Conky Tonkin' with The Pfeifers: We're Off to Thailand for Encounters with Elephants, "Giraffe Women," and a Bunch More Temples

3/3-3/5/2024

Today we end our short stay in Cambodia and ride back to the airport for a flight from Siem Reap to Bangkok, with a connecting flight to Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai.

Buddhas at the airport

Chiang Mai is the largest city in northern Thailand and the second largest city in the country behind Bangkok (1.2 million vs. 10.7 million).

Capt. Larry gets "leied"

Situated in a mountainous region called the Thai Highlands, the city’s location on the Ping River and its proximity to major trading routes contributed to its historic importance. We checked into our hotel, the Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon resting and viewing the resort’s beautiful grounds. Later, we savor a traditional Thai group dinner.

After breakfast with David and Linda, we went to the resort’s parking area to meet up with the Four Seasons’ pair of resident water buffalo. One of the animals is pink (albino), and they are brought out each morning to delight the guests.

The "pink" water buffalo

We board a bus that will take us to the Kanta Elephant Sanctuary, a short distance from our hotel. The purpose of the sanctuary is to offer a retirement home for elephants who have previously worked in the tourist entertainment or logging industries.

Jane and friend

The sanctuary’s mission is to raise awareness and educate people from around the world about elephant care and conservation and the plight of the Asian elephant. The largest living land animal in Asia, the Asian elephant has been listed as endangered, with a population decline of at least 50% over the last three generations (about 60 to 75 years). It is threatened by habitat degradation and loss, fragmentation, and poaching. The populations are declining due to a low birth rate and a high death rate.

After we arrive at the camp, we are asked to change into elephant-print clothing “so the elephants don’t mistake you for food and eat you.”

Group pic

But since everyone knows that elephants are herbivores, we suspect that this is to protect our clothing or have everyone dressed alike to benefit group photos.

Getting a dust bath

A staff member gives us some background information about the important role elephants have played in Thai culture and about the unique relationship elephants have with their mahout handlers. We go to a corral, which the elephants have been brought into, and are given instructions on how to feed the animals. We are given bags of chopped sugarcane, and we feed, pet, and interact with the elephants until the cane is gone. The mahouts lead the animals to a stream, which they enter to bathe.

Tod & Jane make a vitamin ball

We follow and are invited to join the elephants and help them bathe by scrubbing them with stiff brushes. Apparently, it’s something they like. We declined the invitation after seeing one mahout throw elephant poop out of the water. Next, we go to a pavilion and are instructed on how to make and feed vitamin balls, which supplement the elephants’ diet. We line up in front of a row of elephants for a farewell group photo.

Bathing the elephants

Unknown to us, the mahouts have buckets of water, which the elephants suck into their trunks and spray on us as the photo is being made. We shower, change back into our clothes, and enjoy a box lunch before leaving the sanctuary.

Before returning to our hotel, we visit a nearby hill tribe village. The term “hill tribe” is used in Thailand for all the various ethnic groups who mostly inhabit the high mountainous northern and western regions of Thailand—the border regions with Laos and Myanmar (Burma).

A "hill tribe" woman

The main ethnic groups (Akha, Hmong, Htin, Iu-Mien, Karen, Khamu, Lahu, Lisu, and Lua) and other ethnic minorities have been officially recognized by the Thai government as "Ethnic Hill Tribes,” with each group having a distinctive language and culture.

Hill tribe village "wooden" couple

Traditionally subsistence farmers, it is estimated that the hill tribe population is about 750,000 people scattered over more than 200 hill tribe villages.

Upon entering the village, we find women of different ethnic groups trying to sell their wares and handicrafts to the tourists. Although the different groups come together to make a living, they are by no means really integrated. Each group maintains its own culture, traditions, and language, even though they share the territory in which they live with other groups.

Mother & daughter "long necks"

One group of women that we found very interesting was the “long-necked Karen” or “giraffe women.” Starting when they are around 5 years old, Karen girls start to wear coils or rings around their necks. Over time, the coil is replaced by a longer one, and the weight of the brass pushes the collarbone down and compresses the rib cage.

Temple in Doi Suthep complex

The rings or coils can elongate the neck to a length of about 15 inches. One of the women handed us a coil, and it was surprisingly heavy. We returned to our hotel and enjoyed another rare, relaxing afternoon before having dinner with David and Linda.

One of the highlights at the start of each day on trips like this is the wide selection of fresh fruits available at the breakfast buffet. Although the selection is likely to vary according to the hotel’s locality, we have enjoyed some common and not-so-common varieties, including: watermelon, cantaloupe, dragon fruit, guava, rose apple, passionfruit, bananas (often more than one kind), mango, papaya, rambutan, pima, and pineapple.

Ornate gong in complex

We finish our breakfast with David and Linda and board a bus that will take us on a tour of Chiang Mai.

As we enter the city, our guide notes that there are 117 Buddhist temples within the city district, some dating back to the 13^th century.

White Elephant shrine

There are also several temple ruins scattered throughout the city. We drive through Chiang Mai Old Town with its ancient city walls and moats that were built over 700 years ago when the city was founded. The royal family once lived in a district in Old Town.

We rode a very steep, winding, mountainous road to a height of over 3500 feet to visit the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple, commonly referred to as “Doi Suthep.”

Ornate temple and shrines

The temple is regarded as one of the holiest and most sacred temples in northern Thailand.

Replating the stupa

Construction of Doi Suthep began in 1386, and according to popular legend, the temple was built to hold a piece of bone from the Buddha’s shoulder that was carried on a sacred white elephant (an important symbol in Thailand) to the site of the temple. We enter the sacred pilgrimage spot and are awed by the site of the gold-plated, 80-foot stupa that casts all eyes upwards and is the city emblem of Chiang Mai. Scaffolding and construction workers surround the stupa, and our guide tells us that the structure is being re-plated.

Lots of Buddhas!

There are shrines and monuments at every turn, and the artistry and architecture are quite compelling. We visit the shrine of the White Elephant and admire the ornate workmanship of several holy pagodas and Buddha statues.