i’ve been in thailand for over a month now!
yeah, time has run during the last few weeks. i planned to write much more, i seem to spend my time otherwise. and while being in the city to work of course, settle and find an apartment, at some point i definitely needed to get out of bangkok for a little.
Bangkok is BIG, crowded, busy and loud. but also, there’s all the markets, temples and activities. so, as someone living in vienna, who thought i knew the big city life – oh well, apparently doesn’t! at! all!
so, i decided to spontaneously make my way up to chiang mai. temples E V E R Y W H E R E! and markets. and people, food and .. i could go on. just the way i like it!
well, i simply loved chiang mai. i might have to go back soon.
and as i learned chiang meaning elephant, i surely had to go visit them. no riding – just spoiling them! elephant riding is a common thing to do in thailand, a big adventure for tourists and cruel practice to these gentle giants. as adventurous it may seem, don’t ride an elephant! (interested in why? find 9 very convincing reasons here: https://www.peta.org/blog/9-jumbo-reasons-to-avoid-elephant-rides/)
so, i chose to go to an elephant sanctuary called „chiang mai elephant home“, where they do NOT ride elephants (it seems that’s not obvious everywhere. and there’s so many!), learning about elephants (they are almost 2 years pregnant – can you imagine? also, there are differences between asian and african ones), prepairing food and feeding them, rubb them with mudd and taking an elephant bath in the river. the elephants‘ mahouts were always with the animals.
– a mahout is the main companion of an elephant; their relationship is based on trust and common experiences. ideally they grow up and old together, as elephants can reach the same age or even more than humans, if not kept as working or riding animals.
elephants can eat more than 10% of their bodyweight, sometimes even 200kg a day, which means they need a lot of food. so the sanctuary uses the money spent by visitors and donations for food, providing jobs to the local community and be able to keep working.
it’s been a wonderful experience and – my oh my – i loved the elephants. and the waterfall. and the landscape. but see yourself!
JH 