I Had An Elephant Ride (In Chiang Mai!!)

I arrived in Chiang Mai not knowing much bout the capital city except for its cool weather and the loy khratong festival.

So I went to get some info from the hotel.. and amongst many, one of the must do things - sit on the elephant ride!

So sign up we did.. where we traveled by the van tour the next morning. Bout slightly over an hour later, we arrived at the Maetang Elephant Park!



First off, we fed the elephants some bananas and bamboo. That was quite a fun experience getting up close to the elephants.. Now this may sound zoo-ish, but actually not.. as the elephant do sort of roam around too (guided).

Next was not at all elephant related.. we went on a bamboo raft cruise along the river.. it was fun as it was my 1st experience of such!

After that was watching the elephants take their shower.. where some were rather playful.. that was a nice watch.. kinda reminding me of Dumbo the elephant.



And too was the event after - where we watched the elephants paint!! Wow! Never knew they could paint - now that was a cool experience watching it live!



Lunch came and then the highlight... sitting on the elephant for the elephant ride!!! This was my 2nd experience and while we were rather high on that big elephant, I wasn't that afraid of falling off this time round.

Not even when the elephant we sat on actually banged the elephant in front on purpose - out of anger. Again, a wow!



After the elephant ride, it was time to head to the orchid garden - where I saw some really pretty orchids of various colours!



And last but not least, was the visit to see the long neck tribe.. which kinda made me a lil sad as seeing them earning a living on selling just souvenirs.. for not many tourists actually bought anyway (blame it on some of their products) :(

In all, this was still one wonderful experience - I must say Ill never see elephants the same again.

And now, I understand how the Thais can get affectionate to such big yet intelligent animal! :)

*The price of the tour was THB1300/ person, including lunch & transport. It would only cost THB1100/ person if without the visit to the long neck tribe. But of course, I wouldn't want to miss that, even tho it was for the 2nd time! :)