Sly milk bandits in the grassland?
I don't know how you guys manage your mahouts, a headstrong bunch with hearts of gold that know they know more about your subject than you do. Having lost most of my brain cells and the hair on my brow banging my head against the brick wall of a previous bunch, me, I like to use inference, suggestion, bribery (sometimes) and perhaps a little trickery.
I tell myself that if it takes a week or two for the guys (the majority of whom, don't forget, still own their eles as part of our policy to keep eles and families together doing what they know away from the streets) to come to my conclusion themselves then it is far more effective than just having them ordered to do it by the crazy foreigner who just happens to sign the cheques and put them in tip earning positions.
If they don't reach the conclusion themselves then a direct order leads to a direct reversal a month later when the crazy foreigner has been deported, deluded or otherwise disabled - this way takes longer but we hopefully make a permanent difference.
For weeks we've been quietly trying to get the babies back out onto the grassland, dodging the unseasonal showers and watching the riparian tide come and go, the grassland move means an almost nomadic uprooting of the mahouts' daily life to an, as yet unrepaired, shack in the grass and so is a fairly major upheaval in their lives - besides we've got work to do in camp so it has been difficult for the whispering to take hold, but sometimes in this wonderful country His Majesty the King, long may he live, comes unexpectedly to the rescue.
With H.M's blessing a French television crew is touring the country trying to film gourmet experiences close to Royal Projects, accompanied by Palace officials this is an access all areas tour - they happened by us on a day when the hotel was more than full and the owner of a brewery bought 70 of his VIP guests for dinner to boot so the film crew didn't get our normal wining and dining experience - we looked to show them something unique about this hotel.
A shot of the barbeque we were preparing on the hilltop for a group of Australian VIP businessmen and, of course, dining with the elephants in the grassland - well, the biggies have been working hard and so they deserve their rest after a long day, besides they live too far out to drag a film crew; "Hang about", said I, "As it is for His Majesty's film, do you think it would be safe to try the babies in the tall grass, know it's muddy but...."
Well, muddy it was, slip they did but sometimes I do feel that we over pamper; our babies are our most precious asset, I know, but elephants and mud sounds a natural mix to me? Didn't someone once say something about pigs enjoying another substance?!
...Poon Larb, threw herself in the mud wallow like the ten year old she isn't...
...ever thoughtful, Lamyai tries to decide which fresh piece of grass she can select.
But the most fun, as ever, is at the smallest end of the market, Namkhong's first ever experience with tall grass and, with Nam Chok near (and controlled so she doesn't play too rough with the smallest ele whose milk she is, after all, being encourage to steal - we don't want an cuckoo like accusations here or any squashings by a frustrated Mum) Pumpui can take a few sly suckles whilst Nam Khong is distracted by the higher-than-my-mother green destroyable walls and squelchy, slippery fun underfoot...
I tell myself that if it takes a week or two for the guys (the majority of whom, don't forget, still own their eles as part of our policy to keep eles and families together doing what they know away from the streets) to come to my conclusion themselves then it is far more effective than just having them ordered to do it by the crazy foreigner who just happens to sign the cheques and put them in tip earning positions.
If they don't reach the conclusion themselves then a direct order leads to a direct reversal a month later when the crazy foreigner has been deported, deluded or otherwise disabled - this way takes longer but we hopefully make a permanent difference.
For weeks we've been quietly trying to get the babies back out onto the grassland, dodging the unseasonal showers and watching the riparian tide come and go, the grassland move means an almost nomadic uprooting of the mahouts' daily life to an, as yet unrepaired, shack in the grass and so is a fairly major upheaval in their lives - besides we've got work to do in camp so it has been difficult for the whispering to take hold, but sometimes in this wonderful country His Majesty the King, long may he live, comes unexpectedly to the rescue.
With H.M's blessing a French television crew is touring the country trying to film gourmet experiences close to Royal Projects, accompanied by Palace officials this is an access all areas tour - they happened by us on a day when the hotel was more than full and the owner of a brewery bought 70 of his VIP guests for dinner to boot so the film crew didn't get our normal wining and dining experience - we looked to show them something unique about this hotel.
A shot of the barbeque we were preparing on the hilltop for a group of Australian VIP businessmen and, of course, dining with the elephants in the grassland - well, the biggies have been working hard and so they deserve their rest after a long day, besides they live too far out to drag a film crew; "Hang about", said I, "As it is for His Majesty's film, do you think it would be safe to try the babies in the tall grass, know it's muddy but...."
Well, muddy it was, slip they did but sometimes I do feel that we over pamper; our babies are our most precious asset, I know, but elephants and mud sounds a natural mix to me? Didn't someone once say something about pigs enjoying another substance?!
...Poon Larb, threw herself in the mud wallow like the ten year old she isn't...
...ever thoughtful, Lamyai tries to decide which fresh piece of grass she can select.
But the most fun, as ever, is at the smallest end of the market, Namkhong's first ever experience with tall grass and, with Nam Chok near (and controlled so she doesn't play too rough with the smallest ele whose milk she is, after all, being encourage to steal - we don't want an cuckoo like accusations here or any squashings by a frustrated Mum) Pumpui can take a few sly suckles whilst Nam Khong is distracted by the higher-than-my-mother green destroyable walls and squelchy, slippery fun underfoot...
Comments