I'm back in Chiang Mai, laying in my bed listening to the people celebrating Sunday outside of my hotel window. It's Sunday and the streets are jammed full with people, mostly tourists, for the weekly walking market. I just finished up a week at the Elephant Nature Park, about 45 minutes outside of Chiang Mai.
I woke up last Monday and signed in at the park office a few blocks away from my hotel (Awanna House, thank you Tonya Kay). The office was full of about 25 people. After the paperwork had been signed and payment collected we were ushered to our vans waiting out front. As we were approaching the park, driving up a windy tree lined road we came across other elephants, not belonging to the Elephant Nature Park, walking on the street. They were there to give rides. It's their job to carry tourists on their backs, the seats pressing on their fragile spines all the while a man called a mahout sits on their neck holding a tool with a hook at the end. Some of these working elephants have their babies walking right next to them. These elephants are not the lucky ones and it's heartbreaking.
The story continues tomorrow....
I'm so tired I'm struggling for words.
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