We all woke up early today and loaded up on a free hostel lobby breakfast. Our only plan for the day was to visit the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary and I was beyond excited. Petting an elephant has been on my bucket list for a long time, but I never imagined I would get to play with elephants as much as I did at the Elephant Sanctuary. When I was researching things to do in Thailand before our trip, elephant related activities were a huge attraction. I also saw a lot of tourist sites recommending to ride an elephant, but when I did a little bit more research on riding elephants I realized that it’s not very humane and elephants spines aren’t made to support the weight of humans. To summarize my research for you all, don’t ride elephants.
Don’t ride elephants
Travel Tip #25
We got picked up for the sanctuary from our hostel a little after breakfast and the car that picked us up was a pick up truck with a roof harnessed over the bed. It kind of felt like the cars you would see in military movies when the soldiers leave for war. The ride to the sanctuary was an hour and a half ride up the mountain and into the forest, but we stopped halfway to get extra snacks at a gas station. I chose a random bag of chips that were like veggie straws, but BBQ flavor. I also got baked beans chips because why not.
Once we crossed into the jungle we had to go off road to get to the sanctuary. Towards the end of the dirt road we rounded the corner, emerged from the jungle and were surrounded by so many elephants! There were huge full grown elephants and cute baby elephants all roaming around free. We drove further into the sanctuary, crossed by a giant body of water and parked next to an outdoor shelter. We were introduced to our tour guide for the day, an enthusiastic and amazing guy named Arm. One of my favorite parts about visiting the Elephant Sanctuary was that the staff taught us about elephant safety and how to take care of elephants before we got to even meet the elephants. During the educational intro to our tour the staff confirmed my research by telling us that riding elephants is bad for them. On the bright side, the proceeds from the sanctuary tour go towards protecting these elephants and other elephants.
After the overview on elephant care we got to play with elephants! Not only play with elephants, but we also got to feed them sugarcane and bananas and I had an elephant hug me and another one kiss me. Totally awesome, it felt like a dream! After feeding the elephants it was time to feed ourselves, so we stopped and ate lunch overlooking the field of elephants. The tour included lunch and it was surprisingly delicious. We all had a vegetarian Thai (duh) meal and I don’t remember the exact name of the dish, but it was basically ramen with rice, veggies and potatoes. It was delicious.
After lunch it was time to cool off with a little swim. We jumped in the water and gave the elephants a mud bath, then we all got in a mud fight, including the elephants. Elephants love mud baths because the mud helps protect them from insect bites and helps combat the intense heat of the afternoon sun. After covering the elephants and ourselves in mud we walked down to the waterfall and cleaned off as much mud as we could. The elephants also washed off in the waterfall and it was cute watching them play with each other. I still can’t believe I got to go swimming with elephants!
Don’t be afraid to get a little dirt on you
Travel Tip #26
Once we were all finished rolling around in the mud we got cleaned up put on dry clothes. Then for the final activity we all made medicine for the elephants using prunes, bananas and some other type of plant. We mashed up all the ingredients in a bowl and as soon as we were done all of the elephants came running over to scoop it up with their trunks. After we fed them, Arm gave a goodbye speech and we pilled back into the trucks to head out of the jungle and into the real world.
On the way back into Chiang Mai we stopped at a gas station again and everyone got ice cream. I got strawberry and it was probably the best ice cream I will ever have. I know I was hot and over the moon excited from playing with elephants, but Thailand gas station strawberry ice cream is the best and nobody can change my mind about that. The rest of the drive back to Chiang Mai passed quickly and was filled with stunning views of mountain landscapes, rice fields and then the city of Chiang Mai.
While our waterfall shower was fun, there’s no way it removed all of the mud and frankly elephant poop that was probably on our skin from swimming in that pond. When we got back to the hostel we all immediately took showers. After our showers we hung out in the lobby for awhile to play with the tiny kittens and then we decided the next move for the day was to get Thai massages.
We went to the massage place across the street from Bodega and it was great. The boys all got Thai massages upstairs, but I wanted to try an oil massage (like the traditional Swedish massages), so I went to a different room and the lady gave me the weirdest Swedish massage of my life. The boys all went upstairs, so I don’t know how their experience was, but if it was anything like mine… hilarious. After having the strongest massage of my life we all met downstairs and had a cup of tea. Food is the only logical next step after massages and tea, so we went straight to Coconut Shell and ordered two meals each. Coconut Shell if you’re reading this, I miss you.
Thai massages are a must
Travel Tip #27
At night we went back to Zoe’s again, but this time we went with people from the hostel lobby. I haven’t explained it in previous posts, but Zoe’s is basically a giant club that spills over into the surrounding alleyways. I’ve mentioned it in every blog I have for Chiang Mai, so clearly it’s our favorite place to go. The drinks at Zoe’s are a little pricey, but if you’re smart you can just go to the bar next door to buy drinks and then go dance at Zoe’s. All the bars are on top of each other anyways, so it doesn’t really matter which one you’re in. The bar with cheaper drinks, aka ‘cheap bar’, just felt like another room in the Zoe’s outdoor club.
In Chiang Mai the bars close at midnight, so our fun at Zoe’s had to end. Lucky for us, there was a speakeasy around the corner that stayed open until 1am. We kept dancing at the speakeasy until they closed and then we regrouped outside the bar. While we were waiting outside, one of my friends appeared and told us that when he was looking for us he found another secret bar inside the speakeasy that stayed open even later. It was clearly going to be a no sleep kind of night, so we turned around and went back in.
Secret bars and speakeasies are a thing, find them
Travel Tip #28
Buddy system
Travel Tip #29
We stayed until closing and then began our walk home. One Tuk Tuk passed by us on our walk and three of the guys were able to squeeze on. Big Ben and I decided to walk home because it wasn’t that far of a walk and we knew the way back… or so we thought. We got super lost. Then, to make matters worse, I didn’t have signal and Ben didn’t even have a phone. Ben remained calm, but I was freaking out because we were lost in Chiang Mai in the middle of the night and rats kept running across the path right in front of us. Lucky for me we stuck to the buddy system. If one of us is lost, at least two of us are lost.
double check directions
Travel Tip #30
Our saving grace was that in our wandering around we luckily passed another hostel with people who were outside drinking their night caps. They gave us directions to get back to our place and with another 30 minutes of walking we were home. We were gone for so long that when we got back I was worried that the guys would be out looking for me, but nope. When we got back they leaned over the edge and said “what took you so long?” We crawled the final flight of steps up to our floor and sat on the balcony to recap the night with everyone. From swimming with elephants to double speakeasies, today was a great day.
