Mahout trainee- Baanchang Elephant camp

Not sure if i previously mentioned that awhile ago my phone (which is my camera ) notified me that i was out of storage. I keep deleting Apps to get more space for photos. Blogger is my only app left. I also somehow in the deleting process lost all my notes- I had taken many on the ride out to the elephant park. Anyhow- without further ado and without any notes- Today I joined a group of 8 others to work with elephants that had been rescued from various walks of life such as a logging elephant, a circus elephant and even elephants from the government tourist attraction that were not up to snuff. The facility was 50 min from Chiang Mai. I knew it was going to be exciting when I had to sign a waiver and the list of names and ages of the participants was listed... Most in their 20s, 2 in the 30s- the average age dramatically increased by you know who! I also knew it would be exciting when the guide "Smit" said "today is about wet and dirty, not beauty and sexy! The park had 21 elephants, 3 males (with Asian elephants only makes have tusks), 1 pregnant (2 year gestation period- she was only 10 months along), 3 babies age 3,5 and 7). There are approx 5000 total elephants left in Thailand, 1000 wild. The rest are in camps like this one (I know the numbers don't make sense). Supposedly poachers will kill off all of them in the wild so this is a better alternative. All are microchipped. We learned how to feed (bananas and sugar cane), then a lesson on getting on and off, then lunch and a rest, then a lesson on riding the elephant and associated vocabulary, then a ride into the mountains, then washing the elephants in a big pond.
Vocabulary :
Bye- continue on
Quay- turn
How- stop
Non long- down or up