A bumpy hour and a half outside of Chiang Mai lays The Elephant Nature Park.
At the park over 400 dogs have been saved from meat export, and herds of rescued water buffalo called ENP home as well.
34 elephants live there, saved from logging, tourist trekking or street begging. Many of them are blind because the loggers believed the elephants were easier to control if they were disabled.
Thousands of green butterfly's danced around, giving the place a utopian feel.
We stared by feeding the elephants their snacks. Boy do they know how to snack! Watermelon, bananas and pumpkins. You had to show them the empty basket before they believed you that all the food was gone. If you called their name they would flap their eyes or swing their front foot showing they were happy.
Looking out at a heard of elephants, there was also a heard of people following their animal, guiding them, bathing, feeding them or just chilling in the shade. All the elephants got to pick their manhout (Their person) and formed a special bond, but they also found best friends.
Two lady elephants in their late 60s had become each others other half.
One was completely blind, the other had broken her back in a logging accident. They helped each other out, did everything together.
The bond was so clear, so relatable, it had tears running down my cheek.
Ali and I were in a constant state of awe, excitement and respect. We met the youngest, 5 month old Little Guy, who loved to run through our tour group sending the farangs tumbling into each other, getting out of his way. A little baby who could fuck shit up!
Unfortunately, all of the members of our tour group were American. Ew. In the river, washing the elephants, a yuppie couple from LA asked us to get out of their picture. We treged away from our elephant, as they posed and pretended to wash the elephant before their smiles faded back to bitch face. Is it bad we sometimes pretend we're Canadian?
At lunch Ali and I did the math, knowing each elephant costs 600 bhat a day to feed. With how much we were paying for the day, they must barely be making ends mean. This was a operation for the animals, not a touristy money maker.
The next day, Annaka and Marko (our little Germans) rented a car with us to get out of town to Doi Inthanon national park, Thailand highest mountain.
The man from the rental car company showed up at our guest house. I hopped on the back of his motorbike to "go look" at the car. As soon as we got there it hit me that I would also be driving the car back to the guest house...
So not only had I not driven in 2 years. They sit on the right side of the car and drive on the left side of the road.
The rental car lot was just a few cars parked behind a temple, the only way out was a web of winding allies...
It took me 10 minutes to get turned around. The man stood smoking a cigarette, watching me...
You think you could just see what way the traffic was going and follow that, but motorbikes were coming at me from both ways. Every time some drove close to me, I just pulled over an pretended to be parking the car...
Marco drove for the rest of the day. But he was a 21 year old BOY and told us later that Germany doesn't have a speed limit. The 3 of us girls, gasped, cringed and gripped the door handles. Every time we had to turn or get over, Marko turned the windshield wipers on.
After 2 hours up winding roads, Ali was car sick and we were lost.
Signs stopped being in English, villages were made up of simple tin homes and people stared staring at the "White" people.
It was exciting to be far out. Away from tourist agencies, guest houses and cafes.
We stopped to ask directions, having simple conversations with farmers on the side of the road.
Many times our car Mr Ching Ching ( means Really?! In Thai, he was a lady boy! ) was barely able to make it up the steep one lane road.
Then like a gift from the gods, a hidden gem, Doi Inthanon national park.
We hiked up to waterfalls and soaked in the hot springs. It's popular here to buy a basket of eggs and boil them in the hot springs.
I guess if snacking on eggs while pruning up your body sounds like fun, by all means... I guess I didn't see the appeal.
We had just enough time to drive home and get our Grems to the airport. Ali and I stood on the steps of our guesthouse, arm and arm, like sad, proud parents sending their kids off into the wild unknown. And watched them speed off in a tuk tuk bound for island life.
Ali and I ventured out to our favorite night market of Chiang Mai. We have a new found love for street fish, once we got over the fear of their dried, unrefrigerated eyes looking up at us.
For $4 we got two sticky rices, three cucumbers and a whole BBQed fish, maybe a foot long, with sweet, spicy sauce that made the whole meal kind of unbelievably yummy!
Walking home dodging the cockroaches and soaking up the city noise, as everything spun in a state of new beginnings and unexpected combustion.
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