Summer in Chiang Mai Day 2: Elephant Sanctuary!

by - February 05, 2020

The great thing about our whole Chiang Mai adventure was that all of our activities were booked on Klook. We didn't do any DIY for this trip, so we need not worry about getting lost, navigating to different places and we can rest our minds until we get to the destination. :) Nothing bad about DIY cos I do it often too when traveling, but I pretty much enjoyed taking the back seat on this one hihi!

The start of our Day 2 was early and we were really excited for this cos it has been our dream to visit an elephant sanctuary and turns out, Chiang Mai has a lot of them. :)


We all know how highly discouraged it is to ride elephants nowadays because of the cruel treatment that they have to go through. I honestly rode an elephant when I visited Bangkok back in 2001. I was 12 years old then and it was one of the most recommended to do for tourists, but I didn't know better cos I wasn't exposed to much news about their living conditions. Plus, social media wasn't a big deal yet, so I wasn't aware of what these poor beautiful creatures go through. :( That's why, when I learned about it, I vowed never to ride an elephant again. So, visiting the sanctuary to be able to care for them without the riding, chains and hooks was the best thing.♥

I know there are some people who are also against this animal sanctuary thing? I'm not really sure. But i'd like to believe that these majestic creatures have it better here than being tortured to carry people and work all day. At the Elephant Day Care, they get to roam, eat healthy food and just be their usual self. :)

Anyhoo! Since this was a whole day activity, the first thing on our itinerary was to visit a store called, 'POO POO PAPER'. They make recycled and odorless paper products from poo! Yes, you read that right! >_< Promise, it's not as gross as you think!



As soon as we got down our van, we were immediately welcomed by our tour guide from PooPoo Paper and we proceeded to touring the park to show us how to make the paper products. :)

They had different stations inside to give us a little glimpse. From hand or machine processing, down to the demo of making the actual paper.

For the record, the park didn't smell like poo. :) It was just normal. 






After our little tour, no visit would be complete without a trip to the gift shop! Yey! We got a few to take home and it's just so amazing to see the different products they were able to create out of poop! Who knew, right??  A good move for the environment!




From notebooks, fans, bookmarks and cute greeting cards, they have it all! :) This would definitely make a great souvenir! ^_^

Finally, after a few minutes away, we arrived at the actual elephant sanctuary!

Upon arrival, we were briefed on what we were going to do during our time here and we were also given clothes to change in since a lot of moving around and interacting with the elephants was expected. They also had a shower area (not the cleanest, but pwede na!) to freshen up after!





After changing into our clothes, we were also handed yellow bags and there we had some bananas and sugarcanes that we can feed the elephants with. :) Immediately jumped in to interact with the first elephant that I saw and it was beautiful!! I was so over the moon and surely my bessies Ana and Paul were too! ^_^

Here at the sanctuary, you can meet, feed, play, take mud baths and trek with the elephants. It's a down and dirty kind of activity, but totally fun! I would do it all over again if I could!♥

 One of my favorite shots of the elephants that I got. They had one baby elephant during the time we visited and its name is Jacky CHANG! Hihi! Chang in Thai means elephant! ^_^ Cute! He's a very cheeky baby, mind you! 

The elephants here just going around freely and we're the ones who go to them. They're not forced to interact with us if they don't want to. :)






For lunch, we enjoyed a yummy traditional Thai lunch with Pad Thai, salad and fresh fruits. :)

After lunch, we all headed to a covered area where we were taught how to make 'vitamins' for the ellies. :) Since they eat a lot in a day, they need to have something help them digest food better and also to keep them healthy! ^_^

From what I remember, this had turmeric, banana, sugar, salt and ginger? More? Combined, they said they're quite good for them. :)

Apart from feeding, we also got to go on a trek with the elephants! But before that, since it's a 30 minute walk, we had to carry sugarcanes to keep them hydrated. We were taught how to cut the sticks  into bit sized ones and off we were!


This was a bit challenging and scary cos the sugarcanes were a bit hard to chop and the knives were kinda blunt, so it made me scared for my fingers huhu! Thankfully, Pauly helped us! 

We were divided into groups for the trek and each group had an elephant. The cute one we got was named 'Mulah'! ♥ ^_^ 



Jacky being his cheeky self haha lying down



 
To cap off the experience, we all joined the elephants for a quick dip in the river! This was definitely one for the books and I'm really glad we were able to do this.♥

Once we got back to our place in Chiang Mai, we rested a bit, then headed out to grab a bite! ^_^ But first, we stopped by a local bakery for our breakfast the next day. :)




I absolutely love Thai food! We found this 'hot pot' resto near our place and food was fairly good. :)

Glad I got the chance to experience this with my friends. It's always a good time when I'm with them!

That ends our Day 2 in Chiang Mai! You can read more about our Day 1 here: https://www.artsyfartsyava.com/search/label/Chiang%20Mai.♥



Artsy Ava
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1 comments♥

  1. twinmama_sarahFebruary 5, 2020 at 9:05 PM

    i would surely love to visit here also ..sana someday 😊 and the foods syempre i i wa to try everything 😋

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