Ping Ping and A Party

There’s an iconic photo of Chiang Mai that features the King and Queen pagodas overlooking the city below. The photos are beautiful in color and the sunset in the backdrop are beautiful. I really wanted to go, but found that the park these are located in is a four hour trip from the city. We gave our very quick and scheduled itinerary another glance, trying to see how we could fit 3 stops into one day: elephants (1 hour), Doi Suthep (1 hour), and Inthanan Park (4 hours). We seriously considered cancelling the elephants, as neither us were fanatical about seeing them. Give me a killer whale or a great white or a lion and I’m very content, but for some reason elephants hadn’t really registered. In the end we opted not to cancel the elephants and to continue with our plan of elephants in the morning and Doi Suthep in the evening.

What a GREAT decision! In the end I absolutely loved seeing and playing with the elephants! Our day started off a little later than usual with a pickup by the Elephant Retirement Camp by van at 7 AM. From the hotel we picked up a few more people and took the 45 minute drive to the retirement camp. On the way we met Katie (who lives in New York!) and Issac, her cousin who was teaching English abroad. The drive went by quickly as we talked about our travel plans, must see sites, and life in New York.

Once we arrived at the camp we were nearly immediately greeted with an Asian elephant taking a stroll up the dusty path. We learned that the park has roughly 4 acres and can hold up to 10 elephants (hard to believe considering my parents raised 3 kids on 13 acres). The park currently has 6 elephants—2 babies, 2 mothers, 1 expecting, and 1 male. They have both Asian and African elephants who get to play with tourists throughout the busy season. All of the elephants are rescued elephants. The government helps subsidize the care and treatment for the elephant, but the animals are still very expensive to rescue and provide for.

Our first job at the camp was to grind up a variety of roots and other herbs and vitamins in a large mortar—telling you I’m buff as can be after this trip. Once properly grinded up, we scooped some and put them into banana leaves to feed the elephants. Well, we started to before Ping Ping, one of the two baby elephants, who we were warned was naughty, came up and decided to play in the food—not eat, but play. You’ve never seen cameras come out so fast.

After Ping Ping’s appearance we sliced up sugar cane and grabbed multiple dozens of bananas a piece and went to meet the rest of the elephant family. They were MASSIVE and very excited to see us—clearly we weren’t the first people to feed them bananas, milk, and sugar cane. Their trucks are extremely powerful and the elephants are especially curious! We quickly went through our reserves and had to refill our bags with more bananas.

We occasionally see an elephant sneak off and pick up a running hose, presumably to wash down all of those bananas they kept stealing out of our bags. Next it was time for a mud bath and we waded in the muddy pond with them while they splashed, rolled, and enjoyed us covering their skin in mud. They reminded me very much of our horses growing up—always rolling in the mud. From there is was time for exfoliating in the sand. The babies seemed to especially love this as they collapsed into the sand pits. Finally, it was time to rinse them off. It was at this point that it turned into an all-out water warfare with trainers splashing us and us trying to rinse off the elephants with clean water. Few people left dry and no one left without being covered in mud.

It was really endearing to see how the animals took to their trainer. Ping Ping particularly loved playing with his trainer—hide and seek, playfully pushing each other around, and a game of shadows.

We wrapped up the morning with traditional Thai snacks—rice, fried banana, and watermelon, and then made our way back to the hotel for some pool time before seeing more of the city markets and side streets.

In the evening, Antonia’s friend Kim joined us and we flagged down a red taxi to take us up to Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, Northern Thailand’s holiest temple. In our excitement, we rushed with the hopes of seeing the sun set. Turns out the sun set cannot be seen, at least not clearly, from the angle of the temple. We did get the chance to see a view of the city below, which is very sprawling with very few buildings higher than two floors. We also saw the main temple and the monks chanting.

While photographing the temple, I came across a four pack of guys in need of a photographer. When you’re traveling, it’s expected that you are everyone else’s photographer, and they are yours. You had better take 54 shots and you had better be able to do it in 15 seconds or less because everyone wants great photos to remember the trip by and no one has enough time to sit around and take them. I found out the photogenic crew, Robin (crazy shorts guy), Armando (the charmer), Benny (the hungover one), and Metin (along for the ride), had also made the trek up to Doi Suthep with the intention of seeing the setting sun (that couldn’t be seen). We all hit it off and made plans to meet up for cocktails later in the evening.

We descended the Dragon Staircase from Doi Suthep and made our way back to our taxi in time to make our dinner reservation at The Service 1921. 1921 is a lovely indoor and outdoor restaurant in the absolutely stunning Anantara Hotel in Chiang Mai. The food is a combination of Thai and Chinese. The service was impeccable, the food was fantastic, and the views were amazing.

After a quick taxi back to the hotel, Kim departed on his motor bike and Antonia and I packed in preparation for our 4 hour bus ride to Chiang Rai. We coordinated the location with Robin and Armando and set off for few hours on the town. Antonia made her own dance floor while I toured the collection of outdoor bars and alleyways filled with DJ’d music, bars, dancing, and relaxed tourists. While ordering a round of drinks, Robin and I met Alex, who I found out way from Speedway, Indiana! Insanity!

As that cluster of bars closed down, we made our way to Spicy, which comes off as a club, with as many people as you’d expect in a club, and as much square footages as you’d expect in a large walk-in closet.

Unlike the massive number of dancing drinkers, our night was coming to an end. We said our goodbyes and made our way back to the hotel, setting our alarm for breakfast pool side, and falling into bed. ­

Being a tourist is hard work.