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Published: March 1st 2008
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What a busy 2 days we have had! Spent yesterday exploring some of the many temples of Chaing Mai. There are loads of them. We tried to limit ourselves to a few so we did not get "templed out!" Our first stop was Wat U Mong (yes, I know it has a funny name) which is a bit out of the city centre. We went there by tuk tuk which is always fun once you have negotiated a price you are happy to pay. This time we had where we wanted to go written down in Thai. However hard we try we cannot make ourselves understood! We are staying at the Sira hotel. We always say "Si Ra" and they look blank. We then show them the hotel card and they go "ah si ra" As far as we can hear, it sounds exactly like we were saying but clearly it is not. I can only assume that what we are saying is so vastly different that they can't even guess that is what we were trying to say!
Anyway back to the temples. Wat U Mong is out of the city and a bit more jungley which made a
pleasant change. After that we went to Wat Ched Yot. I bought a basket containing 4 birds which I released for good luck. After assuring the tuk tuk driver we did not want to see umbrellas being made we headed to Wat Phra Singh which was good. We saw lots of monks there too. I think Tim is starting to grow tired of me pointing out every monk I see. We just had time to fit in one more temple (Wat Chedi Luang) before going back to the hotel to flop. It is so hot here.
Today we went to the elephant nature park which was great. It is a elephant sanctuary to the north of Chaing Mai. Most of the elephants are domesticated and have been mistreated or injured or have had something else unpleasant happen to them like stepping on a landmine. There are 30 elephants at the park and they are able to roam free in a large area. When we got to the park we were able to feed the elephants. You would not believe how much they can eat. Tim and I feed a baby called Pupia. She is at the sanctuary with her
mother as her mahout did not realise that the mother was pregnant and when Pupia was born they realised that if they did not find a safe place for them to rest and recover, then Pupia might not survive.
After the elephants had had their lunch then it was time for us to have ours. Next it was time for us to wash the elephants. This was the highlight of the day for me. We went down to the river where the elephants were. The mahouts had got them to lay down in the water - I think this reduced the likelihood of us getting trampled! (We had already signed some form saying if we got flattened we would not be suing or the like!) Anyway once the elephants were laying down we got to bail buckets of water over them and scrub them with scrubbing brushes. It was so cool. Once they got out of the water the first thing they did was throw dirt all over themselves or jump about in the mud!
Next we met Lek who is the founder of the sanctuary. She told us why she set it up and her work there.
After learning some more stuff about domesticated elephants we went back in the river to wash the elephants again. Then it was unfortunately time to head back to Chiang Mai. All in all it was a great day. As you can imagine I took way too many photos today! Expect to be bored with them later. I can never have too many elephant photos!
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