Adventure to Asia: Thailand Pt. 3

Tuesday, July 22: Chiang Mai, Thailand (continued)
While we were in Thailand Jillian and I really wanted to see elephants. Along with her friends, we decided to go to the Elephant Retirement Park. It was a little bit more expensive than the other elephant attractions but it was really important to us that we went to a place that took care of and rescued elephants. Do not go to elephant attractions that allow you to ride elephants or train them to do tricks. Those places abuse these animals and often cause miscarriages in pregnant elephants. We liked the elephant retirement park because they rescued working elephants (often at a price because no one will give these elephants up for free, unfortunately).

The stories of the elephants is a very sad one. One had two miscarriages due to the strenuous working conditions. Fortunately, she was pregnant when she came, and I found out she gave birth after we left. This elephant was very hostile towards the two babies living in the park.

Another was rescued from a circus. She still had a rope around her neck and wouldn't let the trainers take it off. Every so often you'd see her raise her leg like they do in the circus because she still thinks she's a working elephant.

When we first got to the park we got an introduction then we split up into groups. We got to feed the elephants bananas. After feeding the elephants we ate lunch, which was very delicious!

After lunch we headed down the hill to play with the elephants in a mud bath! Seriously, how many people can say they've done that? Then we took them to a river to rinse them off. The workers were so nice and took our cameras for us to take pictures so we wouldn't get them dirty! I wasn't going to go in because I hate getting my hair wet, but then I realized that I would be missing the opportunity of a lifetime!

If you ever find yourself in Chiang Mai you have to visit! It was a wonderful experience and the elephants were so cute!

5 Year Story: After the park we headed back to our hostel where we got cleaned up and met Jillian's friends for dinner. Two of them wanted time to themselves so the three of us ate some Indian food. As we were eating some little girl came up to me and started creepily talking to me. It reminded me of the little kid in The Sixth Sense. Then she walked away.After we walked around some markets and stopped to have Thai tea at a cute little coffee shop/pizza place. It started raining on our way back so I had to put a bag on my head to keep my hair dye from bleeding on my clothes. It was kind of funny.

*The views in this post are strictly my own and do not reflect the park nor was I paid for my participation or comments.