Chiang Mai

Bangkok - ayutthaya - Chiang Mai

We took the night train from Bangkok, and the minute I sat down, I felt like I could breathe again. Like I said in the previous post, if I had to describe Bangkok in one word, it would be, exhausting. So, even though I loved the Bangkok experience (especially the food), I couldn't wait to slow it down.

We stopped first to visit Ayutthaya and then kept on going to Chiang Mai (8-hour trip).

We didn't have any place booked. But in Chiang Mai, you have many guesthouses available, for a reasonable price.

One of the main “attractions” in Chiang Mai are the elephants. We research a lot on this subject because we were afraid of ending in a place that only sheltered animals for money.

During our stay in Thailand, we saw many sad things when it comes to elephants (a lot of other animals too, but we tend to avoid places like the zoo, or anywhere where the animals are kept captive). But what pisses me off the most, are the tourists who still contribute to this kind of business. Please don't ride the elephants if you're going to Thailand, inform yourself, get educated, and don't ride them.

I always feel a little overwhelmed by talking about this subject. You are never sure of how much is true and if you're just being sold this beautiful picture of how happy the elephants are in these sanctuaries, so you can home with a quiet conscience.

We decided to go to the Blue Daily Elephant Care. There are a lot of sanctuaries in Chiang Mai now, partially because people are starting to realize that tourists are against animal abuse, but hopefully because they also have affection for those animals and they want to preserve them in their natural habitat.

The day is organized with a trip to the sanctuary. You begin with preparing the food you're going to feed the animals with, then the guides take you on a walk with the elephants (side by side, always side by side) to the river where you can also give them a bath (if they want), and it ends with all of us having lunch while the guides explain to us the story of elephants in Thailand throughout the years.

So here's a little bit of what I've learned. Those people take care of them now, because that's all they can do. These elephants are rescued from tourist rides, and they cannot release them anymore because they wouldn't survive. The best example I can give you is a domestic dog or cat that is used to be around humans and if you take them outside, they won’t know how to hunt and find their own food, they just wouldn’t survive because they were accustomed to live around humans.

So, instead of leaving them to die or being abused, they live here, hoping that this place is good enough, where they can walk free and that they can be a little bit more happy with humans who love them. The guides sure looked like someone who loved them like I love my cat.

These are beautiful and powerful creatures and being around them was a remarkable experience. But if I had to choose, I would rather visit them in their natural habitat, even if that means I couldn’t touch them.