Chiang Mai

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We arrived in Chiang Mai in the middle of the jungle to find a bustling city full of restaurants and a huge night market. Not the oasis we had imagined but nice enough all the same.

The purpose of our trip to Chiang Mai was to go elephant trekking, much the same as most tourists in this part of the country. But we knew it could sometimes be cruel so we strived to find a conservation park where we could ride elephants. We found a place called 'Save the Elephant', perfect. It didn't let you ride the elephants but we were told we could feed and wash them which sounded great so we booked up for that thinking we could go trekking the next day.

Well, we were in for an education! We learned that there is no such thing as elephant-friendly trekking, we hadn't realised that the elephants are trained in a cruel and violent way and that they are controlled by hooks which get ploughed into their foreheads which apparently aren't as tough as they look. No trekking for us then!

We had a wonderful day at the sanctuary. After being introduced to the mighty animals we were given baskets of fruit to feed them which involved putting the food in their trunks. The two of us shared a baby elephant who was very gentle and a greedy adult elephant who wanted more food before she had finished her mouthful! It was an amazing experience.

After our own lunch we followed the elephants down to the river where we helped wash them, this was great fun! We threw buckets of water over them and scrubbed them with brushes. Some of the elephants were spraying us with water as if we needed a wash too! When they got out of the river the mischievous baby elephants tried charging us a few times, fortunately we managed to outrun them as apparently they like to play 'topple the tourists'!

As part of our education we learned the sad stories of some of the elephants and how they had ended up at the sanctuary. It was nice to see how happy and healthy they are now. If anyone is planning to go elephant trekking in Thailand (or anywhere else) we would suggest that you visit the sanctuary instead, seeing elephants wandering free is a much better way to see them and you get to interact with them much more in this way too.

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