After a couple of days in Bangkok, I decided to travel to Chiang Mai. I will post about Bangkok later.
My original plan was to take the train to Chiang Mai. Unfortunately the train is not operating due to track work. At least they are improving the line. I had to decide to take a bus or fly. I decided to take an overnight bus.
Too Old for Overnight Buses
The bus left from the Northern Bus Terminal that is close to Mo Chit at the end of the BTS (Skytrain). It may be close, however, on a busy Friday night it took forever by taxis.
The bus was a ‘VIP super luxury’ – with reclining seats. Well let’s say it wasn’t super luxury for me. I guess I am just too old for this type of travel. I am not sure how much sleep I got during the 10 hours to Chiang Mai, but it was not much.
I arrived very tired and checked into the Dozy Hostel feeling like the name of the place. I went for a wander around to old town, trying to work out how much it had changed in the 30 years since I had last been there. During my walk, I decide I need a therapeutic massage, to get over the effect of the bus trip. That sort of worked.
Back in the hostel I got into conversation with a group of fellow travellers. These included a young Welsh girl and an American who was working for a bank in Shanghai. Both had some good travel tips.
Elephant Refuge
The tip from the Welsh girl was to go to an Elephant Refuge. I took her advice. The place is about 50 klms from the city.
An English couple, also staying at the Hostel were also going to the refuge. They turned out to be Event Management professionals living in Leeds. The wife lectured in Event Management at the Leeds Metropolitan University and the husband is the Operations Manager of the Kendall Music Festival. I got to speak to them a lot during the day.
On the way to the refuge, the driver played a video of a ‘documentary’ made by an American ‘Eco Adventurer’ and his blonde and buxom assistant. The video was about the establishment of the refuge. It was amusing (albeit not intentionally) and informative. In short, the refuge takes Elephants that have been mistreated in the logging and other industries (including tourist trekking and circuses) and provides a safe environment for them to live.
We spent about five hours at the refuge. The pace of events was in keep with the main attractions – slow. There was an introduction the place, a slow walk to the vetinerary shelter, some feeding of the Elephants and lunch. After lunch we were taken to the river where we washed some of the Elephants. Some have apparently decided that they do not want close human contact apart from their handlers (Mahouts). This was followed by a close up look at two baby Elephants. These are, of course, the main attractions.
It is great to see some effort being made to provide a good life for these animals. It is not as good as ensuring that enough natural habitats to enable them to live in the wild, but at least it is something.
Flickr Link
Elephant Sanctuary Link
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