的污垢.
scrape-刮傷，或刮到，
*Someone scraped Tom's brand new convertible. 刮傷。。。跑車
*Jacqueline fell down the stairs and scraped her knees. 跌下樓梯刮傷了她的膝蓋
*When it is windy, the tree branches always scrape against my window. 刮到
trunk-樹幹,放行李的後車廂.
*He used the trunk of the tree as his chair.
trunk-放行李的後車廂,大象的鼻子
*Sandy's trunk can only fit one big suitcase.
大象的鼻子
*The elephant picked up an apple with its trunk.
scrambled- 攀爬, scrambled over (攀爬)翻過, scrambled up (攀爬)爬上 hands and legs worked (mix) together to get up.
* The fugitive scrambled over the walls and escaped.
*Dad scrambled up on the roof of the house to fix our chimney.
Mahout (not actually a word)- the name of elephant driver.
raw- uncooked, uncooked meat, here means sore, painful
A part of your body is raw means there is sore on your skin, it's painful when touches
limber- body very flexible, bending , jump many different way.
aboard -get on the ship, train or airplane.
drag- move something over the ground slowly to get up or get further.
pregnant-懷孕
*Janet got pregnant after she was married for three years.
pregnant with (whom)-懷了誰
*Susan was pregnant with her son Jack when we took this picture.
brutal-殘酷的，殘暴的
*The brutal dictator was sentenced to life in prison.
*The brutal scenes in the movie were cut for it to be rated PG-13.
jab- 插入，刺，戳 ，快速碰撞，用手或身子撞頂 jabbed/jabbing
*My friend Nina kept jabbing me with her elbow during the movie. 不住用胳膊碰撞我
*The nurse jabbed a needle into the patient's arm. 把針插入病人的手臂
imprison - in prison, in cage.
"white elephant" (idiom) - useless, something useless, something no body wants.
"pink elephant" (idiom)- someone sees pink elephant that mean someone drink too much.
"there is elephant in the room" (idiom)- something is rally true, but no one talk about it.
breed - help to produce babies.
Chat Room:
whatever- 任何事或物.
That's easily 300 kilograms of leaves, fruit, or whatever. 還是什麽其他的東西.
whatever- no matter what. 不管什麽,不論在任何情況下.
whatever the weather-不管天起如何
whatever happens, I will always love you.不論什麽事發生...
whatever- 也是一种"很不禮貌的用法,當別人指正你或說你什麽時,你心不甘,情不願的囘一句"whatever". 非常不禮貌 (藐視, 不領情對方)的囘答
"whatever!"- 有怎樣, 又怎樣, "隨便你" 的意思. it's very rude answer.
When someone correct you, you should say "thank you, or sorry" don't say "whatever" put yourself in lower class.
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right- exactly 就是,正是, right (adj)-correct 正確的,對的, opposite of left. 右邊
You sit right behind the head. -exactly. 就是在...
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use animal as verb: 用動物名當“動詞”用
duck- 鴨子，當動詞用是沉入，潛進水中，也指有東西下落或球向你這兒飛來，有人會警示你"duck" -是叫你“快閃，閃避，躲避”之意。－move your body or head quickly to avoid or to escape being hit.
squirted each other, swam and ducked underwater. 淺入水中。
dog-狗，“v”意即“跟屁蟲，跟著你死命不放”－follow someone anywhere he go.
pig -豬
pig out- 大吃大喝，吃像難看，吃沒吃像，很不禮貌的表現。we should not pig out 吃的過多。should eat slowly.
fish-魚，“v”-digging out , grab. 從口袋或。掏出。
chicken-雞，膽小鬼。coward, afraid of.
chicken out 害怕而退出，
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