Chiang Mai—Elephants, Zipline and Muay Thai

We used Tuesday and Wednesday to explore the city a bit, visit the night markets, and eat some really good street food where we could get two meals and drinks for about 100 baht, or a little over $3.  If we eat at restaurants, it is around $9 for more than enough food and drinks.  Our favorite street dessert has been the mango sticky rice, which we get almost every night.  We also got a few massages (about $4 per hour) and changed hotels.  The one we stayed at for the rest of the week in Chiang Mai was less than $10 per night.  I can’t really complain about those prices.

There are a ton of temples in Chiang Mai, and we visited the largest one, located at the center of the city square: Wat Phra Singh.

They also had a program running every day where you can stop to chat with some monks at a table and ask them about their life and beliefs.  We did this for a bit on both Tuesday and Wednesday with two different monks, one from Laos, another from Thailand.

On Thursday we did a tour with at an elephant camp where we learned how to ride like a “mahout” or elephant trainer.  We started by picking out our elephants for the day.  I got Lulu, a 35 year old female and the second largest at the camp.  Stevi got an 8 year old smaller female named Paboon who she claims was the prettiest one.

A couple of Lulu and Stevi

Lulu and the only male in the camp                          Stevi with Paboon

We spent a lot of the day riding trails with some great views overlooking the jungle.  We also took a break at a small jungle hut for lunch and for playing a bit with the elephants.  We learned how to give commands so that we could mount and dismount, which is a challenge considering how high they are.

 

After lunch we rode up to a area that has black mud, which is supposed to be good for the skin (for humans and elephants).  So the guides got us all to rub it on our faces.  Later we noticed quite a few elephants pooping and weeing in it, so we weren’t quite sure this mud was actually good for our skin.  We could tell the elephants loved it though, so it was quickly forgotten.  They’d just roll in the stuff and wanted it rubbed all over.  Before going on this tour, we were a little concerned that is was one of those places that might mistreat the elephants, but I’d say these were pretty happy and well cared for.

After the mud spa, we rode down to a river where the elephants would go completely underwater with us on them, usually with the water coming up to our chests.  This was really the best part of the day and an unforgettable experience.  We spent about 30 minutes swimming and playing with them here.

All in all, the elephant day was one of the highlights of the entire trip.  We saw a printed ad in a tourist office window front that pretty much sums up how great it was:

“You will receive the amusement and see praise something infront love of intelligent elephant very with the ability to impress at you not forget to know.”

The next day we took a zipline tour in the jungle.  This was a good time with some awesome zips and free falls up to 40 meters.

That night we went to a Muay Thai kickboxing match.  There were about six different matches in total, and most were pretty exciting with some serious kicks to the head.

On Saturday, it was a bit rainy, so we just relaxed, got some good food, and walked around the night bazaar.  Lots of good street food, artists, and music.  The best part was when they started playing the Thai national anthem and everyone noticed and stopped moving and talking except for Stevi.  Tomorrow morning we’re off to Bangkok.