Elephants!
Clearly, they are one of God's gentlest creatures.
They are highly revered by the Thais.
So, we couldn't pass up the chance of an elephant ride over at the
Ayutthaya Elephant Kraal.
Ayutthaya, Thailand's former capital, is an hour's drive from Bangkok. It is filled with historical architecture and home to a number of elephants, most of which are friendly as they are used to tourists.
The Royal Elephant Kraal is one of the worlds oldest elephant kraal which dates back to the 1500s or so as we were told by our mahoot (elephant handler).
For an Elephant ride around Ayutthaya Historical Park, be prepared to shell out 100 - 500 Baht depending on the route. Photos if taken by their official photographer is quite pricey at about 100-150 baht and up. But our mahoot was kind enough to ask a fellow mahoot to take our photo on the elephant using our camera (although we were getting worried of him running away with our camera tee-hee!!) for a measly tip of 20 baht. :)
This particular Elephant ride was included in the Ayutthaya tour. For more details on the Ayutthaya tour, be prepared to shell out 1,900 baht for a whole day tour including air conditioned coaches, tour guide, buffet lunch at a hotel and mineral waters and refreshing towels after every stop. :) or check out my other blogpost on the tour here.
For inquiries, contact World Travel Service Ltd at tel (662) 2335900-9 or email them at: kusa@mozart.inet.co.th or visit their website here.
5 comments:
wow! Someday makakapunta ako sa Thailand, sakay din ako Elephant,ehehe
Nice post te! ;-)
hehe.. thanks yadu!
I'm thinking about riding the elephant around the temples next week. Is there a set route?. Where do you arrange for the ride? Are the same elephants out giving rides with those heavy harnesses on all day? Do you think the animals are mistreated.....like the horses who do carriage rides in New Yorks central park?
Hi Donna, for this elephant ride, it was bunched up with the Ayutthaya tour we booked. So the tickets were just handed to us by our tour guide. check out my other blogpost about the Ayutthaya tour in this link for more details:
http://www.pinaytravelogue.com/2012/05/thailand-chronicles-ruined-temples-of.html
and thanks for dropping by my blog! :)
@ Donna.. i forgot to answer your other question about mistreatment of the animals. As far as what I experienced, I think the elephants are treated nicely. Although some of the mahoots do carry an elephant prod/stick. But we didn't see them use it on the elephants the time we were there. :)
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