Off To The Elephants!

We went to Phuket only for the day, before our evening flight to northern Thailand. Our taxi driver led us to a hotel to hold our bags, not even asking us for any fee. We ate lunch after arriving at an irish pub while it poured, and lucked out once again to be indoors during the 20 minute downpour. With the sun out after lunch, we headed to the beach. I felt like a Thai princess, lying on the beach while getting a foot massage, ordering a water to be brought to me, and buying souvenirs from peddlers all at once. We were also entertained by the craziest parasailing I have ever seen. Instead of extending the parasail in and out from the boat, the parasails would take off directly from the beach. A Thai person would be unstrapped and unsecured, hanging on to the sail in order to guide this process. To bring the parasail back down to the beach, the Thai man would hang on to the ropes and literally dangle himself off the side of the parasail, pulling it down to land. He looked like a parachuting monkey. 

We left the beach to get our 2nd mani/pedi of the trip and by this point, it was time to head to the airport. We had heard that Phucket was quite seedy at night and we definitely saw the beginning of it. Prostitutes were lining up on the street getting ready to start their shifts. I had a horrible thought: what if I unknowingly came here to party and wore high heels and a short skirt out at night?? A typical party outfit for me back home would have me confused with a hooker here! Good thing I'm in flops.

At the airport we ate at burger king after checking in. Rachel was heading home from here so we said goodbye to her in the burger king. I had my passport and boarding pass in hand and was very conscious not to throw away my wallet with my trash. We took 20 steps from the burger king when I realized my passport was no longer in my hand!! I went into panic mode, quickly rummaged through my purse and then hurried back to burger king. They opened up the trash and there was my glorious passport sitting right on top. Danielle gave me the usual "only you. I'm not surprised" line that always cones after my typical antics. I have to admit though that it's true. This was just typical me. When I'm a rich doctor, I may hire someone to follow me around and keep an eye on me 24/7 (for the past 4 years, Danielle has been the closest thing to this). Rachel's last image of me on our trip was me pulling my passport out of the burger king trash can.

We found a hotel once we arrived in Chiang Mai and called it a night. This hotel was another lonely planet budget recommendation and ended up much better than the last. We spent our first morning in Chiang Mai booking tours and then headed to a day market which was full of very traditional Thai goods with all Thai shoppers aside from us. I had seen these jelly wedges on many people in Bangkok and I wanted them. I had spotted them in a few stores in Thailand but they never had a size big enough. I saw them again in the day market and started to approach the sales girl. Before I could say anything, she took one look at my feet and shook her head telling me no. Stupid big American feet!  Lucila found the highlight of her bay to breakers costume, a race in SF where all non-runners get drunk and dress up ridiculously. She found a giant head piece and decided to be a flower.

The final result of the Thailand inspired Bay to Breakers costumes

With nothing planned for the afternoon, I decided to get a foot massage while Danielle dipped her feet into a tank of Dr. fish at the spa. The fish nibble at the dead skin around your feet..no one else thought this sounded fun. Danielle stuck her feet in and was squealing very loudly, not sure she could stand it for another 30 minutes. She said they felt like tiny vibrations and were apparently very ticklish. Luckily, she adjusted to the strange feeling after a few minutes and was able to sit in peace.

One of the highlights of Chiang Mai was the night bazaar, a souvenir haven. We had a blast getting tipsy off of Chang's before heading there to haggle. With the influence of Chang, you start bargaining for things you might not even really want. Sometimes, we seemed to be very offensive with our low offers. Danielle offered 20 baht (60 cents) for a bootleg DVD instead of the asking price, 50 baht. The lady walked away and started shuffling through a bag. I stood by trying to guess what this meant...."I think she's getting the movie, wait no I think she was just walking away....or maybe she's still looking for it?" We hear the lady mutter to herself, sounding annoyed..."20 baht!" Yep, she's offended. Other times we got them way down in price by getting very into our reactions, "Whooooaaah!! Too many baht!" By the end of 3 nights at the night bazaar, my bag was stuffed with souvenirs, and my belly with pancakes (crepes).

Our first tour in Chiang Mai was to the elephant nature park. We researched to find an elephant tour that was humane. Even though this one cost $80, we decided it was worth it since the organization was non-profit and was dedicated to rescuing abused elephants. We eased into comfort with the elephants by feeding them. They eat entire bunches of bananas whole, pineapples cut into fourths, skin and all, and pumpkin. We fed them by hand, placing the food into their trunks.

One tub is an elephants breakfast

After their lunch we walked around learning about many of the elephants. One was blind from being repeatedly stabbed in the eyes by inhumane "trainers". She had an elephant friend who loyally stays by her side to be her eyes. Another elephant had 2 broken hips from the male that tried to impregnate her. Typical men! Another elephant was hurt in a land mine, and one had a really bad abscess from an infected wound from the use of a hook on her. We got so close to these elephants, cuddling up to them like we are besties for pictures, sometimes getting flopped in the head with their ears. Our guide said they could tell by scent that we were here to support them, and so they would react gently in return. I'm not sure if I buy the whole scent thing, but they did seem to sense it and were definitely gentle.

We were amidst a family of elephants with 2 babies. One of these elephants gave each willing tourist a kiss on the cheek with their trunk (it even makes the kissing noise). 

I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to receive a kiss and was convinced the picture would be worth it....after I got my kiss on the mouth, I'm not so sure it was, but my friends still think so!

To end the day, we watched a depressing documentary, filmed with the owner of the park, showing the torture these elephants go through to become submissive for most tourism. They get locked into a wooden sort of cage and stabbed with the hook and hit with the club if they resist or don't raise a leg on command. They are so scared and confused, it was awful. The worst part is that they depend on the tourism, because so much of the rainforest in Thailand has been destroyed and they have no where to go, but it is the hope of the owner that they can alter the means used to work with them. We took another tour 2 days later and could not find one without elephant rides. We ate lunch nearby where the rides would take off, and heard the smack of clubs on the elephants and saw the trainers resting the hook against their heads as cruel reminders that they were there. One elephant was repeatedly rocking back and fourth, which we had learned at the nature park was a sign of distress. We sat out from this part of the tour, with our new knowledge of what goes into elephant tourism.