We fared much better on our second stop. Chiang Mai is a smaller city than Bangkok, our hotel was in a more central location, and the food was so good!
We decided to take a trip up to the mountains about an hour out of town to take a bamboo river raft trip and to some elephants. Though the sanctuary bills itself as an “ethical” one, some of the conditions seemed potentially inhumane. We talked with some of the workers there and it seems like a complicated issue — left in the wild the elephants will be hunted. Kept in a sanctuary, they have to be chained up at night and whenever their handler isn’t nearby because fences that will hold an elephant (i.e. t-rex strong) are difficult and expensive to build. Nevertheless, it was an experience getting to be so close to the animals, and the sanctuary was built on a beautiful, shady, riverside retreat.
The highlight of our visit for me, which wasn’t until the last night (we should have started with this!) was a street food tour. The food in Bangkok had been a bit disappointing, but probably because we didn’t know where to look. Our Chiang Mai tourguide took us to several stalls in the Friday night market where we tried foods we’d otherwise never have known to order.
Kyle Here: For West Coast liberals that I include myself as a member: Question: Are elephant “rights” to free roaming/zoo breeding superior to helping sex trafficked workers? Basically, this elephant ‘sanctuary’ is a zoo, breeding other elephants, chaining them at night to prevent them from escaping, und using the profits to employ saved sex trafficked workers. Is this ok?
