Day 5: Elephant Nature Park

The Elephant Nature Park was an emotional and eye-opening experience for the Heckermachers. It's a preserve where elephants that have been tortured, orphaned, or abused can live out the rest of their days in freedom.

Although wild elephants are protected in Thailand, domestic elephants are considered livestock. There are few rules protecting them from abuse, and those that exist are not widely enforced.

The founder and owner of Elephant Nature Park, a tiny woman named Lek, buys the elephants one by one from their owners. Although training elephants through a combination of physical and emotional pain is a tradition in Thailand, she has launched programs to train elephants through positive reinforcement, and is trying to rehabilitate not only the elephants themselves, but the way they're trained in Thai society. 

Happy, free elephants cool themselves with mud in the midday sun.

Anna feeds watermelon to an elephant.

"Some more for the elephant, please."

New friends. 

The more docile elephants allowed us to feed them by putting food directly on their tongues. Nothing feels cooler than a massive, wet, pink elephant tongue.

"Are we late for the dinner party?"

Baby elephant!

The baby elephant was very interested in Tim's camera.

 After feeding the elephants and enjoying a leisurely lunch of our own, it was bath time.

Getting behind the ears for Aaron Williamson. 

This elephant had suffered a broken leg from being chained up and forced to breed with an aggressive male. Her hip still protrudes, and she walks with a limp.

So fresh and so clean!

Throughout the day, Tim was amused by how the elephants used large logs to scratch their rear ends. He is very mature. 

Best friends.

The grounds also serve as a sanctuary for some 400 rescue dogs - including one that leapt at the screen every time a dog appeared in the documentary they showed us. 

Oh, give me a home where the elephants roam...

At the end of the day, the Heckermachers were fortunate to meet Lek, the founder. She told them a story about fighting off a monitor lizard to rescue a mother dog and her nine puppies. Not only was she one of the warmest and most inspiring people they have ever met, she is also a complete badass. 

Lekermacher. 

The Heckermachers shared a bus up to the Elephant Nature Park and home again with a group of American and Canadian teachers who were on vacation from teaching at an international school in Shanghai. One of them had previously taught and lived in Chiang Mai, and they followed his dinner recommendation to a restaurant called Just Khao Soi, where they sampled Chiang Mai's most famous dish. Khao Soi is curried noodles served with coconut milk, pickled ginger, and a dizzying variety of vegetables and side dishes. Woozy from the spicy curry, they wandered across a bridge, through Chiang Mai's small red light district, and into the famous Night Bazaar. They quickly wandered out, dubbing it "Canal Street at night."

Since they had an early flight the next morning, they decided to call it yet another early night.