The Travels of Eric and Lorna

Today was Elephant Nature Park (ENP), really a highlight of the entire trip (other links here and here ). This place is simply amazing. First off, it is very different from many of the other elephant camps. The elephants are not there to be ridden or to do stupid tricks. The whole purpose of the camp is conservation and education. The founder, a woman named Sangduen "Lek" Chailert , has dedicated her life to helping elephants and to education people about the plight of the Asian elephant in Thailand. The park takes in abused and injured elephants, and allows them to live like elephants. They are allowed to roam at will, form their own family groups, etc. There are not tricks and no riding. These things are bad, as the howdahs used in riding can injure an elephant, particularly one that is pregnant. They do not make them do tricks because the methods used to get them to do tricks are brutal. You watch a film where they show the process of breaking an elephant...

Another beautiful day. We decided to take it easy, since the next day was the Elephant Nature Park. After a leisurely breakfast, we did some shopping along the main road. L bought some jewelry, which is big here, particularly silver We had lunch at a really good Middle Eastern place called Jerusalem Falafel . It was a nice change of pace from Thai food, which is excellent, of course, but we felt like a break from it. I had the special, which was an excellent eggplant moussaka while L had an excellent chicken dish. The hummus and pita was really good as well. The pita was a lot thicker and breadier than we are used to, but it was really fresh and delicious. It was obviously homemade. Didn't really do much else that day. Shopped a little more. I had another Cuban on the porch, and we had dinner at The Good View , one of the restaurants near the hotel. It was really good and did, indeed, have a good view. Some random pics. A cool Wat we visited in Chiang Mai. Probably mor...

It rained last night, and was still raining when we woke up this morning. After breakfast (which was delicious, as usual) I got on the computer in the lobby to look at the weather report and also to try to find a cigar store in Chiang Mai. The weather report was not heartening. It was supposed to rain all day. We decided to go out anyway, since it was out first full day in the city. We waited until it slacked off a bit, then headed out. We didn't bring any rain gear, because it is not supposed to rain at this time of year in Thailand. Anyway, it really didn't matter; even had I brought my rain gear, it was too warm to wear it. I would rather be a little wet than hot and wet. I had my adventure hat, anyway, so no worries. Anyway, we decided to walk to the old city, which is defined at the area inside the old moat . Our hotel is not even on the map that I just linked to, but, if you look at the scale, it is not huge. The area inside the moat is about a square mile, so it...