Thailand: The Land of Smiles Pt. II – Elephants in Chiang Mai!

Okay, I love elephants. So, our day with the Elephants deserves its own post

Besides hippos, elephants are my favorite animals. And since I can’t go walking around hugging hippos, I figure elephants are the next best thing. Chiang Mai is littered with Elephant Tours, but I was determined to do one that had NO RIDING. After doing my research, I found one at the Elephant Nature Park and we weren’t disappointed!

Do you know what it feels like to check off a bucket list item? Have you ever experienced the pure joy of that? Then you have a small idea of what I’m feeling.

Our day started early, where we were picked up and taken outside of Chiang Mai to the jungle. Lloyd and I got super lucky with a PRIVATE tour! It was just the 2 of us for the day! We prepared several baskets of cucumbers and squash, and then drove another 10 mins, deeper into he jungle. After getting out of the truck, there they were. 3 beautiful elephants, who were all ours to spoil for the day!

We fed them, walked with them through the jungle, prepared more food for them, gave them a mud bath, washed them off in the river, and fed them one more time before saying goodbye. Just being in the presence of such huge, but gentle animals was something I will always remember. Definitely a trip highlight for me!

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE needs to spend a day with elephants. It truly is amazing! I still can’t believe that this dream came true!