Elephant Ride ~ Mae Tang

When I was invited to the Mae Tang Elephant Park, I participated to many of their activities including elephant shows, elephant bathing, bamboo rafting and of course, elephant rides!

I had to test it and well... It's not the most comfortable ride I've had. Only camels are probably worse. I preferred the stoic oxen pulling their carts on a muddy road.
It's also a real challenge to take sharp photos while riding those pachyderms. I had to increase my ISO, put my camera on continuous mode and shoot away! One over a dozen shots should be sharp enough to work with!
So the mahout (trainer) took us for a 30min ride across the jungle while stopping from time to time at these towers (this one on the photo was broken and abandoned) to push us to buy bananas or sugar cane to feed the elephant.
The trick is to refuse every time, the mahout will get a few sugar canes/bananas for free to feed the animal anyway... they don't want an angry and hungry beast wrecking havoc through the jungle!

Well, although it doesn't seem like it, I still enjoyed the ride and would probably do it again, just for the fun! (Do not think about motion sickness..).

Photo Essay: Pere Lachaise Cemetery ~ Paris

Bored of the Eiffel Tower or the Notre-Dame Cathedral when visiting the beautiful city of Paris? Why not spend a quiet afternoon walking along the haunting tombstones of the most famous and most visited cemetery in the world? The Père Lachaise Cemetery!

~~oOo~~

1) Entrance of Père Lachaise, the most visited cemetery in the world. It was established in 1804 by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Child at play ~ Chiang Mai

Another shot I got from the PhotoWalk a few weeks ago in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It is the same kid playing with a top seen on this portrait in the market.

It was too bad it rained for hours later so we couldn't get more shots. I felt a bit more comfortable taking street portraits when I was with the group, I am not very used to street photography and I feel a bit shy approaching people to take photos when I don't even speak their language.

I am improving day by day though as I am forcing myself to get out there and approach strangers. I might even have a project coming up soon so stay tuned!

Ox Cart

Part of the Mae Tang Elephant park program consists in a half hour ride on an elephant to a touristic village (with lots of souvenirs and annoying people in ethnic costumes running after you) and then coming back to the main center riding an ox cart.

Ox carts are these 2-wheeled wooden carts pulled by oxen (that's the plural for ox, not oxes). Oxen are castrated male cattle preferred to horses because they can pull heavier loads in a steadier fashion. Ox carts were common in many parts of the world and are still used in some remote areas in South East Asia, like Thailand or Malaysia.

It was in fact a much more comfortable ride than an elephant!

Colors of Asia

One of the things I enjoy about Asia is the explosion of bright colors everywhere.
From the products in the markets, bags, clothes, tuk-tuks to the traditional costumes of Hill-tribes, everything seems to be very colorful making it a pleasure for the eye. Even the taxi cars are bright yellow, green or pink!

Why do we tend to become more and more dull in the "western civilized" world? Are we afraid from everything that is not beige, gray, black or white?

Mae Tang Elephant Park ~ Chiang Mai

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit (for free!) an elephant park in Mae Tang, about an hour drive North of Chiang Mai.
I had never been to elephant parks yet in Thailand so I didn't really know what to expect. I had a great time with a few other photographers and we had free access to the whole program (plus a special baby elephant bathing show that tourists don't see).

We had been invited by the park to take photos which would later be used for fundraising to help the elephants' training. Many centers have been hit and had to close due to lack of tourists because of the last events in Bangkok.

PS: The elephant in the shot is not dead or hurt. Just lying on the ground to let the tourists ride it.

Endless Journey

And the pilgrim walks and walks knowing that the goal is never clear nor important, but the journey is endless and enlightening.

Many of these pilgrims (now good friends) that I have come across keep on walking, again and again, either physically or spiritually. Many don't really know where they are heading, but all know that the journey is what makes us grow and gives us the strength to carry on with our dreams.

"Caminante, no hay camino... Se hace el camino al andar".

"Traveler, there is no path... the path is made by walking".