And I want your commitment in writing.

Many visitors come to Thailand with “ride an elephant” on their tourist-to-do list. You can see elephants walking up and down the streets in the cities. You can hitch a ride on an elephant to explore the wats. You can watch an elephant show, take an elephant trek, and even purchase paintings made by the animals themselves. But please, don’t.

Let me explain.

While researching our trip, Molly and I discussed the opportunity for elephant riding. We both felt a little weird about the whole thing… but still harbored wistful ideas of sitting high atop the classic symbol of Thailand. After considering a few options, we decided to visit the Elephant Nature Park to get our elephant dose. I’m so thankful we did.

Traditionally in Thailand, elephants were employed in the logging industry (while a few performed sacred ceremonies). In 1990, Thailand banned logging in an effort to protect their dwindling rainforests. While this decision proved beneficial to the forests, it created an entirely new problem. What to do with the elephants?

Mahouts (elephant keepers) became creative in order to feed their elephants (and their families). Some mahouts engaged in illegal logging. Because illegal logging operations are constantly in danger of being discovered, the mahouts force the elephants to work quickly. Quicker than elephants are able to work. One technique is to hide amphetamines in the elephants’ fruit. As you can imagine, drug addicted elephants are not a good thing. But they exist.

Other mahouts use their elephants to beg in the streets of Bangkok or Chiang Mai. Because tourists are tourists… and often don’t realize the situation, they are easy targets. Mahouts solicit money from people for the opportunity to feed the elephants inadequate portions of bananas and other fruit. Although mahouts can make a lot of money this way, it’s torture for the elephant. Consider this. Elephants read vibrations in their feet. Vibrations that travel up throughout their entire body. Imagine the vibrations an elephant will feel walking up and down the busy streets of Bangkok. Then factor in the bright lights, loud noises, and drunk tourists (mahouts target bars). We learned on our visit to the Nature Park that many street begging elephants display similar symptoms to people (such as those who have autism) when they are overstimulated, like rocking back and forth. Street begging is now illegal in Bangkok, but it still happens. Thankfully, Molly and I didn’t see it.

Legally, elephants are able to work in the tourism industry. This is where elephant riding comes in. Tourists can book trekking tours or entertainment shows with countless companies. It might seem harmless… but think about it. Trekking elephants are asked to carry people and supplies on their backs without being given adequate time to rest. Our guide at the Nature Park gave us this example, “When you go out on a hike, your backpack doesn’t feel all that heavy… but after several kilometers it becomes a real pain.” Plus those benches people sit on, can actually deform and break an elephant’s back.

Ok… but this is the really terrible part. Have you ever thought about how these wild animals are tamed to the degree that they will let a human sit on their back? Part of our visit included the viewing of a documentary that shows elephant “training.” This isn’t the exact video, but it gives you an idea.

If like me, you couldn’t actually watch that entire video… I’ll quickly fill you in on the details of how it works. The elephant is lead into a small cage so it cannot move. Then, several people approach the elephant and beat it into submission. That’s pretty much it. Sophisticated techniques are used such as jamming a sharp hook into the elephants head. Poking the sensitive inner ear with metal spears. You know. Fun things like that. But when they’re done… there’s another rideable elephant! Woot!

Some good stuff now, please.

You have to know all of these horrible things to fully understand why the Elephant Nature Park is so out of this world fantastic.

But that I’ll tell you tomorrow. (with pictures!)

xo, jill

Via rock climbing.

Our first day in Chiang Mai Molly and I booked a little rock climbing adventure. Might seem like a strange thing for someone who is scared of heights to do… Let’s be honest, I didn’t quite think it through.

Our guides came and picked us up at our guesthouse and took us to get situated. Both of our guides were young, fun, and skilled climbers.

We drove about 40 minutes outside of town to Crazy Horse Buttress, a very popular climbing spot.

Our guides began to set our course… and I began to sweat. Thankfully Molly cheerfully volunteered to climb first… but my turn did come.

For the record, I very proudly made it up to the top of 3 routes. The fourth course was a bit tricky for me. Just shy of the top, I suddenly felt stuck! The guides called out to move my right leg, left leg, and left hand… all at the same time! Or some such nonsense like that! Pretty much I panicked a bit and whimpered that I needed to come down. But you know… for someone whose limbs are uncontrollably shaking as she’s scooting up a mountain… nearly 4 courses is pretty impressive!

Then there’s Molly… this is how it went. Our guides would spend about 15 minutes setting up a course. Molly would climb said course in about 5. I timed it. Both guides commented on what a skilled climber she is… especially for a beginner! I think maybe she’s found a new outdoor activity…?

All in all, I’m very proud of my achievement. I’ve been working on challenging myself (hello, moving to Abu Dhabi!) and rock climbing certainly qualified as a challenge. Then you know, there’s the other side of me that’s still asking, “What were you thinking?!??!”

xo, jill

I might be set for life.

We woke up early, early, early the next morning to squeeze in some more bicycle time before heading on to our next destination.

I believe this is also the day that Molly declared she wanted to see more lotus flowers. Check.

At this point in our wat viewing… we had seen just about enough… but still enjoyed our early morning with the piles of bricks and headless Buddhas.

We kept laughing at what the woman just down the street at the information booth was thinking as we tried over and over for this shot.

Eventually, we hopped on our bus to head north to Chiang Mai… and happily discovered three monks sitting in the back.

xo, jill

To the bus depot.

After some miscommunication, Molly and I missed our transport to the bus station on the day we headed to Sukhothai, the site of even more ruins. Our appearance 15 minutes late at the front desk sent our proprietress in a panic… dialing on her cell phone and disappearing on her bike. Eventually she was able to find a taxi to take us to the bus station. What a thrill to be whizzing down the streets in the early morning in a little truck-like contraption. We needn’t have rushed. The bus was late enabling us to not only eat breakfast but play a rousing hand of Uno.

6 hours later we arrived in Sukhothai, 450km north of Bangkok. Sukhothai is considered to be the first Thai kingdom gaining its independence in 1238. Since 1991 it has been recognized with the well deserved title of World Heritage Site.

After picking a guesthouse we headed to the historical park just outside the city. We grabbed a map, rented bicycles, and began the exploration.

Exploring ruins on bike at golden hour with one of your very favorite friends… this is why we travel.

xo,
jill

Who could resist?

The woman who in her breaks from sprawling out on the couch ran our guesthouse, was hot to get Molly and I to take an evening boat ride to see a few more wats on the outer edge of the town. I was game from the start. What else were we going to do in this small town? Molly wasn’t so sure. Eventually she came around and we piled into the back of a pickup truck with several other guests. Let’s keep the tailgate down, safety first!

Now that you’ve seen probably the only photo of feet I will ever post…

We made it to the boat all in one piece and our shoes still on our feet. The boat ride was relaxing and full of French speakers. One French speaker in particular took this peculiarly framed photo of us…

Unlike our last boat ride, this boat ride actually took us to the wats it advertised! Imagine. We encountered other little interesting bits along the way. Eventually the lighting conditions prevented me from taking any more wat shots.

Our boat ride dropped us off at the Night Market when it was just shy of buzzing. We browsed the food carts and found plenty of items I would never put in my mouth. Luckily, we also happened upon some deliciousness but you know you have to wait for the novelty snack post. This is also the point in our trip where I developed a sore throat so intense I had to start to whimper and whine. (And drink cold yummy drinks!).

This photo is an outtake from a novelty snack series. Molly was trying to figure out why the shots she was taking with my camera kept being blurry. I just think it’s funny.

xo, jill

We said that a lot.

Early the next morning Molly and I jumped aboard a train headed to Ayuthaya, 85km north of Bangkok.

We started our exploration at the local museum.

Ayuthaya was the capital of Siam (Thailand’s previous name) from 1340 to 1767 when Burma raided the area. Because Ayuthaya was the capital, it has an especially rich collection of temples. These days most of the wats are in ruins (the Burmese decapitated most of the Buddhas)… but that just makes them more magical to explore, especially on bike.

We saw soooo many wats on this trip that I can’t tell you which is which. However, if you ever visit Ayuthaya just hop on a bike and take a ride around town. You’ll find them!

xo, jill