After an amazing couple of weeks of island hopping around Southern Thailand (don’t worry Mom that post will come next), we took a flight from Koh Samui up to Chang Mai.
While it’s fresh in my mind, I wanted to talk about this incredible city and the day we visited an elephant sanctuary.
Now, doing quite a bit of research before this trip has had many upsides, but it also created numerous expectations in my mind of how a place should be. I pictured Chang Mai to mimic Ubud, Bali, since it is a city encapsulated by lush jungle forest. I didn’t anticipate how large and lively Chang Mai was. At night, the markets were bustling with people and aromas of khao soi while live music echoed from every other bar.
The peace during the day is what surprised me the most.
We started our mornings with yoga at the hostel and a side of banana pancakes. Taking full advantage of the free bikes, we explored every side street and tucked-away restaurant. We wandered into gorgeous temples and hiked to the famous Wat Prathat Doi Suthep.
The food was straight out of my dreams.
The markets had everything from local dishes like Pad Thai, pad se yew, and khao soi to smoothies of all flavors to sushi to fresh coconuts. Anything and everything you wanted you could get…even crocodile or bull testicles.
Aside from the food, what likely draws in the most tourists to Chang Mai is the countless elephant sanctuaries within an hour's drive from Old Town Chang Mai.
Visiting the sanctuary was one of my favorite
excursions of our whole trip.
I was honestly a bit hesitant about going to a sanctuary. I had read about the elephant tourism industry and how elephants were exploited in the past. Many so-called “sanctuaries” participated in elephant riding and other unethical practices that harmed them. We made sure to do a lot of research before booking our trip to Elephant Jungle Sanctuary.
I was very appreciative of the measures they took to keep this industry ethical and sustainable.
First off, except one, all the elephants in the
sanctuary were rescued from unethical tourism practices or show-type. Second, they don’t participate in artificial breeding. Third, they emphasize not touching too much. Overall, they prioritize the health and safety of the elephants over getting that Instagram-worthy photo to post.
In the same way you give a dog treats, we started by feeding them bananas to establish trust with our new friends. Elephants spend 18-20 hours a day eating. They consume around 4 tons of food daily, which is 20% of their body weight; I think I got pretty close to this amount at the night markets.
While the elephants snacked on grasses the staff cut up, we were able to approach them. We rubbed the rough skin around their shoulders and back with an emphasis on staying away from the ears and not kissing their trunks. For such large mammals, it’s beautiful how docile they are.
Global warming trends are only making it hotter in Chang Mai despite the fact it should be winter. Unlike humans, elephants don’t have pores they can sweat through to regulate temperature. Instead, the elephants walked down to the river for a swim. We splashed water onto the backs while they submerged underwater. Even though I have pores, getting splashed helped regulate my temperature.
Visiting the elephant sanctuary was a wonderful experience. Being in the presence of such enormous creatures is humbling. It’s beautiful that such animals exist. While they are domesticated since they came from unethical practices, the elephants gave us what I would describe as an authentic experience. They are expensive to care for, and ethical sanctuaries like this bring in money to support them while creating sustainable jobs.