Elephants

Okay, let's just get this out of the way: YES, I am perfectly aware of how ridiculous I look. No, I don't care:


Very tourist-y establishment about an hour outside Chiang Mai, many little greedy opportunities to sepearte you from your hard-earned baht. But, get this: they have ELEPHANTS. Which you can RIDE. Not making this up. What, you need more photos?
Yes, it is indeed THAT cool to be riding an elephant. Goofy hat extra.

As you can see below, it was a beautiful, if slightly cloudy day. The hills to the North and West of Chiang Mai are magnificently forested (mainly thanks to the King of Thailand, more about him later) and the elephant park wound between several of these.
This little guy below was waiting for his mom to finish her work in one of the shows. I really think he was teething- he kept resting his jaw on the bench, and although receptive to people, was nonetheless cranky. Even the little ones are loud when annoyed. He was the medium sized one of the three babies in the park. I got to feed his older cousin bananas. No monkey love of bananas can touch the elephant passion for them- beleive me. Forgive me for sounding corny, but elephants are so... cool. They're big and friendly and serene somehow. And they seem a very easygoing lot. This may be wishful thinking on my part, but they seem okay with giving folks rides- they get a LOT of bananas out of the deal, and the handlers here seem to actually care for them. Given the symbology of elephants (they are everywhere), I doubt any Thai would tolerate mistreatment of them. Like if you heard bald eagles were being abused somewhere, whoever was doing it would have a ton of angry americans to deal with.


That same afternoon we went to a nearby orchid farm. Although this particular establishment was a large commercial venture, the King has pushed flower growing and organic vegetable gardening as an alternative to opium production in the rural areas of the country, particularly here in the north, and its been hugely successful. It had just rained, and the orchids were misted with water.

The king is a fascinating guy. In the last 50 years there's been miliary coups, aborted revolutions and literally dozens of governments- but the king has been the constant, and he's widely credited with keeping the country together. Just before we got here the king celebrated his 60th year on the throne.

At first I was highly skeptical, as per my usual suspicions of the superrich. There are huge posters of the king everywhere, and there's a lot of british-like celebrity worship of the guy. But the thing is he actually uses his wealth to help the people and is adored by his subjects. They're all scared of him dying since he's seen the country through so much and because his son is seen as a playboy ne'er -do-well.

In Thailand, each day of the week has a color, and the day you are born on is your color. The king was born on a Monday, so every Monday, at least half the Thais are decked out in yellow shirts. When you hear how the local people love him, you feel oddly compelled to buy one yourself. He does a lot for ordinary thais, and for the country as a whole. He's big on education, reforestation, encouraging common people to save and invest, and he's constantly warning the thais about the dangers of western-style consumption. He's also given credit for strenghening (read: implementing) the democratic part of the constitutional monarchy, which was more lip service than anything until the nineties. Although he may be regretting that, as he's at odds with the prime minister over corruption allegations.

I've spent other days this week in and around Chiang Mai (learning about the King, among other things). Wonderful city, with beautiful temples:

This is Dok Eung, one of the smaller temples in Chiang Mai, but in my opinion one of the prettiest. Although the vast majority of the Thai population claims to be Buddhist, only a small fraction are practicing. It used to be customary for all males to spend a short time as monks in their adolescnce, but this practice is fading.









An open air market in Chaing Mai at the Tae Phae gate. I bought tons of cheap stuff and mailed it home. I've met and talked to lots of thais, from restauraunters to guides to musicians in the lone Jazz bar in Chiang Mai (the guitarist was a Berklee grad!). Almost everyone has at least a little English- and you learn quickly to uncover the accent. They're a very welcoming, friendly people and they really want you to enjoy their home.











Here I'm learning to cook pad thai. We'll see if it sticks when I get home. The food here in general is amazing. Fantastic meals cost about $.75 on average, more if you have beer.





Okay, might be offline for a few days as Amy and I travel to Vietnam tomorrow. My next posting will be from Hanoi!