A disclaimer- pictures are taking FOREVER to load………might not be any for some time.  We were picked up by a van yesterday right on time at 8:00AM.  We got up at 7:00, repacked and met for a beautiful breakfast outside by the pool.    There were 2 families from Germany with 3 small kids (all under 10) and after eating I went up to them and said “it does get better!  Our teenagers sleep in their own room and can go off exploring by themselves”.  The one mom got tears in her eyes- it can be exhausting traveling with young children- but the reward is that you will have life long world ambassadors who love the pull of travel and are not afraid of the exotic.

Arrived at the Elephant Nature Park after about a 90min drive climbing up into the mountains that circle Chiang Mai.  We dropped our luggage at our meeting point as the rooms were still being cleaned and our driver showed us where we would meet in about an hour.

The park in addition to hosting week long visitors like us, also have 1/2 day and full day programs.  On the ride up here we watched a video produced by National Geographic about the  founder of the park- a Thai woman who has for over 30 years swam against the current stream of traditional elephant care and training.  While the Thai’s worship elephants, they also have a history of cruel training methods that are truly horrific.  At the park her goal is to educate about these intelligent majestic worlds largest animals.  There are 44 elephants here, all come here abused- many of them are female and blind as to poke their eyes is one of the ways the trainers use to try and control these animals.  There is no riding on elephants here at the Park as those cruel days are over for these few elephants.

They roam the grounds with their trainers in huge areas.  Only the girls and bulls are separated as the males right now adolescents and naughty.  The day visitors were lined up along the raised platform feeding the elephants from big laundry baskets filled with pumpkin, watermelon and corn (the elephants eat whats local and in season too!).  As we stood behind a painted red line we would reach out a piece of food and the elephants would with their trunks grab the food place it in their mouth and come back for more.  The trunk is soft at the point it picks up the food- so very amazing.  All the while the elephant watches you with an eye that seems almost comical for the size of the body- yet so very deep and thoughtful.  Beautiful.

We ate lunch with the day people, our van full of people ate together, there was an American girl here for her 2nd week, she graduates from HS next week, a german girl who just finished her Masters degree and will be traveling for about 6 months in Asia.  And a Norwegian  girl who also just finished school and is traveling until her money runs out.  There was a LONG buffet with about 25 dishes- all vegetarian with either plain or fried rice.  It all was excellent!

After lunch we met with all the new weekly visitors- there are 32 of us from around the world.  We are not the oldest but- close!  We played a “game” where we went around the circle and had to name everyone- one person being added at a time.  Not fun for those of us who have a problem memorizing names- but we now know everyones name.   Then we got our 3rd safety talk about the balance the Park has with visitor safety and letting the elephants be as free as they can be.  It’s a fine line- when an elephant has a bad day, the consequences can be significantly higher  then if say, a dog has a bad day.  Speaking of dogs there are over 400 at a shelter here too-150 cats and 2 monkeys.

As we sat down, an elephant family was below us walking under us toward the river, the largest ones would stop to rub agains the wooden columns- slowly swaying the whole structure.  No work for us today-we next got to go to our rooms- as told it is basic, like no need for screens on the window as the roof is open on the sides to the elements.  Our whole bathroom is one big open air room- basic but will do!  1st thing I did was remove the 2 blankets from our bed so that we would only have a top sheet if needed under our mosquito net.

We had about 30 min to unpack a bit then we met again to find out our work group.  We are in work group A, which means we get to get the most dreaded job out of the way the 1st day- cutting grass with machetes until we fill a truck- we will have jobs in the AM, then lunch then PM jobs then dinner.

Before dinner Max found out that there is a nightly soccer game that takes place in one of the paddocks.  Rob and the boys played against about 3 Thai people- seemed like every-time i’d look out on the field Rob and the boys would be doing push ups.  So confused, I thought they were playing soccer………come to find out they had to do push ups oveytime the other team scored.  Which was a lot……Rob was literally soaking wet when he came up for dinner- looked like he just stepped out from a shower-

Dinner was as yummy as lunch- even the boys are loving the food.  After dinner there was a blessing ceremony by a local Shaman.  There were about 40 people in the room sitting on the ground on little 2′ square pillows.  There was a little 6 piece band of local kids about 12 years old playing traditional instruments.  Very sweet.  The Shaman pulled 4 people up from the ground- our group leader made Mae go up there and for the next 30 min the Shaman chanted and sprinkled water on the 4 girls.  When he finished the 3 grandmas in the group tied little white strings on each of our wrists.  We went up to them one by one, they would tie on the cord then we both would join our hands, place them on our forehead, bow and say thank you in Thai.  It was very beautiful and touching- we were being blessed for our past wrongs done to us, the Shaman  collected them from all of us in the room thru the 4 girls representing us- he placed the “wrongs” in a 1′ square little boat made of mostly beautiful flowers.  After, it was set down the river- taking all of our pain and transgressions against us with the “boat” down the river.

The room we had the blessings in also doubles as a Thai massage/ foot massage place at night.  We all took advantage of it- felt great and a fantastic way to end the day.  There are not many lights on the grounds so you either use your phone flashlight or a real one to make your way back to your room.  Rob was snoring in about 3 minutes, I read for about 10.  Then passed out.  It actually got “cold” in the night- I had to crawl under the top sheet at one point.

These photo’s ARE taking forever- seems like they post much faster on Instagram- so if you like you can see photo’s at least while we are here at ENP on

Instagram:   jillannthomas