Due south

Trip Start Sep 10, 2006

Trip End Mar 10, 2007

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Flag of Thailand Chaing mai, Thailand
Sunday, January 21, 2007

back in chiang mai for 2 nights...oh god its the huge markt today again, I have to stop shopping!!!!
So this morning I went to an elephant park. Lonely Planet says this is a 'good thing' to do; a slow down in deforestation and logging has meant that many elephants and their owners are out of work, some even travelled to bangkok and begged in the street for food as things got desperate, and it is generally agreed that the only future for such elephants is in tourism, so going to see these places is a 'good thing'. Elephants usually have one trainer throughout their lives, and are freed at 60 to enjoy their last couple of decades in retirement. They dont start working til they are about 5 yeasr old and then they get to train. Well the ride was great fun, but not so sure about the 'show' ;the sight of half a dozen elephants strolling towards you playing harmonica's (badly) was quite unsettling, and the footabll and painting sessions were surreal and uncomfortable, although there was plenty of clapping and cheering from the crowd, I couldn't help but feel there was something wrong with this display,enjoying the ride, and feeding them is all very well but why do they have to perform 'tricks'? Anyway there you go, rant over....
Although fave newspaper article so far...police have shut a major road in Thailands northern province at night due to highwayman-like elephants, extorting bribes from travellers for safe passage. The elephants block the traffic and refuse to move until they are bribed with a decent amount of food if you dont surrender something to them they might give your car a good kicking instead- it is the fault of tourists and others who keep feeding them of course, but its all got a bit scary, so police have taken this precaution before someone gets hurt. Bloody marvellous!