Feb 23th, 2015
I cannot even begin to tell you how life changing this day has been. After breakie, around 9am the minibus picked us up at our hostel to drive us one hour north of Chiang Mai to the elephant retirement park. We were all a bit car sick from all the windy roads leading up to the park, but we all got out of the van and went up to the camp so our guide Pansa could tell us about the day and the 6 elephants they care for here.
First there's the big mama called Bipho, she's the biggest, the leader of the pack and is 45 years old, then there's the smaller mama, she 22 months pregnant (elephants carry for 22 months so she's ready to pop anytime now), then there's Phet he's the smart one, he has so much character and he even danced for us, he's 10 years old, next is the two youngins they're 2.5 years old and they love to give hugs and kisses and finally there's Nuang Chang, she's the little 11 months old baby, she absolutely loves to play and run around, I don't have any other baby elephants to compare her to but she's the cutest one I've ever seen!
These elephants are such amazing creatures and because of this park they get to run free and live their lives without pain and suffering like so many do. The elephant retirement park rescues young and older elephants to bring them to this sanctuary where they will never see another day of riding or abuse, they get to just be happy and healthy.
We spent the whole day there with them we played, fed and washed them, who would have known ñthat such a massive animal could be so kind and gentle. Taking care of these beautiful creatures all day was truly a must for anyone who visits Thailand, as soon as we were finished washing them at the end of the day I told a girl from our group that my life was complete now (I may have been exaggerating a bit but it was really an amazing experience and I would do it again in a heart beat).
We were so sad to leave them but we unfortunately had to so the minibus drove us back to our hostel where we chilled, got cleaned up (mud everywhere imaginable from giving the elephants a mud bath) and all had dinner together then packed it in for the night.
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Feb 24th, 2015
Today was definitely a lot more chilled out than the last few days between cooking classes and playing with elephants, it was nice to relax a bit. We went for our fruit this am then Jay, Vee and I had to book a hostel for when we get to Koh Lanta tomorrow morning. We leave in the am at 6:25 am and have a 2 hour flight to Krabi, we're back tracking a bit but since Jay only has a few weeks out here we figured we would do whatever he wants to do and he picked beaches.
After sorting out our accommodation we got some lunch followed by a bit of lounging and walking around. We honestly did f*ck all today, nothing productive other than dropping off our laundry was accomplished. When dinner rolled around everyone was nowhere to be found so me and Vee just went to grab some curry and khao soi, it was delicious and as always J4U never fails us!
Once were were stuffed, Jay and Ross randomly appeared and decided to join us for vegan Nice cream so we started walking. It's quite the far walk but we got there quick and got to shove amazing Nice cream in our faces! Since it's our last night in Chiang Mai for a little while we thought Nice cream would be a great way to wrap up our fabulous time here.
Early a$$ flight in the morning so it bed time for us!
A bientot,
Janelle Brine
"It is more important to prevent animal suffering, rather than sit to contemplate the evils of the universe praying in the company of priests."
- Buddha
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