Busy Chiang Mai

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Hello Everyone,

Well it's been a couple busy days in Chiang Mai. We arrived the morning of the 10th after taking the night train from Bangkok. Definitely a great way to travel - cheap, comfortable, and we had adjoining berths so quite fun.

The 10th was spent wandering around the Old City in Chiang Mai and arranging tours.

On the 11th we did an all day cooking class at a farm about 30 minutes outside of the city. It was a really fun day! We each made 6 courses, all of which were quite yummy except the Tom Yum Soup which we all overspiced. Our instructors name was Anne, she spoke excellent English and was quite funny. Spicy = sexy so if a dish was spicy it was called sexy and Matt was called 'Sexy Man' because he made his dishes so hot.

On the 12th we had a full day private tour with a tour guide named Wii. We randomly met him on the street on the 10th because he approached us after seeing the Canadian flags on our packs - he has been to Canada 3 times. He took us to a very important mountain top temple called Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. We really appreciated having a guide with us as he explained all of the Buddist ritual and decoration. After a $1 lunch we went and visited numerous factories: wood, umbrella, silver, silk, and gem. All were impressive because everything is done by hand but the wood was by far the most amazing. The detail was just incredible! I would love to furnish my future home with some of the unique pieces we saw there.

At the umbrella factory we talked to an older lady and man (84 yrs old) who work there. The lady made 180 Bht per day ($6) and the man 200 bht ($6.50). The considered themselves lucky because they had the honour of working inside - not in an air conditioned building but with a roof over their heads and open walls. Certainly made us appreciate our own careers.

Today (the 13th) we went to the Elephant Nature Park, a park built by one woman to take care of orphaned, old, or injured elephants. There is quite a contradiction in Thai society regarding elephants - they are respected and revered as almost holy animals that helped to build this country and yet they can be horribly treated. Asian elephants are an endangered species but this protected status only applies to wild elephants, domesticated elephants are considered livestock and thus there are no laws to protect them. The manner in which elephants are 'broken'is horrendously cruel - we saw a video and it was honestly very hard to watch.

At the turn of the century there were 100 000 domesticated elephants in Thailand, ten years ago there were 10 000, and now there are only 5000. Due to a ban on logging in 1989 most domestic elephants are out of work and many are abandones, forced to beg in major cities, or become part of the tourist trade. We have heard from numerous people that elephants that give tourists rides may or may not be treated well so we chose not to go on rides at all and instead chose this park where you are able to feed, pet, and bathe the elephants.

The elephants individual stories were heart-breaking but they really do seem happy now. Some of them are over 70 years old so at least they have experienced some good in their lives. They are amazing creatures, very gentle and surprisingly gracefule. It was a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience and we will all treasure it forever.

We are off to the smaller town of Pai tomorrow for two nights to explore and then off to Chiang Rai to go trekking.

Talk soon,

Rae

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