In general, we are not a family that likes attractions.
Before every vacation, holiday or upcoming trip, we get the impression that someone malicious has made an effort to monitor our plans.
He already knows when and where, Inel-Goritam, and he collects information only to shower us with countless attractive offers.
We, for our part, react with suspicion.
Somehow it turns out that the common denominator among the multitude of these activities that are photographed so beautifully - families jubilant on an ATV, a child in a helmet and abseiling equipment, a lit candle shimmering on a ceramic vessel - is the assumption that there is nothing as hard and unbearable as life itself.
Of course if there are children.
Any offer for an adventure sports experience, a cooking workshop in a stalactite cave or underwater carpentry, is actually an outstretched hand and a lifeline.
You and I know very well - the attraction brokers wink at us - that you will not survive without us.
And with a hand on your heart, you can't just stay together in a room, in the sun, or in the sweaty lap of nature.
That's right, you finally freed up a few days to be with the most loved and closest people in the world.
But what is "being"?
Come on, you can't work on us.
After all, we know that you know that without tickling your adrenaline glands around the clock, we'll keep your kids busy and do something crazy, then extreme, then something... - you'll just go off the rails.
Ask your soul to die.
Climb the walls.
Hey, speaking of, have we already told you about the cool climbing wall that opened just recently in the Tzalmov cliffs?
So we are not like that.
I mean, we try.
I mean, every time we still buy an attraction for the whole family, we feel a rather urgent need to apologize.
apologize.
mainly by ourselves.
But not only.
After all, an attraction is a cheap thrill.
A meaningless experience that is forgotten when the screen goes down.
But arrogance, after all, is an experience that loses its taste like chewing gum.
And in short, when we went to Northern Thailand we couldn't help but go, like everyone else, for the experience of visiting the world of elephants.
And since two weeks have passed and the experience is still alive in us and relevant, I thought I'd tell about it.
Although it is neither small nor furry, and although[l!] it does not have a button nose and is cute, the elephant is undoubtedly an animal much loved by children and adults.
Elephants have a special status wherever they live, and in Thailand they are considered man's best and oldest friend.
Just as behind every second verse in our Bible there is a donkey hiding - so one can recognize trunks, fan ears and pillar legs behind every story in Southeast Asian countries. The elephant is indeed a smart, friendly and captivating animal. And I also do not disagree with those who are ready to swear that it is The only animal that has a sense of humor and a kind of old man's smile. Personally, every time I see someone riding a horse, I ask myself who was the first madman in history who decided to jump on the back of a wild animal and try to hitch a ride on it. I'm sure you'll agree that about elephants that question Getting, how to say, a piece of blacksmithing.
You really can't visit Chiang Mai without coming across an offer to visit one of the nearby elephant farms.
Behind every hotel reception desk, in information booths and on bulletin boards, cute pilons are peeking cuddling a European child who is giddy with happiness.
Next to the photo is a headline that proclaims "No riding!!!".
When I visited there in the 1980s, the elephant experience included two attractions: a trip through the jungle on top of an elephant, and an impressive show of tamed elephants.
Both are defined today as abusive behavior and a crime against animals.
In the last century, however, they were strictly legitimate and kosher.
A walk in nature on the back of an elephant is not a great pleasure, but a fascinating experience mainly because the other animals do not run away from you.
When the man sits on an elephant and enters the jungle, the other inhabitants of the place do not see a man in front of them.
They see an elephant, a familiar neighbor, with something strange on its back.
The show we saw then explained why the ancient Thais even needed the services of the elephant.
Pairs of elephants lifted large fallen trees from the ground.
They worked in coordination, a stump on the right and a stump on the left, took the logs out of the forest thicket and placed them in a nice pile ready for shipping.
We applauded, I admit.
But in those days you could still see lions and seals in circus shows.
In Spain there were still bullfights.
Today, every child knows what the training of large animals involves, and how much pain is hidden behind the tourist's appetite for experiences.
Everywhere we asked, we were promised a kosher farm.
No riding and no shows!!!
The moral package includes a beautiful lecture about the giant animal, and about the elephant breeders, extraordinary men called "mahouts" (pronounced like "essence") who grew up among elephants and speak their language.
After that, you learn to take care of the elephants, feed and bathe them and play with them in the water.
As soon as the car approached the farm area the children started screaming.
In truth, it was their mother who urged them to show excitement.
Elephants!!!
Herds of elephants grazed peacefully on both sides of the road, and groups of hikers scraped elephants down the stream.
A group of mahouts greeted us with traditional greetings in Hebrew (Aba is stingy, a small bulbul - that's right) and proved to us that they don't only master the language of elephants.
They taught us to feed the little elephants.
We peeled bananas, and the cute ones reached out and picked them up from our hands.
We also cut sugarcane and cornstalks for them, and the girl, who had recently developed a fear of animals, including the neighbors' ridiculous Pomeranian, completely let loose among the elephants.
It was exciting to see on the one hand how your children experience moments of happiness that they will never forget, and on the other hand how the local farmers laugh at the stupid tourists who are willing to pay thousands of baht just to do the work for them.
At this point we were told it was time to bathe.
We already felt a closeness to a group of elephants, we knew what each one was called, and it was almost natural for us to inform them that we were going down to the river.
for them too.
moment!
- said the vagrant - and sorry to vagrant, but could it be that the group that was in front of us bathed them exactly half an hour ago?
I wanted to reprimand her for her cynicism, but I had to admit that the elephants are indeed suspiciously clean and shiny, perhaps even suffering from over-bathing.
Anyone who has tried in the past knows that it is better to avoid peeking behind the scenes of a restaurant or hotel.
Indeed, towards the end of the wonderful experience, we saw that next to the training farm we visited, there are additional corrals.
Curiosity drew us to the back side, where elephants stood harnessed to large riding boxes.
Exactly the ones we thought had already been disqualified and passed away from the world.
When we asked, they answered us simply that not all tourists come from Europe, and not all of them are consumers of the moral narrative.
There are also tourists from Korea, China and Arab countries, and they are not consumers of the new and beautified delicacy.
They don't want to scrub elephants, or crush tranquilizers for them.
They don't want lectures either.
They want to ride elephants.
Indeed, they ride and pay at the foot of the mountains.
And suddenly, in a moment, what was supposed to function as a harmless attraction for the children's enjoyment, grew and became a significant experience that will stay with us for days.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
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