News Forum - Girl in northeast Thailand rides elephant to save fuel costs, goes viral

[Thaiger]

Elephant crossing! An 11 year old girl in northeast Thailand’s Buriram province has become a TikTok sensation from riding an elephant to school to help her family save cash on fuel. The girl’s father, Wisanchol, told reporters that he works with elephants, and that his family owns 4 of the gentle giants. The elephant that his daughter, Pupae, was filmed riding on, is a male elephant named Ole. Wisanchol said that Pupae is very close to Ole, as she has been around him ever since she was little. Pupae has helped her family care for Ole, feeding him and giving […]

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[Rookiescot]

And there was me imagining this poor little girl was crossing mile upon mile of open rice fields to get her barefoot self to school.

Turns out its a journey of 500 meters. 

[Guest1]

44 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

riding an elephant to school to help her family save cash on fuel

 

Pupae rides Ole to her school about 500 metres 

How about walking? 

[Grumpish]

I wonder what the carbon emissions of an elephant are, per kilometre?

[palooka]

Wonder what the elephant does during school time?

[Marble-eye]

Where the hell do you park an elephant, you'd certainly need two bike racks, one for each tusk.

[Marble-eye]

9 minutes ago, palooka said:

Wonder what the elephant does during school time?

Pupae bought Ole a computer to pass the time away but Old won't go near the computer because he's afraid of the mouse.

[ronnie666]

Amazing  (lazy) Thailand

Edited July 16, 2022 by ronnie666

[ExpatPattaya]

1 hour ago, ronnie666 said:

Amazing  (lazy) Thailand

Yes, I can easily walk 500 meters in 10 minutes at 64 years old - 555

[Prosaap]

For help to save gasoline but i sure he will eat more than the gasoline will cost

[Guest1]

52 minutes ago, ExpatPattaya said:

Yes, I can easily walk 500 meters in 10 minutes at 64 years old - 555

Probably a lot quicker, if at the end of the 500m is a lovely waitress and a beer waiting!

[palooka]

54 minutes ago, ExpatPattaya said:

Yes, I can easily walk 500 meters in 10 minutes at 64 years old - 555

Boasting 

71 and climbed to a waterfall yesterday, 500 metres but suffering today.

[Rookiescot]

3 hours ago, Marble-eye said:

Where the hell do you park an elephant, you'd certainly need two bike racks, one for each tusk.

You get the elephant to kneel on the floor and park all the bikes at the back of it :P

[Marble-eye]

7 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

You get the elephant to kneel on the floor and park all the bikes at the back of it :P

I was going to say, where can an elephant park. Answer: wherever it bloody well likes.

[PapayaBokBok]

6 hours ago, Guest1 said:

Pupae rides Ole to her school about 500 metres 

How about walking? 

I was going counter with a bicycle.......i saw her and Ole...at the 7-11....the elephant was double parked..waiting on his toasty

[PapayaBokBok]

"today i shot an elephant in my pajamas, what he was doing in my pajamas i have no idea" Groucho Marx

[PapayaBokBok]

lastly, id wager its more about tik tok likes than having to use the elephant to get to school....shes thai!

[Tim_Melb]

6 hours ago, Guest1 said:

Pupae rides Ole to her school about 500 metres 

How about walking? 

Hey the elephants need exercise too you know. 

[Venusianhart]

What genius!

Feeding parking and medicating an Elephant is so much less cost and bother than a third-hand undocumented Motosai

Edited July 16, 2022 by Venusianhart

[Bluesofa]

6 hours ago, Venusianhart said:

What genius!

Feeding parking and medicating an Elephant is so much less cost and bother than a third-hand undocumented Motosai

I wonder if the elephant is also undocumented?

We may think there are lots of different types of vehicle registration plates in Thailand, but this must only be following on from the four different designations of elephants:

โขลง (klǒong) Herds of elephants
ช้าง (cháang) Government-registered elephants
เชือก (chʉ̂ʉak) Domesticated elephants
ตัว (dtuua) Wild elephants

I wonder which group Ole belongs to, and has the correct road tax been paid, as it is a passenger-carrying elephant after all.

Perhaps it's in the last group:
Q. Was it a wild elephant?
A: Wild? It was livid.

How is the fuel consumption of an elephant measured, is it in kilos of bananas per metre?

[RichardR]

I guess I come from one of those 3rd world countries in Europe (the Netherlands) where  500 meters is considered a distance that kids could walk themself or in company of a parent bringing them to school.

Seems more to be a tiktok stunt then news to me!

[Agudbuk]

I hope the goad is only for show. A cruel method of control.