Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) Tourist Guide


	S.P. Publishing Group Co., Ltd. 11/1 Soi 3 Bamrungburi Rd., T. Prasingh, A. Muang., Chiang Mai 50200 Tel. 053 - 814 455-6 Fax. 053 - 814 457 E-mail: guidelin@loxinfo.co.th

ELEPHANTS AND ORCHIDS AND THE SNACKS IN BETWEEN

Text : Cherry & Khemmy
Image : Audcharee

We started early - a rainy sprinkle cooling us as we left Chiang Mai, but a general brightness suggesting the sun might break through soon. My photographer colleague Ree and I were on our way to Mae Sa, one of the closest and most popular tourism destinations north of this city, to look at a couple of cute baby elephants on the road to Samoeng. We started early, as I say. But we stopped off early on the way, l’cause we hadn’t had breakfast and we needed to top up adequately, a full day of tripping around for the magazine ahead of us: duty and pleasure both attractively before us.

And there’s no shortage of places offering comestibles either, on that road out north through Mae Rim, then left and west along the winding rural road that starts on the flat but soon snakes up into the National Park. After about an hour’s driving our eyes were caught by a little red hut with the sign over the door that said, ‘Heaven Gallery’. Intrigued, we parked, went inside and found ourselves in a pleasant little restaurant, sipping coffee and munching on hot ba tong go - a kind of Chinese doughnut that we early-risers often start the day with. And to one side was a lovely little pool, with the lotuses poking their heads out to look for the sun, and the teeny colourful little pla harng nok yung fishes flashing their peacock tails at us. Then we wandered round and examined the gallery’s paintings, colourful and especially featuring the red which the building itself so strongly favours.

On then, because the elephant show we’re heading for begins at 9.45. and we need to buy bananas and sugar cane to feed the pachyderms. This is at the Mae Sa Elephant Camp, I should inform you, and we made it in time to see the big grey beasts playing in the stream there, splashing around, spraying each other - and sometimes the spectators - and having a jolly gambol. And then seeing them at their remarkable routines: kicking a football around - watch out Renaldo! - playing the mouth-organ and massaging their mahouts, can you believe it? But the biggest deal here was the elephant painting demonstration. Yes, it’s really true. They’re great big and talented daubers, and the evidence is there right before your eyes, in the canvases of trees and flowers they so skilfully depict. But the performance and the viewing over, then came the biggest deal of all. Sound out the trumpets - Paapararpap! We visited and played with the cute little almost newly born baby elephants, some five minutes away down shady lush paths to the Nursery Camp, but not before stopping off to look into the big sala with the pictorial history of the camp itself - featuring both elephant and human paintings and photographs too.

We were lucky enough also to bump into the elephant doctor who told us a great deal of elephant lore we didn’t know, including how difficult it is sometimes to tell whether lady elephants are really female, and if they’re just rather tubby naturally or because they’ve got themselves pregnant. But now things are better, he said. With ultra-sound scans and other up-to-date instruments, diagnosing is easier to establish, and they’re losing far less potential babies than in the past.

But the best part of this visit was seeing a couple of the new-borns playing naughtily around their calm but watchful mothers, such cute little fellows it made you want to pick them up and pet them, like kittens. But not advisable, believe me. An annoyed mother elephant could be a fearsome dissuader.

Wow! A look at our watches confirmed what our tummies had been telling us. Lunch-time, ladies! And just a tad down the road we came on the ‘Elvis’ restaurant: an agreeable place that does a very good gai yang (grilled chicken) with somtam gung (papaya salad with shrimps). Very satisfying, but watch out for the priki nu (chili). They’re red hot if you’re not used to them.

Recharged, fully energised, we then looked in at the Queen Sirikit Botanic Gardens, a place not only blazing with gorgeous orchids, but offering a splendid array of other tropical and sometimes rare flowers, shrubs and trees. The ideal place for garden enthusiasts, of course, but a great resource as well for students and researchers, for everything’s properly zoned and annotated, and the study centre has all the information necessary. Oh! I nearly forgot. The glasshouses where many of the orchids grow are also playgrounds for hosts of colourful butterflies, flitting around like airborne jewels.

Three o’clock by now. How time flies! We’re a little tired from all the activity, but relaxed by our encounters with nature, refreshed by the pureness of the air and the tranquillity of the surroundings - the National Park all round us. So close to bustling, busy, big-time modern Chiang Mai, but so very different.

Touristy it may be, Mae Sa, but we gave it a high score nevertheless - perhaps also the splendid and cosy little restaurants and cafes along the way had something to do with it. So get yourself out there and enjoy what we did. We guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Some simple tips for elephant-fanciers

1. Stay away from the back end of elephants, and approach from the front only when the mahout's around.

2. Keep to the visiting areas indicated.

3. Don't try to feed performing elephants: it will distract them.

4. Feed them sugar cane and bananas when their shows are over.

5. You don't need to undo the bunches of sugar cane and bananas if the binding's edible.

6. Don't try feeding when holding a camera.

7. When riding an elephant try to relax and move with the elephant's own rhythm.