Maesa Elephant Camp, Chiang Mai

1/13/2010

On day 3 in Chiang Mai we hired a driver to take us around all day. This is the way to do it in Chiang Mai, hire a driver! The price is more than reasonable; I think we paid the driver right around $45 USD for the entire day. (Lasana at our hotel set this up for us.) He took us everywhere we wanted to go and part of the time he played tour guide for us. It was nice being able to spend as much or as little time as we wanted at any given location. You can rent a car in Thailand, but they drive on the 'wrong' side of the road, so neither Hubby nor I wanted that adventure. ;-)

Our first stop was for coffee, and then we headed over to the Maesa Elephant Camp. We all rode elephants the last time we were in Thailand so this time not everyone wanted to ride. Here is Hubby, Girl and Boy 2 on the elephant, while Boy 1, Boy 2 and I fed this huge beast.

While Hubby, Boy 2 and Girl were riding the elephant, Boy 1, Boy 3 & I headed over to the nursery to check out the newest member of the camp.

When they were done riding the elephants, we went to the elephant show where the elephants paraded in line swinging their trunks, they did a little jig, they played soccer, painted, gave a massage, played darts and much more. This show lasted about an hour and everyone had a great time, even me...except when I was thinking of the show "Animals Gone Wild", and I was planning our exit route, and how I was going to get all my kids out of there when the elephants stampeded. Thank goodness I didn't have to put my plan into action. Yes, I know I can fly thought the jungle on a cable, jump out of an airplane and so on, but put me in front of wild (yet 'tame') animals and I tend to freak out (silently).