Chang means elephant in Thai. (It's also Chris's favorite brand of beer here.) In 1900 there were 100,000 Asian elephants in Thailand, now there are 2,500. The Asian elephant is in danger of becoming extinct - such a shame because the Chang is the national symbol of Thailand and is a very sacred animal to the Thais. We have had the good fortune to witness both extremes of how elephants are treated in this country. When you arrive in Chiang Mai (the amazing city we are in right now), most guest houses and travel agencies plug their treks which encompass so many different ideas. Most treks take you to one or more of the hundreds of hilltribes in northern Thailand, hikes to waterfalls, bamboo rafting, and the most popular is the elephant rides - actually getting to see the elephants "at work." Sounds exciting right?
We arrived in Chiang Mai and immediately contacted a friend of Jeanne's (who we stayed with in Bangkok). He put us in touch with a Thai woman named Noom who had also spent a year in America and spoke almost perfect English. She immediately took us in and showed us the ropes. She owns a guesthouse named Moonlight House which we at first did not stay at (We had already booked ourselves into the Alley Nine). We loved our little corner of the inner moat which had at least 2 little organic/veggie restaurants that we ate in A LOT and lots of cute pubs and bars and guest houses all around. We rented motorbikes (the most popular method of transportation in this city) from Noom and spent a day exploring. It was awesome and scary at the same time. The Thais ride these things like you've never seen- whole families (with no helmets!) get on all at once, young girls pile on together and no one seems the least bit hesitant to ride them. Except us farang of course. But we got to see the city in a really awesome way. So Noom also signed us up to do a trek through her guest house. This trek was one of the ones that offered the elephant rides. Of course Chris and I thought the whole trek sounded pretty fun- of course this was not knowing what we were to learn at the Elephant Nature Park in the following few days.
Our tour guide "Q" took us first to an elephant camp. This camp had tons of elephants at work, strapped with seats on top and each with their own mahout. The mahout is the guy who takes care of the elephant its whole life. These mahouts each have a bamboo pole with a very sharp hook at the end. They use this to get the elephants to walk and move and do what they want. We reluctantly got on and felt very uncomfortable as we prodded along, the mahout knocking our elephant in the head with his hook, and us having to buy bags and bags of bananas to feed the elephant. I kept telling myself that it must be ok, this is what they do. Maybe the hooks don't hurt, the elephant has thick skin right? Well, we get to the end of our elephant walk, Chris and I both say that we really weren't too thrilled with that, but whatever, we did it. The rest of our trek was pretty cool though, great hike to a waterfall, got to see some hilltribes and bought some crafts from them, and the bamboo rafting was awesome. It was all pretty touristy, but really the only way to do it.
So our friends Kellee and Rob in SF had mentioned to us a while back about this place they went called the Elephant Nature Park and they loved it and said we had to go and stay over if we could. They basically only have the website, and not one guest house or travel guide had any info on it. Most places advertise the Elephant Conservation Center where you get to see the elephants play music and do art and tricks and take rides and all of that. We heard a lot about that place, but nothing of the place we went to.
We trusted Kellee and Rob and thought that it sounded pretty cool. So we get picked up in the morning and head straight to a market where 4 of us had to pile mounds and mounds and bags and bags full of bananas into a truck. It was hard work, but it was only enough food for the 30 elephants to eat for 1 day!!! Then on to the park - it is located about an hour north west of Chiang Mai. Amy, a British girl who has been traveling for like 7 months was coming to the park for her 2nd time. The first time she stayed for 2 weeks as a volunteer. She was so excited to go back. We talked of past and future travel plans and bonded with her instantly.
We arrive at the park and a fully tattooed American woman named Jody starts to tell us all about the park and the Thai woman name "Lek" (her nickname which means small) who started it. While Jody is telling us all the background info, we get to immediately feed the elephants. It was awesome! If you look on their website, you can see pix of people doing that. At the park we also got to go in the river and help bathe the elephants. It was hilarious, these elephants were soooo happy to have us scrub them! Immediately once they get out of the water, they throw sand and dirt all over themselves to protect themselves from the sun and mosquitos. It was hilarious! All our hard work for nil. The food there was pretty much the best food I've had anywhere. There were lots of volunteers there (mostly British and Australian girls) so there were at least 15 different dishes to eat, and most of them vegetarian! It was so fun hanging out with all the people there, sharing stories and just being with like-minded people. These were the highlights- the rest was not so pretty.
Lek started this park in an effort to save the elephants in Thailand from being tortured, overworked and treated poorly by their mahouts and owners. She started buying elephants one by one to help rehabilitate them - elephants who had gotten in accidents, who were abused and neglected their whole lives. Each elephant at the park had a sadder story then the next. These creatures were amazing, they are so smart and just knew what was going on with them and you can see it in their eyes. At the park they also have tons of dogs who are being rehabilitated as well. Thailand has a major problem with stray dogs (there are millions of them in this country) - this is another story that I won't get into now. But its so strange for me to see a wonderful Buddhist culture like the Thais treat their animals the way they do. The people are such friendly, gentle and caring people. We love them. But this is something I don't love or understand.
We got to see a documentary done about Lek and her work (it was a bit outdated since it was shot in 2002 and in the last few years so much has changed with her park) . The most horrific part of it was having to watch the young elephants go through what is called a Pujan. This is the week of torture they go through to train them. They basically break their spirit and torture them into submission by poking and prodding them with knives and hooks, sleep deprivation amongst many other forms of torture. They always want the elephant to fear humans. And this is all the while being in a small cage and chained up by all four legs. It was so heartbreaking to watch. Almost every elephant at the park had gone through this. Pretty much every elephant in Asia has gone through this. This is what they've been doing for thousands of years. Its the only way the mahouts know and to try to change this practice is almost insane. There are 3 elephants there that were too young when Lek got them, so thankfully, they will never have to go through a Pujan. Lek is trying to get the government to change their views on how to train the elephants by training these 3 young elephants with positive reinforcement instead. And its really working. We got to see one of the mahouts train Lilly (I think that's her name) and it was awesome. Hopefully Lek can change the nature of the way this country views the training and treatment of elephants. Its been a really slow and challenging road, but with more and more people becoming aware of this program, real change can happen. She's actually had tons of press lately so that is good news. Its just so difficult because the tourism industry in this country is really based on these treks and elephant rides and elephants painting and playing music and doing tricks. Not what would really be good and healthy for this sacred animal. Its all about money and politics of course.
At the park you can stay for the day, a night or more or even volunteer for a week or 2. We stayed overnight and had such a fantastic and emotional time. It just felt so right to get to hang with the elephants as they lived their lives peacefully, eating, playing, bathing, hiking, etc. It was beautiful. We even got to take a hike with them up into the jungle - it was fascinating to see 12 elephants climb up and totally disappear in the trees! Then we got to mud surf down (they've had so much rain lately that everything was pure mud). So hilarious! The elephants of course made it down no problem. Seeing the babies try to maneuver up the mud was priceless!
So check out the site and if you plan on going to Thailand or know someone who is, go visit the Elephant Nature Park. Its hard to care about something that doesn't affect you - but it was so real to us being there and these are living breathing creatures who need our help!! Also, on Animal Planet on Oct 2 and 3 at various times there is a special that is done on the park that you should check out. It's called "Caught in the Moment - Thailand" and if you can watch it and tape it for us that would be awesome.
So now we're back in the city and enjoying everything Chiang Mai has to offer. It reminds me so much of SF - so many veggie restaurants, yoga and massage schools, its the perfect place for me! I even took a yoga class all in Thai. So cool! My favorite thing I think is that this city has really the best markets I've ever seen. We're about to leave and go walk the huge Sunday night market and buy tons of gifts for all of our friends and family. Tomorrow we're going to take a cooking course all day at an organic farm out of the city. I can't wait!! Then onto our next adventure and finally a new country - Laos.
We arrived in Chiang Mai and immediately contacted a friend of Jeanne's (who we stayed with in Bangkok). He put us in touch with a Thai woman named Noom who had also spent a year in America and spoke almost perfect English. She immediately took us in and showed us the ropes. She owns a guesthouse named Moonlight House which we at first did not stay at (We had already booked ourselves into the Alley Nine). We loved our little corner of the inner moat which had at least 2 little organic/veggie restaurants that we ate in A LOT and lots of cute pubs and bars and guest houses all around. We rented motorbikes (the most popular method of transportation in this city) from Noom and spent a day exploring. It was awesome and scary at the same time. The Thais ride these things like you've never seen- whole families (with no helmets!) get on all at once, young girls pile on together and no one seems the least bit hesitant to ride them. Except us farang of course. But we got to see the city in a really awesome way. So Noom also signed us up to do a trek through her guest house. This trek was one of the ones that offered the elephant rides. Of course Chris and I thought the whole trek sounded pretty fun- of course this was not knowing what we were to learn at the Elephant Nature Park in the following few days.
Our tour guide "Q" took us first to an elephant camp. This camp had tons of elephants at work, strapped with seats on top and each with their own mahout. The mahout is the guy who takes care of the elephant its whole life. These mahouts each have a bamboo pole with a very sharp hook at the end. They use this to get the elephants to walk and move and do what they want. We reluctantly got on and felt very uncomfortable as we prodded along, the mahout knocking our elephant in the head with his hook, and us having to buy bags and bags of bananas to feed the elephant. I kept telling myself that it must be ok, this is what they do. Maybe the hooks don't hurt, the elephant has thick skin right? Well, we get to the end of our elephant walk, Chris and I both say that we really weren't too thrilled with that, but whatever, we did it. The rest of our trek was pretty cool though, great hike to a waterfall, got to see some hilltribes and bought some crafts from them, and the bamboo rafting was awesome. It was all pretty touristy, but really the only way to do it.
So our friends Kellee and Rob in SF had mentioned to us a while back about this place they went called the Elephant Nature Park and they loved it and said we had to go and stay over if we could. They basically only have the website, and not one guest house or travel guide had any info on it. Most places advertise the Elephant Conservation Center where you get to see the elephants play music and do art and tricks and take rides and all of that. We heard a lot about that place, but nothing of the place we went to.
We trusted Kellee and Rob and thought that it sounded pretty cool. So we get picked up in the morning and head straight to a market where 4 of us had to pile mounds and mounds and bags and bags full of bananas into a truck. It was hard work, but it was only enough food for the 30 elephants to eat for 1 day!!! Then on to the park - it is located about an hour north west of Chiang Mai. Amy, a British girl who has been traveling for like 7 months was coming to the park for her 2nd time. The first time she stayed for 2 weeks as a volunteer. She was so excited to go back. We talked of past and future travel plans and bonded with her instantly.
We arrive at the park and a fully tattooed American woman named Jody starts to tell us all about the park and the Thai woman name "Lek" (her nickname which means small) who started it. While Jody is telling us all the background info, we get to immediately feed the elephants. It was awesome! If you look on their website, you can see pix of people doing that. At the park we also got to go in the river and help bathe the elephants. It was hilarious, these elephants were soooo happy to have us scrub them! Immediately once they get out of the water, they throw sand and dirt all over themselves to protect themselves from the sun and mosquitos. It was hilarious! All our hard work for nil. The food there was pretty much the best food I've had anywhere. There were lots of volunteers there (mostly British and Australian girls) so there were at least 15 different dishes to eat, and most of them vegetarian! It was so fun hanging out with all the people there, sharing stories and just being with like-minded people. These were the highlights- the rest was not so pretty.
Lek started this park in an effort to save the elephants in Thailand from being tortured, overworked and treated poorly by their mahouts and owners. She started buying elephants one by one to help rehabilitate them - elephants who had gotten in accidents, who were abused and neglected their whole lives. Each elephant at the park had a sadder story then the next. These creatures were amazing, they are so smart and just knew what was going on with them and you can see it in their eyes. At the park they also have tons of dogs who are being rehabilitated as well. Thailand has a major problem with stray dogs (there are millions of them in this country) - this is another story that I won't get into now. But its so strange for me to see a wonderful Buddhist culture like the Thais treat their animals the way they do. The people are such friendly, gentle and caring people. We love them. But this is something I don't love or understand.
We got to see a documentary done about Lek and her work (it was a bit outdated since it was shot in 2002 and in the last few years so much has changed with her park) . The most horrific part of it was having to watch the young elephants go through what is called a Pujan. This is the week of torture they go through to train them. They basically break their spirit and torture them into submission by poking and prodding them with knives and hooks, sleep deprivation amongst many other forms of torture. They always want the elephant to fear humans. And this is all the while being in a small cage and chained up by all four legs. It was so heartbreaking to watch. Almost every elephant at the park had gone through this. Pretty much every elephant in Asia has gone through this. This is what they've been doing for thousands of years. Its the only way the mahouts know and to try to change this practice is almost insane. There are 3 elephants there that were too young when Lek got them, so thankfully, they will never have to go through a Pujan. Lek is trying to get the government to change their views on how to train the elephants by training these 3 young elephants with positive reinforcement instead. And its really working. We got to see one of the mahouts train Lilly (I think that's her name) and it was awesome. Hopefully Lek can change the nature of the way this country views the training and treatment of elephants. Its been a really slow and challenging road, but with more and more people becoming aware of this program, real change can happen. She's actually had tons of press lately so that is good news. Its just so difficult because the tourism industry in this country is really based on these treks and elephant rides and elephants painting and playing music and doing tricks. Not what would really be good and healthy for this sacred animal. Its all about money and politics of course.
At the park you can stay for the day, a night or more or even volunteer for a week or 2. We stayed overnight and had such a fantastic and emotional time. It just felt so right to get to hang with the elephants as they lived their lives peacefully, eating, playing, bathing, hiking, etc. It was beautiful. We even got to take a hike with them up into the jungle - it was fascinating to see 12 elephants climb up and totally disappear in the trees! Then we got to mud surf down (they've had so much rain lately that everything was pure mud). So hilarious! The elephants of course made it down no problem. Seeing the babies try to maneuver up the mud was priceless!
So check out the site and if you plan on going to Thailand or know someone who is, go visit the Elephant Nature Park. Its hard to care about something that doesn't affect you - but it was so real to us being there and these are living breathing creatures who need our help!! Also, on Animal Planet on Oct 2 and 3 at various times there is a special that is done on the park that you should check out. It's called "Caught in the Moment - Thailand" and if you can watch it and tape it for us that would be awesome.
So now we're back in the city and enjoying everything Chiang Mai has to offer. It reminds me so much of SF - so many veggie restaurants, yoga and massage schools, its the perfect place for me! I even took a yoga class all in Thai. So cool! My favorite thing I think is that this city has really the best markets I've ever seen. We're about to leave and go walk the huge Sunday night market and buy tons of gifts for all of our friends and family. Tomorrow we're going to take a cooking course all day at an organic farm out of the city. I can't wait!! Then onto our next adventure and finally a new country - Laos.
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