Chiang Mai Thailand. Located in the northeast part of Thailand. Chiang Mai is the first stop of my wife and my trip to Southeast Asia. As the plane made its descent I saw out the window how mountainous the region was. We made our way,crossing rivers and through roundabouts, to our hotel, which had a few teakwood bungalow buildings on the property. The woman that owned the property was extremely welcoming and helpful, giving us instructions on areas of the city to explore.

We walk and explore the city. I buy a coconut that is cut up in front of me. Making our way down the street I take in the sights and atmosphere. We cross a large concrete pavilion with lots of people to the Phae gate. The gate goes back hundreds of years and marks an entrance into the historic district. Suddenly the summer rains come pouring down and we run into a restaurant. It’s a good time to eat lunch and we order a large variety of different thai dishes. My favorite was the pineapple fried rice with a sweet coconut curry. Outside the restaurant a large collection of red umbrellas hang from trees, a buddhist symbol for protection. We watch the rain pour down.

As the rain passes we make our way through more of the city markets before returning to our dry bungaloo. We end up in a large underground walkway surrounded by artists painting and creating all different types of artwork. There is no shortage over anything t-shirts, elephants pants, fans. Tanks of water filled with fish that nibble on the dead skin of peoples feet. I haggle over an elephant wallet and as I walk away I get it for the original price I asked. It’s an overwhelming feeling for all of the bodies senses.

The following day we woke up early. A van arrives to take us and others to the Elephant Nature Park. The drive takes us north through the mountains. Along the way we watch a short video explaining the difference between Elephant Nature Park and other types of Elephant tourism in some other areas of Thailand. One of the biggest take aways I learned was that if you are riding an elephant you are contributing to the abuse of elephants. Why does this abuse elephants?

In order to tame wild elephants, the calves (babies) are taken away from their mothers at a young age. They are tortured, beat, poked with hooks, and sleep deprived until their spirit is broken. After this they are forced to carry people on top of them. These people will also take bullhooks to poke the elephants while they are giving rides to people. Elephants bodies are not like horses than can support riders. Their backs and ribs are of a different anatomy that cannot support the weight of humans. This causes elephants great pain when they are being ridden. Many of the elephants are actually illegally caught in the wild. As we ride and come up the final stretch of mountain before the park, we see large group of elephants being ridden and prodded. It’s really depressing how awful humans can be.

We enter the park and get out. We check in and meet our guide who will walk with us, provide information and introduce some of the park’s elephants. Our first encounter is standing at a rail and holding out watermelon to the elephants. It amazing to see them up so close and use their trunks to grab the fruit.

As we continue through the park we approach other elephants on the ground up close. Many of them have extremely sad stories before coming to the park. Some were in circuses some were too old to work giving rides. One is missing part of its foot because it was used to work logging near landmines. The park buys them and lets them live out their lives without suffering. Touching the side of an elephant is a surprising texture almost like an eraser.You can tell by the elephants reaction that it is a lot more thin and sensitive in areas such as behind their ears, chest and shoulders.

Our group continues to see more and more elephants, stopping to take pictures and feed them. As I am touching the side of one of the elephants it turns and nudges me with its trunk. You can feel the incredible strength and gentleness of this amazing animal all at once. Asian elephants live on an average of 80 years in captivity. One of the elephants we see is close to this age and does not have many teeth so it needs its food mashed up. We take a break from our day visit to eat lunch ourselves.

Lunch is a vegetarian buffet style and incredibly delicious. It represents the unique region that we are in. There was plenty of Indian like curry, rice and spices. More traditional Thai dishes and other influences from countries in the region like Loas, China, and Burma. We talk with other travelers from around the world and share photos with each other from the mornings excitement. My wife and I went to the gift shop and got two small wooden carved elephants to use for our weddings cake toppers.

Elephant cake toppers at our wedding.  Photograph by Michelle Kujawski — Elephant cake toppers at our wedding. Photograph by Michelle Kujawski

Following lunch we switch from shoes into sandals. We will be going in the river to help bath and feed the elephants more. As we walk the property we notice dogs and elephants walking side by side. Elephant Nature Park also rescues dogs and cats. Many of the dogs were rescued after extreme flooding in Bangkok. It’s strange combination to see but a happy one for these animals who have suffered so much. One animal who does not know any suffering is a young baby elephant we visit. Because it has no fear of humans we have to stand outside of gates to observe it. We are told if it would come to close to us it would not know it’s own strength and hurt us. My wife adores the baby as we watched it roll around on the ground.

We make our way to the river to feed and bath the elephants. This was by far my favorite part. There was one moment when I was in the river and turned to see an elephant raise its trunk and flip water up in the air. It was a perfect moment, one I will remember forever.

Riding back to our hotel I reflected in hope that someday there will be more elephant sanctuaries. There are some, but still so many more that involve riding or amusement at the elephants expense. As I write this today our own leaders in the current United States government are trying to pass laws to hunt and allow the hunters to bring back African elephants as trophies. If they could see the intelligence, the gentle playfulness would they change their mind? Maybe there is just too much hate and cruelty in the world. My only regret is not planning for more time to volunteer or stay at the park.

The next couple of days in Chiang Mai were amazing but not as exciting as seeing the elephants. We actually stopped at a small art studio and painted our own small elephants. The next night we spent hours walking the endless streets of the night market. I have never seen so many vendors and booths selling goods. My favorite purchase was a small silver buddha pendant. The market is endless and impossible to see all of it. We visit ancient temples as we jump over giant puddles from the rain. The most impressive to me was Wat Chedi Luang dating back to 1385. The large water serpent staircases and huge elephants at the base are very impressive. The last night we ended up at a karaoke bar with just Thai people and watched them poorly sing 1990s US pop songs.It was great! It’s an enchanting place and can’t be passed up if you are traveling to this part of the world.