Chiang Rai

I stayed for a few days and did some touristy stuff so here goes….

Wat Rong Khun, to give it the correct name is a Buddhist temple completed in 1997. I had noticed within the main atrium murals, characters from The Matrix, Star Wars and Dr Who. Unfortunately you cannot take photos inside.

That evening I headed off to the blue temple. Another new temple completed in 2016, its stark colours are in direct contrast to the white temple.

There was a thunderstorm that evening, it lasted about twenty minutes and caused at least two power cuts.

The next day I had a few chores to do then headed for ‘The big Buddha’ as its called. In fact it is Guan Yin the goddess of mercy. Even from afar you can tell its no small structure.

The it was suddenly my last day in Chiang Rai and I had something special planned. A visit to The Elephant Peace Project. It was set up by the younger people of the Karen Tribe of Nomads. For years the Karen tribe kept elephants as members of the family. A mahout or trainer would devote his life to his elephant, supplying all its needs from medical aid to finding it food in hard times. The elephants worked with the mahout daily, mostly assisting in the logging industry. But with numbers in decline and machinery taking over the Thai government made working with elephants illegal. Some mahout would take their elephants to make money by giving rides or performing for tourists, but this was controlled by unscrupulous people who worked the elephants and handlers hard for very little reward. The Karen tribe decided to step away from this life and instead for the past 20 years have used the project to educate people about the Karen way and to teach people how they care for the elephants. It was important for me to know I wasn’t feeding into the cruel workings of the Tourist industry.

At about 8am I was collected by a lady in a battered pick up truck, climbing into the rear I met Paco from Spain. He was travelling Asia also, but a much longer trip than mine. We chatted, as we rattled along to the project some 30 minutes away.

On arrival there were 3 elephants to be seen, two females and a male. The male had chosen one of the females as his mate and the other was a lone female. We were seated outside and told about the animals as they wandered over to look at us, between shovelling huge amounts of palm leaves in their mouths. If they got to close the mahout would encourage them away with words of command. Words we would have to learn!

Theres a difference between riding an elephant and driving an elephant. Riding is being carried often in cradles slung on the elephants back, driving is the act of sitting up front and encouraging the animal to do what you want.

First however, you have to introduce yourself to the elephant. We went over and standing in front of each elephant it was lovely to just reach out and hold it, they aren’t as big as African elephants, but they still have a big and gentle presence.

Then as trainee mahout me and Paco had to help prepare banana trees for the elephants to eat. We were each entrusted with a machete to cut the tree into bite size chunks. I didnt think to ask for photos of this finger severing opportunity.

Having been fed, we all walked to the huge watering hole where the elephants enjoyed being scrubbed and washed. Again no photos.

We then moved on to learning words of command and how to climb onto your elephant. We were both told this was entirely voluntary and there was no pressure to engage further if we didn’t want to. The mahout would be with us, walking and for a short period we would be the trainee mahout! We both wanted to test out our skills. Armed with plenty of bananas we climbed aboard our chosen mount and were serenely taken on a walk, I’m kidding no one, to say my words of command were in any way being followed by the elephant. But it wasn’t an elephant ride for sure.

Paco also did a circuit on his chosen elephant and after, we both agreed it was a fantastic experience that we had both looked at for some time before signing up to the Elephant Peace Project.

We joined some of the Karen Tribe for a meal before saying farewell to the elephants and the organiser. We both needed to pay for the experience and it’s no bad reflection that we tipped them well. 

I had done my best to find an ethical and proper elephant experience. I came away feeling I had done just that and had impacted little on the life of the elephants, mahout and their way of life. I was certain the funds only went towards the animals food and welfare.

Next morning I was headed off again.