The first 5 days of my 6 week Asian adventure began by taking two flights to Chiang Mai, Thailand. I had heard such wonderful things about this place from other people and I was so excited to experience it for myself! The number one activity I was looking forward to was going to an elephant sanctuary. Without getting on a self-righteous pedestal, I just want to share my thoughts on elephant treatment in Thailand.
Elephants are revered as very holy creatures in Thailand - they are featured in the temple designs and artwork and are often thought of as the creatures who created Thailand and made it what it is today. That being said, it's really shocking to learn of how these sacred animals are treated in today's societies. In the past, they were irreplaceable workers in the teak timber business; however, as logging became more illegal and unnecessary, hundreds of elephants were left without work and either abandoned or shipped off to work in the growing tourist industry. While these are probably the most gentle and amazing creatures I've ever seen, it is the belief of the mahouts (elephant owners) that the animals have to be beaten into submission in order to be tame enough to learn how to allow tourists to ride them, perform tricks and earn them tons of money. When the elephant is only 4 years old it is taken from its mother, shoved into a cage and beaten mercilessly for a week until its "spirit is broken". Because this tradition is hundreds of years old, it's really hard to change people's minds about this.
On a happy note, we went to the Elephant Nature Park, which is a sanctuary for saved elephants where they are free to roam, form herds and generally enjoy life again. There are 36 elephants at this sanctuary and most of them had horrific stories of abuse and neglect. We spent the whole day (8am-6pm) feeding them fruit (entire watermelons and huge bunches of bananas), walking around with them, kissing their trunks (ok maybe that was mostly me) and bathing them in the river. It was the most incredible day. Some of them still recall their tricks from their previous life so I even got to trade some bananas for an elephant kiss right on my check. Pretty awesome.
This place was worth every penny, and if you ever find yourself in Chiang Mai I urge you go there and experience it for yourself. Skip the "ride an elephant through the jungle"outing, because chances are that elephant suffered way too much for that 15 minute ride to be worth it.
On a side note, the food and atmosphere in Chiang Mai are wonderful! There many options and fun things to do that we ended up staying an extra day to fit it all in. We visited Tiger Kingdom - which after my soapbox about the elephants, I'm a bit ashamed to admit. They claimed the tigers weren't drugged and were treated fairly, but the cages were quite small and I've heard from others that it's not at all the way they portray. I can't deny that I loved rubbing my head on the tigers and feeding the babies out of bottles, though. They are the most beautiful animals.
So to sum up Chiang Mai...elephant kisses, lots of food, new Canadian friends, temple stairs and tiger babies.
Next stop: Bangkok
Elephants are revered as very holy creatures in Thailand - they are featured in the temple designs and artwork and are often thought of as the creatures who created Thailand and made it what it is today. That being said, it's really shocking to learn of how these sacred animals are treated in today's societies. In the past, they were irreplaceable workers in the teak timber business; however, as logging became more illegal and unnecessary, hundreds of elephants were left without work and either abandoned or shipped off to work in the growing tourist industry. While these are probably the most gentle and amazing creatures I've ever seen, it is the belief of the mahouts (elephant owners) that the animals have to be beaten into submission in order to be tame enough to learn how to allow tourists to ride them, perform tricks and earn them tons of money. When the elephant is only 4 years old it is taken from its mother, shoved into a cage and beaten mercilessly for a week until its "spirit is broken". Because this tradition is hundreds of years old, it's really hard to change people's minds about this.
On a happy note, we went to the Elephant Nature Park, which is a sanctuary for saved elephants where they are free to roam, form herds and generally enjoy life again. There are 36 elephants at this sanctuary and most of them had horrific stories of abuse and neglect. We spent the whole day (8am-6pm) feeding them fruit (entire watermelons and huge bunches of bananas), walking around with them, kissing their trunks (ok maybe that was mostly me) and bathing them in the river. It was the most incredible day. Some of them still recall their tricks from their previous life so I even got to trade some bananas for an elephant kiss right on my check. Pretty awesome.
This place was worth every penny, and if you ever find yourself in Chiang Mai I urge you go there and experience it for yourself. Skip the "ride an elephant through the jungle"outing, because chances are that elephant suffered way too much for that 15 minute ride to be worth it.
On a side note, the food and atmosphere in Chiang Mai are wonderful! There many options and fun things to do that we ended up staying an extra day to fit it all in. We visited Tiger Kingdom - which after my soapbox about the elephants, I'm a bit ashamed to admit. They claimed the tigers weren't drugged and were treated fairly, but the cages were quite small and I've heard from others that it's not at all the way they portray. I can't deny that I loved rubbing my head on the tigers and feeding the babies out of bottles, though. They are the most beautiful animals.
So to sum up Chiang Mai...elephant kisses, lots of food, new Canadian friends, temple stairs and tiger babies.
Next stop: Bangkok
