We arrived in Chiang Mai, to see among other things an elephant camp like Maetaeng Elephant Park, after having spent two wonderful nights in Sukhothai. Sukhotai had been part of the plan from the word go when we were organizing our trip, but even though we knew what we would encounter there, its size, contrasts and color were a pleasant surprise – true beauty throughout.

But anyway, as everything comes to an end we had to move on and discover somewhere new, and this time it was the turn of Chiang Mai. After travelling by bus for 5 hours, we arrived in the city, which was bigger than we’d expected. A tuk tuk took us to the hotel where we’d booked a room before leaving Sukhothai, but because of some technical issues (as well as human error …) we had to change to another hotel, which turned out to be better and cheaper. We then just went out to get something for dinner and ask about prices for tours in the area, but everything was very expensive … Being at the end of this long trip has reduced our budget considerably :S

The following day we went downstairs to have breakfast and then Noah and I went out to investigate prices to see an elephant farm, at least. One woman offered us an acceptable price to take us to the Maetaeng Elephant Park in Chiang Mai, so after going to get the money and get ready we said goodbye to Fabio – he had decided to stay and do some more searches for the blog.

 I was looking forward to taking Noah to a park where elephants are treated with care and devotion, where they aren’t used to give people rides, and where interaction with the mastodons is authentic. The prices brought me back to earth with a bump though and I had to give up on my idyllic idea and just fulfil the basic promise I’d made to Noah, which was to see the elephants.

After an hour and a half to get there we arrived in a desolate area where we began to see the gigantic pachyderms. I bought our tickets for the show, but not for an elephant ride. I still think that these beautiful animals should be admired from a distance, and I tried to explain this to Noah.

We walked around a bit, and got the opportunity to see the elephants closer up. I used the moment to explain to Noah how I had hoped this experience would be, but well … Maybe next time 🙂

The show was due to begin at 1:15pm and it started right on time. On the one hand I was happy for Noah, but on the other hand I hoped that the show wouldn’t be degrading for the elephants. Thank goodness it wasn’t. The show at Maetaeng Elephant Park consisted largely of showing the (learned) skills the elephants have, including strength, dexterity, intelligence and even style and taste.

When the show at Maetaeng Elephant Park ended we learned a bit more about these large mammals and then headed back to the car, where our driver was waiting for us. She suggested we do another (animal-related) activity in the area or visit a Burmese community known as Long Neck.

It was tempting, but as our time in Chiang Mai was limited during this visit, I decided not to be swayed from our plan and to go to our next stop: Wat Phra That Doi Temple.