Part 2

“…. Now where was I? Oh Yes Chiang Mai. Last month I mentioned that we spent a while in around this beautiful and interesting city.

One of my Thailand highlights was visiting the Masea Elephant Camp an elephant re habituation sanctuary. We spent the day with these beautiful and intelligent creatures. They allowed us (the elephants that is) to sit on their backs and ride them. We rode then through the forest and down to the river where they gently immersed themselves in the river and we gave them a good scrubbing. I swear they were smiling.

After feeding them again (they eat A LOT) we witnessed one of the most remarkable sights I have seen in all my travels. These elephants paint. They actually paint! We pointed to the blank sheet of paper and indicated whether we wanted strokes or blobs. They followed our instructions and to our amazement produced some truly beautiful images.
It resurrected the child in all of us as we witnessed these remarkable creatures at work. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place at the end.

It was with starry eyes that we returned to Chiang Mai for some more beautiful massages at the Rarajinda Spa, sumptuous accommodation at the Chedi and then back to Bangkok.

Chaing Mai and its surrounds is a very easy and culturally enriching stop over destination or for those with more time, warrants a longer and more detailed visit. I hope you find it as enchanting as we did.

We travelled courtesy of The Tourism Authority Of Thailand, Royal Orchard Holidays and Thai Airways.