Today was just one of those days we’ll
remember for the rest of our life. We’re still in Chiang Mai, which is a real
laidback city, but after walking around for a couple of days, you get the drill
– which I think applies for most large cities (although I personally could
never get enough of Paris, or New York for that matter). Normally we’re the
type of people that do their own thing in their own time and place, but for now
we decided to play tourist for one day. Thailand is
the country to visit the elephants (Thai means ‘white elephant’),
so that was our number one activity, besides visiting the Tiger Kingdom.
Originally we wanted to go to Tiger Temple just outside Bangkok, but after some
research (Tiger Kingdom vs Tiger Temple) we quickly found out that the one in
Chiang Mai is the better option, and a bonus is that it was just one hour away
from the city in contrast to the three and a half hour ride to Tiger Temple
from Bangkok. For the elephants we needed a more thorough research, especially
because I find it immensely disturbing if the animals are all chained up and
have to perform all sorts of tricks. We did find something that should’ve lived
up to our animal-friendly expectations, so when we stepped in the taxi – with
the driver that drove us from the airport to the hotel and was armed with two
books with personal written customer recommendations of his tours that got us
convinced – we were all prepared to go. The minute we got into the taxi the
driver had a different kind of idea with regard to the elephant place, which
made me even more sceptical because the drivers normally just care about their
commission. We did accept his offer to go to the other place after he tried to
reassure us (didn’t do it for me though…). When we arrived our first impression
was actually a good one because of the few tourists walking around the
property. Also the animals were in good shape – as far as the untrained eye can
see – and we got a really nice (well speaking English) guide that toured us
around the elephant farm. Thank you Pon (driver’s name) for pushing through!
First we changed in different clothes –
best outfit on the blog so far right – and we were asked to make shampoo to
wash the elephant later. After that we went to meet our elephant for the day by
feeding him and get comfortable around him. This also meant hopping on and off in al kinds of ways, which for me didn’t seem like such a great idea (they are
so unbelievably huge!), but after the
guide trying to convince me for 15 minutes I took the plunge. And it was great!
We drove around on his bare back, gave him a bath and drove around some more. It’s
such an amazing experience, one like no other. We even got certified at the end
of the trip meaning we completed the Mahout training (Mahout is an elephant care-taker). For everyone who comes to Chiang
Mai and wants to visit an elephant camp go to the Panda Tour – although the
name is a bit confusing. All the elephants in the camp have been working up in
the mountains and are liberated by the tribe (by encouragement of the
government) and living with them since.
I’m saving the tigers for the next post,
that way it’s more to look forward to right!
For more information about the Panda Tour
Elephant Camp go to
www.pandatourchiangmai.com
Looks great! And of course, Juliette is very jealous of your elehpant journey ;-)
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