Our second stop in Thailand took us to Chiang Mai. After settling into our new residence, we went to find the balloon festival. We had seen hot air balloons on the bus ride into the city and had seen signs as to where it was located. When we got there only a few stragglers remained. Obviously no one wanted to be out in the middle of a field during the heat of the day.

Back at the hostel, we looked through the myriad of pamphlets and posters to find a trek. This was the defacto place to do a trek according to Lonely Planet. We found several that looked interesting, but the hostel people said we should do the one that they reccommended that was actually cheaper. Let’s do this!

It turned out to be a great decision. We started the day with a bus ride to a “butterfly farm”, which actually meant a 20 foot cube enclosure with plants and flowers for the 20 or so butterflies that lived there. That was a little underwhelming but the cool part was behind the butterfly enclosure: orchids! Rows and rows and rows of orchids. It turns out the butterfly farm actually grew orchids and raised butterflies to make broaches and other accessories. The light hitting the orchids was perfect.

We continued on and drove higher and higher into the hills outside of Chiang Mai. We passed elephants on the road carrying happy tourists. We followed a river up to into the hills and passed several more elephant tour companies. We soon stopped for our second activity: bamboo rafting.

We were joined on the trek by a German named Christian, a French couple, and two guys from Malaysia. The three girls I am traveling with and I were on one raft and the rest of our group got onto a separate raft. Two guides were on each raft which made for quite a group! One guide was standing in the front and one standing in the aft of the raft, each with a long bamboo pole to navigate with. The rafts were about 10-12 poles wide which made the raft just big enough for us to sit two by two on. Under the top level of bamboo poles were inner tubes and then below that was another layer of poles. If one person stood up on one side of the raft it felt like the whole thing would flip!

Since safety was of the utmost importance to the tour operators, none of us wore life jackets and I got to guide with a pole in the front for a while. The tour guide then proceeded to try and tickle me while I was posing for a picture. Yes, good antics are always an important part of safety on a vessel under way. Luckily the river was smooth and perfect so the treachery of the open seas was avoided.

Having completed a relaxing voyage, we returned to the van to head further into the mountains. We crested a pass and before us appeared a brown river which bisected a wonderfully saturated green valley. The big puffy cotton ball clouds rolled lazily over the pastures where elephants were. I wrongly assumed that the elephants were grazing in the field. As we got closer I could see that they were chained to their spot and had a mound of leaves that they were dining on. I started to feel uneasy about the elephants. I really wanted to have a great encounter and connect with these magnificent creatures. I had only seen them in zoos and at the circus until now. This was going to be great!

Nope. It’s not time for an elephant ride yet. Whitewater rafting was waiting for us as we pulled to a stop. Could it be that the rushing river below our put-in point was the same river we had just had a bamboo raft on? The sound of the river excited me. My last rafting trip was a good one north of Boise, Idaho more than 3 years before.

This time Christian and I manned the front of the inflatable raft as the three girls would be the core of our paddling strength. Our guide took up the position in the rear to steer. Our guide’s instructions were not barked or yelled at us, but rather a smooth coo. “O.K. Let’s gooooo. Paddle noooow.” We paddled and he positioned us for the first rapids.

Wet. Soaked. Screaming with joy. This is what it was like through every rapid. So the screaming might have been a little over dramatic, we didn’t hit anything more than a Class 2, but it felt right. Like riding a kiddie coaster when you’re too small for the big coasters, you just have to play up the drama for the sake of the others.

“O.K. Stop paddling. Sooooo Niiiiiice. Relaaaaaxing.” The cooing continued. By this time the girls were cracking up. The guide’s voice was so over-the-top sultry combined with some good natured ribbing of Amy’s reaction to me completely soaking her with a splash from my paddle. They giggled and laughed as Chris and I bore the brunt of every splash from the rapids. We finally coasted into our stop and pulled the rafts from the water and dried off. Our van was waiting for us and as we waited for the guides to grab a quick lunch we found a tiny kitten asleep on someone’s backpack.

We rode the van back up out of the valley and we finally had lunch overlooking the elephant that we would get a chance to ride next. We watched the elephant handler take an elephant into the river for a bath. That looked like so much fun for the elephant! The handler was fairly skilled at staying on the elephant’s back while the it submerged just enough to completely cover it’s back. One more of Jackie’s 3000 pad thai meals and we were ready to go. We walked across a footbridge that was straight out of an Indiana Jones movie.

As we waited for our elephant in a raised hut, we saw that one of the elephant’s had a baby with her. I pointed it out to the group who all responded “awwww” in unison. The others in the group got their elephants and started out. Jackie and I were assigned to the mother elephant and the baby followed. I had noticed when the handler had gotten the mother that both her and the baby were chained up. It pained me to know this was the way they were being treated.

We settled in on our elephant ride and soon came to a stand in the forest where they were selling bananas to the riders to feed the elephant. We didn’t want to buy any so Jessica and Amy shared their bunch. Our handler didn’t like that and wouldn’t let us feed the elephant! He banged on the elephant’s head with a bottle and turned her around. This was how he was leading the elephant. Even though the elephant had been on this route many times before and new it well, he continued to bang his bottle. This added greatly to our frustration. Adding to it was we could tell from our elephant’s body language and energy that she was mad she didn’t get any bananas. This must be how they get them to do the same thing over and over again.

As we ended the otherwise smooth and short ride, we noticed the bull elephant up on the hill. He was carefully watching as mother and baby were down below. Actually he had been watching the entire time. I had noticed him earlier but hadn’t put it together until we were spread out and I could tell exactly who he was looking at. Once we were stopped, I was able to get our mother elephant at least one of the bananas. Jackie had managed to give the baby elephant a banana as we were on our way back from the banana stand.

From the elephant ride we hiked for about 45 minutes up and across a hill to a waterfall. Papaya and banana trees were the foreground to the mountain views along the way. The waterfall was a refreshing end to the hike. We all played and enjoyed the pools and the falls while being surrounded by cats who just couldn’t wait to be petted when we got out.

I highly recommend going on one of the treks from the Little Bird Guesthouse in Chaing Mai. I just wish the elephants were treated better. Based on our experience with the elephants, we intend to find and do some volunteer work at an elephant sanctuary. If you know of one, please add a blink to the comments section!