Elephants and tattoos

I started my day with an alarm. They should be outlawed on vacation but, it was a must as the number 1 thing that I have looked forward too in Thailand since planning this trip was finally happening today!

I had a hearty breakfast on the bus. A Leftover cold cheeseburger deluxe from McDonald’s. 

We made a pit stop on the hour and a half drive and got some nasty coffee that I literally choked down. At this point, I remembered I forgot to bring my money to pay for the tour!! Thank god for Davina and her credit card! We continued on our way to Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai Thailand. 

Elephant Nature Park is an elephant rescue and rehabilitation center in Northern Thailand where you can volunteer and visit to help elephants, dogs & cats. Over 740 dogs and over 200 cats and unknown amount of water buffalo live here as well. There is no riding, no chains, no ropes, no whips , no hooks... all food and Love provided to these sacred animals. Rare to find a ethical elephant park in South East Asia. 

This is from a neighbor camp on our way in.the first elephants I seen.we basically put our stuff down and got to feed a few elephants some snacks.Our tour guide Then we were off for a closer look. All of these Elephants have a name and a story. They have a beautiful homeDoctor was giving a pedicure while she was eating fruit. Baby nursing There were a few close calls of elephants coming toward us from behind,more than once we had to move quickly. They moved fast and so quietly. A mahout is a elephant handler. There’s a baby boy and what a mess he was! He ran from handlers knocking stuff over, ran toward us and a lady was trying to hide behind a wooden pole. Well this particular pole had his tire toy attached, he hit it and swung it hard that tire went around and nearly got that lady! But she barely escaped with it only hitting her backpack around, no injuries noted. Most elephants had 1 handler or maybe 2 elephants to 1 handler but this baby had 4-5 handlers. He was a mess! 

Bathing /mudding with his sister

takes off running handlers..... mohouts causing trouble , knocking stuff over lol 

Then we had a terrific lunch, then it was time to bathe. Our groups elephant was blind. 1 eye by nature and 1 by being stabbed by a handler prior to being rescued. We were standing in the shade admiring them , when these 2 babes wanted our spot and they sure got it. They wanted shade and to scratch.

then they applied sunscreen 

We then got to see the “ER” and clinic area. This is Therapy. This elephant arrived 2 days ago with injured leg. This is where they sleep, which is only 3-4 hours a day. Some sleep standing up and some lay down it was a long hot but intriguing day. It takes 1 million baht to buy and rescue a elephant, that’s about 32,000 USD. After our journey back into town,Davina and I put our big girl panties on and went to a world renown tattoo studio. 

For 30 years I have. Wanted this covered upeventful day, goodnight