I love Chiang Mai. After some much needed rest, Kelsey and I wandered around the city, exploring some of the temples. So many Buddhas. At night, we headed over to the Night Bazaar where they have heaps of tents set up market-style every night and you can haggle with vendors to buy anything you can imagine – watches, sunglasses, head phones, purses, pants, singlets, shoes, artwork, jewelry, etc. We did a lot of our souvenir shopping and walked away with lots of flowy elephant pants and very little money.

But today was even better… we got to play with ELEPHANTS!!!

We spent the day at Baan Chang Elephant Park, where they rescue all of their elephants from situations of abuse. Kelsey and I had our very own elephant for the day, to feed, ride, bathe, and play with. Our guide, Best, taught us some commands in Thai before we hopped on our elephant Long Mey’s back.

Non long – Lie down

Pai – Go

How – Stop

Kwey – Turn

Di – Thank you

Long Mey was the sweetest elephant. We fed her bundles of bananas and sugar cane sticks in the morning. After lunch, we climbed up on her back, held onto her ears, and rode her around the park and she picked flowers and handed them to Kelsey with her trunk, while the little Thai elephant trainer picked fruit off the trees to feed to me. At the end of the path, we rode Long Mey right into the lake. She was ready for her bath! She lay down in the water and we scrubbed her and she squirted water all over us with her trunk. I can’t even describe how happy I was at the end of the day. Kelsey and I rode back to our hostel in Chiang Mai, grinning ear to ear.

Bath time with Long Mey