Sarah

Thailand Part 1

Added 2020-05-21 21:03:10 +0000 UTC

I was lucky enough to get to visit Thailand right before the pandemic became a pandemic. COVID19 was already in China and I had to travel through Hong Kong to reach my destination (and actually layover there on the way home), which was pretty scary. But of course, I didn’t purchase travel insurance, the airline wouldn’t reroute or refund me, and so I had to make the decision to ultimately take my chances. I’m so glad I did because I have no idea when I’ll be able to travel again, and it had been almost 3 years since my last vacation. Anyway, I have enough photos and stories (from this trip and others) to fill many posts... so please let me know if you wanna see/hear more about any of it!

In the meantime, the elephants you see me with here were one of the highlights of my trip. I spent a long time carefully researching elephant sanctuaries before ultimately choosing to do a day trip through the Elephant Rescue Park. I was staying in Chiang Mai and took a 2 hour van ride to where the Karen Tribe lives. The ride almost killed me lol (I get very motion sick and didn’t realize it would be so twisty/turny and didn’t take my Dramamine)... but it was SO WORTH IT. The organization basically shows the tribe how to properly care for the elephants without abusing them or forcing them to give rides, etc. It was a very intimate experience with literally only 2 other people, the members of the tribe themselves, and 5 elephants who were essentially an adopted family (they rescued an older pair, two adults and a baby, non of them actually related). We took them for a walk through the jungle and went into the river, then fed them lunch (mostly cucumbers!) before heading back to Chiang Mai.

If you guys want more travel content, I have endless adventures that I would love to share! Can’t wait till we are able to see new parts of the world again safely. 🌏