Tusk envy - what would Freud say? (...or, are you sure we don't need a licence for that thing?)
The girls are all a-flutter; Tawan's looking as though a great weight has been lifted; the guests are distracted from Nam Khong; the night time noises from the grassland, always Jurassic (or close the movie interpretation of what Jurassic might have been although, as Jason will tell you, the sound effects for the film were recorded in an elephant camp - so, in fact, the dinosaurs sound like elephants and not vice versa), have a new reverberation...
...and if you stand still and hold your breath you could just about kid yourself that the earth shakes a little.
Introducing Plai Ko Barn, A.K.A "The Monster", Anantara's latest figurehead, the man to meet you as you step off the boat and whisk you to your room, to stand at the gate and ensure contractors get their work done on time and in full, to turn up and add an auspicious twist to your wedding, to bring along on your side at divorce proceedings, truly an ele for all seasons!
He's not going to be a mahout trainer, those big white ivories are just a little too hazardous, but he'll take the pressure off our pampered girls for the taxi and ceremonial side of camp life. A life of shows and festivals have prepared him for this but we found him out of work in Surin because Lung Chai, his owner, was worried about taking him to other camps in the South as ivory (and even tails recently) seems to be regularly stolen down there.
As much as I have resisted a pampered tusker, no need for male models and vainglorious poseurs in my little camp, I find myself a hypocrite (as with the babies my conservation theories tell me shouldn't be born in camp) and just can't stop taking photos of the usefulness of tusks - no better place to rest your trunk!
...in an aside, perhaps related, the little big fella, Plai Tawan is obviously feeling the weight of being the only man-about-camp (at least on the Anantara side, Boun Liang hardly visits us from Four Seasons anymore) lifted from his not-yet-broad shoulders and is acting his four years in the grassland, not sure what Lamyai's excuse is - if you're seven I guess you shouldn't need an excuse to act your age!
...and if you stand still and hold your breath you could just about kid yourself that the earth shakes a little.
Introducing Plai Ko Barn, A.K.A "The Monster", Anantara's latest figurehead, the man to meet you as you step off the boat and whisk you to your room, to stand at the gate and ensure contractors get their work done on time and in full, to turn up and add an auspicious twist to your wedding, to bring along on your side at divorce proceedings, truly an ele for all seasons!
He's not going to be a mahout trainer, those big white ivories are just a little too hazardous, but he'll take the pressure off our pampered girls for the taxi and ceremonial side of camp life. A life of shows and festivals have prepared him for this but we found him out of work in Surin because Lung Chai, his owner, was worried about taking him to other camps in the South as ivory (and even tails recently) seems to be regularly stolen down there.
As much as I have resisted a pampered tusker, no need for male models and vainglorious poseurs in my little camp, I find myself a hypocrite (as with the babies my conservation theories tell me shouldn't be born in camp) and just can't stop taking photos of the usefulness of tusks - no better place to rest your trunk!
...in an aside, perhaps related, the little big fella, Plai Tawan is obviously feeling the weight of being the only man-about-camp (at least on the Anantara side, Boun Liang hardly visits us from Four Seasons anymore) lifted from his not-yet-broad shoulders and is acting his four years in the grassland, not sure what Lamyai's excuse is - if you're seven I guess you shouldn't need an excuse to act your age!
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