We traveled to Chiang Mai, a medium sized city in North Thailand, just south of the Burmese border, to visit a couple from Duke’s MBA program (Matt & Ondraya Brancato) who were ending their Spring Break there. Lodging was unremarkable except for the academic qualifications of the owner and his family. In the middle-of-nowhere Thailand we have a Berkley engineering PhD who owns this place; his daughter is a Kellogg (Northwestern MBA) graduate and his other daughter is an aspiring CPA at PWC. Only problem is that this guy admits to me that the only reason he owns this hotel is to keep the neighborhood "respectable" and prevent it from reverting to its old purpose; an apartment complex for illegal Burmese immigrants. Needless to say, his heart wasn’t really in customer service. I’ll give the place a “B” though.
You will get the gist of our experience by the pictures. Just a few things to add:
1. Playing with the elephants was really cool. We actually expected it to be touristy and roughly equivalent to riding a pony at the state fair. Instead it felt pretty natural. We loved it when the elephants we would ride would veer off course to uproot a tree for a snack. It would then get a whack in the leg from the guide (who was on foot) or shot with a rock from a sling shot (don’t worry – doesn’t hurt – these guys have tough skin) and keep walking, carrying the tree trunk to be eaten as we moved. We climbed hills and forded a river and then, at the end, got to bathe the elephants in the river. Such a cool experience.
2. The tiger sanctuary was extremely touristy - it didn’t feel natural. It was cool conceptually but did not feel right. We chose to visit the "smallest" tigers which are 3-4 months old and there were four in the area we visited.
Off to Hong Kong tomorrow for the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament.
You will get the gist of our experience by the pictures. Just a few things to add:
1. Playing with the elephants was really cool. We actually expected it to be touristy and roughly equivalent to riding a pony at the state fair. Instead it felt pretty natural. We loved it when the elephants we would ride would veer off course to uproot a tree for a snack. It would then get a whack in the leg from the guide (who was on foot) or shot with a rock from a sling shot (don’t worry – doesn’t hurt – these guys have tough skin) and keep walking, carrying the tree trunk to be eaten as we moved. We climbed hills and forded a river and then, at the end, got to bathe the elephants in the river. Such a cool experience.
2. The tiger sanctuary was extremely touristy - it didn’t feel natural. It was cool conceptually but did not feel right. We chose to visit the "smallest" tigers which are 3-4 months old and there were four in the area we visited.
Off to Hong Kong tomorrow for the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament.
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| misty view from the elephant camp |
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| having a sip of water |
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| finally stopped raining - we were having such a good time, we hardly noticed! |
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| asking for a little snack - we definitely ran out of bananas well before the end of the trek |
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| notice the water line on the elephant - this was just after fording the river |
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| a little friend at the elephant camp |
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| very playful guys |
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| this one was the youngest - 3 mos. - and was very sleepy |
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| night market |
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| tuk-tuk to the airport |
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