Positively, Pleasurable, Pachyderm Posting

Sawa-dee krap! Lucy and I are coming to the end of our time in Chiang Mai. We have spent the last 10 days in and around Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city. Although it has 7.5 million less people than Bangkok, Chiang Mai is the heart and soul of Thailand. It is the cultural, artistic, and educational center of Thailand and the subsequent hipness is apparent at every corner. From the trend-setting co-eds crowding the streets near the national university to the galleries and boutiques of local artists and designers around every bend to the progressive conservationism of Elephant Nature Park, it is clear that Chiang Mai is a driving force in Thailand. Which is why it seems that it is every Thai's fantasy to move to Chiang Mai and follow their dreams. And for that matter, every ex-pat and tourist, many of the bars, resturants, book stores, etc are run by foreigners who dug the vibe so much they never left.

In keeping with the scene, Lucy and I have fluctuated between chilling out by the pool and casually taking in the atmosphere. We arrived on a sunday and were able to check out the Sunday Walking Street, which is a big street fair in the heart of the Old City. Alot like Artwalk in Olympia, this weekly happening is a showcase for the arts in Chiang Mai. Lots of streets are closed off to traffic and the whole town comes out to walk around and enjoy all the crafts, music and food that the city has to offer. It was a great introduction to the city! After a day or two of "taking it easy", we went for a self guided walking tour of many of the old Wats (temples) in the Old City. A good day of looking at monks and old statues of Buddha culminated with a Thai massage from some inmates at the local womens prison. As part of the rehabilitation process, inmates who are within 6 months of release are taught Thai massage and allowed to practice on the general population at the prison. While they are still under the watchful eye of the government, they are allowed to keep all the money they make and use it to restart their lives once they are released. We figured, hell, if we're going to get a massage while we're in Thailand why not get one from an inmate. I'm not sure if it was because it was my first Thai massage or if it was because I got it from a criminal, but I sure was sore and bruised the next day.

We spent a few more days just hanging out in town and decided we would move on to the next place on sunday. However, on saturday, we were having coffee next door to our hotel about to go get bus tickets to the next place, when we started reading about this place called the Elephant Nature Park. Lucy and I have never had any interest in doing any of the "tourist" activities and in Chiang Mai they are everywhere. There are dozens of places advertising "elephant treks" or "Elephant safaris" this place, however, seemed much different. The Elephant Nature Park is a place that was created by a local woman named "Lek" as a sanctuary for all of the long suffering elephants of Thailand. I won't go into the long history/tradition of elephant problems in Thailand but I will say this; Thailand had upwards of 100,000 elephants at the beginning of the 20th century, now they are down to about 5000, a decline of 95% in just over 100 years. Although a visit to this place was way out of our price range, we decided to go anyway since it allowed us a progressive, sustainable and totally unique way to experience Thailand's elephants. Not only were we able to feed, bathe, pet and otherwise play with elephants ranging from 75 year old Matriarchs to 3 1/2 month old babies, we were also given a thorough education on the plight of Thailand's elephants. This education included a documentary about the centuries old cruel practice of "phajaan", the ritualistic breaking of a young elephant. Although we were never inclined to, after watching the video we were really glad that we never took part in any of the other, much more prevalent, elephant actives available in Thailand. It was a terrible thing to watch but really drove home the motivation behind "Lek's" tireless work. The park and its mission for a symbiotic relationship between conservation and tourism, was a very inspiring look at the potential for conservation projects in Thailand and the rest of the world. At the end of our two days there Lucy and I were able to be with "Lek" one on one while she held a 3 month old baby and sang it "Que Cera Cera", coaxing it to lie down for a nap as if it were her own son. It was a fitting end to a very inspirational experience with elephants in Thailand. I highly recommend checking out their web site, http://www.elephantnaturepark.org

We're glad to have extended our stay in Chiang Mai in such a way but... Our Thai visa runs out on Oct 31st so we leave tomorrow on a night bus to Nong Khai and the Lao border. We will spend a day or two in Nong Khai then cross over the Mekong into Laos and its capital, Vientiane.
Till then...