Chiang Mai
Sleeping in the airport!! our flight from kathmandu to chaing mai did not happen as planned and instead we got stranded in Dehli airport for the night with no luggage! Luckily dehli airport has a pretty impressive hotel inside it's airport.
our bedroom window looking down into the airport.
finally arrive in chiang mai!
we didn't waste anytime getting out to the street food carts near our hotel! I loved this one delicious beef noodle dish that this cart made.
This lady was making 'Khanom Krogs' which are little sweet snacks made of coconut, rice, flour & this woman was adding some mango. delish!
So excited that we got to go to elephant nature park in Chiang mai. It is one of the only conservation/rescue camps for elephants. All the elephants have been rescued from the tourism industry where they were put through the taming process of weeks of abuse and torture. Most people don't know what elephants in the tourism industry go through to be broken in for riding and performing. They are stabbed & disfigured until they give in. At Elephant nature park your ticket acts as a contribution to providing food and care for these elephants. You can touch, bath and feed them which is actually a lot more fun than riding them I think!
The elephants loved these balls of sloppy corn and wheat. they felt so slimy and gross!
elephant food supply shed- An Adult asian elephant eats at least 200kg of food per day so you can see why they need such a huge supply of food.
one of the best parts of the day was getting to give these big guys a bath!
elephant with his carer
Many of the babies that are rescued and brought to the park are adopted by female elephants in the camp. Some of the surrogate mothers have been separated from their own babies so it's special for both of them. This is an example of that above.
Baby elephant just lovin' that mud
"alright, that's enough mud for you, time to go"
This poor girl got her ear stabbed because she wasn't carrying enough logs in the lodging industry. The elephant nature park bought her from the owners and put a little yellow flower in that hole now.
visiting the beautiful' Temple of the golden mountain' ('Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep') just outside of Chiang Mai
Sometimes I drove her to look like this growing up I suppose.
fresh pork buns at the weekly night market
Reu looking so hippie chic for our $10 hour massages at the night markets
Sawadee Kaaaaa!
Lady boy show
These poor guys got pulled up to the stage, stripped of their clothes, then tricked into kissing the performer on the lips.
Tasting our first Khao soi - a traditional coconut milk based noodle dish
