Our visit to the Rose Garden Cultural Center also included an elephant demonstration. We got to see three elephants show some of the various ways there massive animals have been involved throughout Thai history. But the elephants also demonstrated some fun tricks under the Thai principle of sanuk: life should be fun. All of these elephants are female.

Fun fact: the circumference of an elephant’s foot matches his or her vertical height at the shoulder. That doesn’t sound like it makes sense, but the mahout demonstrated with string. It’s true.

The elephants also demonstrated their sense of spatial precision by walking over three mahouts without squishing anyone. They also showed how they sleep – fully prone. I was surprised. For such a huge animal, you wouldn’t expect them to be so agile.

One of the elephants showed how the animals were used in the Thai logging industry: dragging a massive log and rolling it into the water before retrieving it again. Slow and steady, these animals can carry huge weights long distances this way.

The finale included two of the elephants dancing, one with a hula hoop. It was pretty entertaining to watch.

Title quote: Abraham Lincoln