6:00 a.m.

Woke up feeling very unwell. Never has the saying, “Never trust a fart” been more accurate. Skipped breakfast and morning chose (elephant kitchen) to be close to the bathroom. Exploding from both ends. I do not believe it is food, water or poo that has ’caused’ this, but a coincidence.

It is 9:15 a.m. and I think that I am feeling a little bit better… nope, I was wrong.

Between bathroom visits I got to witness Navaan in action. He insisted on visiting the water buffalo, chasing them around. They then started chasing him back so he let out a little cry. Mother and two nannies came rushing to his rescue and they chased the water buffalo. Loud ruckus for the next few moments.

 

 

 

 

* This is my friend keeping me company… he looks very comfy *

Snack time for Navaan and his nannies.nannies. Navann scoops up as many bananas as he can reach and the nannies let him.

Momma, Sri Prae is near by at the vet center getting her back left foot treated for a 2 1/2 year old almost healed landmine accident. Just a reminder, the landmines are in Burma which is next door to Thailand. Sri Prae is a Burma rescue after she stepped on one of the landmines. the landmines were put there during human unrest from years back and now the elephants are the innocent victims when they walk through that dangerous area of land. 😦

 

* Thank you Monique (skinny 70 year old elephant lover from Holland) for the tablets to help settle my stomach. Nope. 😦 Threw it up.

When Sri Prae and finished and walking towards Navaan and his nannies, Navaan, trunk up, runs to see her. 🙂

10:30 a.m. feeding time and Dok Mai cannot eat her watermelon fast enough. ♡

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ate a bowl of white rice for lunch and I am keeping it down. I am skipping afternoon chore as well because I have developed an all over body ache. Sabine is doing the afternoon chore of washing elephant shelter. That’s a new chore and I will be interested in hearing about it.

While writing in here, I saw Faa Mai coming to the platform. A mahout, who I found about by Jodi is Tong Jan’s mahout, was running after her and slapped her face quite hard, he may have even thrown a rock at her face. Faa Mai charged to the corner of the feeding platform. She was agitated and swinging her back foot out to kick the mahout(s) – a 2nd one came.  Unfortunately, I had to report this (as Lek always mentions in her talks with us). I had mentioned it to Jodi who helped me with the identifying the mahout. We wrote the complaint together on a piece of my journal paper and I put it in the elephant feedback box.

I guess what happened is that the mahout was trying to get Faa Mai away from her herd — for something?? They say Faa Mai can be a little naughty (which really means just be your regular 6 year old female elephant) because her spirit has never been broken (yay!) so she gets a little frustrated when the mahout(s) over control her. I felt so bad for Faa Mai. The mahouts at this point were harassing her. She was spinning and running off and they would chase after her and grab her trunk to pull her in their direction. They were also feeding her bread. Bread is bad because makes her fat and hormonal and is just not natural elephant food. What the mahout might have tried instead, per Jodi,is to ignore her instead of giving her negative attention/reinforcement. Poor Faa Mai… she is only 6 years old. I love her. ♡

So Sabine said that elephant washing shelter was exactly that. Hard sweep, followed by soft sweep and then water and sweep out water of the entire cement floor in their night enclosures.

After she was finished and was starting to feel a bit better and want a leisurely walk, we went to see the dogs. I did not play with them because I did not feel 100%. But as usual, the dogs are always happy and eager for love and attention, even if it’s me blowing a kiss through the fence. ♡