Tuesday was a public holiday here in Hong Kong (Mid-Autumn Festival) so we took advantage of it and escaped the concrete jungle for a long weekend in Chiang Mai,Thailand with nothing planned except to relax, get Thai massages and eat good Thai food.
On a previous trip to Chiang Mai numerous people had recommended the Patara day tour with elephants. We were slightly skeptical as we have been on elephant tours before albeit in Bali, Phuket, and India - but this was by far our most authentic (and hands on!) elephant experience. Other tours were just for a quick ride on a saddle with a guide riding on the elephant's head. Patara is a great organization which rescues and rehabilitates elephants. They currently house over 50. The Patara trainers live onsite to provide plenty of attention to their animals and their love for these elephants really shows.
Our day started with a car ride deep into the mountains, then going up a dirt road where we passed numerous sugar cane fields. Once we reached the clearings, we caught our first glimpse of our huge hosts. There were a few very young elephants and their moms eating sugarcane. We were introduced to one of the moms and she greeted us with a big snout kiss on the cheek. After everyone arrived we then went down to the staging area, signed a bunch of forms and then they assigned us each elephants based on our personalties...they gave me the largest male which was a bit concerning to say the least. 
Our briefing started with a few commands (in Thai!) on how to feed the elephants and how to perform a daily health check. As the demo was going on one of the elephants began rocking back and forth like he knew what was next.. feeding time.. check out the background in Melissa's video above. The health check was simple enough except for the checking of the poop. By checking the poop you can tell the health and age of the elephant, I was very lucky as mine didn't have to go. Next it was time to give them a quick brush and rinse off.
With the elephants clean, we were then ready for our ride. We were shown a few ways to get on top, but without a platform, none were that easy but we both made it.
Needless to say that photo above was the only time I was not holding on for dear life as it was pretty far to fall. With no saddle and just a rope on the back to hold on to, it was a bit hairy once we started going down hill - it was so steep at some points you had to lean back to balance yourself. I could hear Melissa sweet talking her elephant the entire ride - "good girl Meikwan (her elephant's name), good girl." Every few minutes my elephant would go off the trail to get some food and the trainer who was walking alongside us would need to get him back on track but he would let out his displeasure with a loud noise...riding on top of him, I was a bit concerned every time this happened. The baby elephants came with us on our trek but made their own trail breaking small trees and sliding down hills, just like any juvenile child - getting into trouble everywhere!
After washing their sides in the shallow water, we took them to the deeper water and hopped on top to clean their backs. With all the chores done it was then time to play with the elephants. We jumped off their backs and wrestled with the baby elephants who were having at least as much fun - if not more than we were. It was a truly incredible experience and a day that we won't soon forget!
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