We spent most of Friday in a van driving the winding, hilly road from the Fern Resort to BEES (Berm and Emily's Elephant Sanctuary). On the way we did stop to visit a couple of temples. Since this area of Northern Thailand is close to the Burmese border, the temples have a distinct Burmese style. Of particular note were signs that excluded females from entering the alter type areas of the temples.
The views are spectacular in this mountainous area of Thailand. We stopped at a couple of spots just to admire the hills.
At the end of the day we arrived at a Homestay very close to BEES. All 12 of us slept on thin mattresses on the floor, in the same room. A big plus were the new mosquito nets, while we were just a bit disappointed that the toilet was a squat.
We had breakfast at Bees at 7 am and then followed the elephants along with their mahouts and Berm, Emily and about 10 dogs on their daily walk through the jungle. The two female elephants are retired from the very difficult job of providing tourists with elephant rides. We learned that this practice is painful for elephants and that the way they are trained to carry people is extremely cruel. Berm and Emily are remarkable people. They have rescued several elephants and are raising funds to rescue more.
Walking with these enormous and yet gentle creatures was truly an incredible experience. Watching them as they took down bamboo trees to eat was a sight to behold. Elephants eat constantly and sleep only four hours a night.
We sat on large leaves and ate our lunch in the jungle as we watched the elephants. On our walk back to BEES we spotted a very large snake skin. Our guide said it looked like a king cobra skin. Apparently a king cobra is the only creature besides humans that can kill an elephant. Emily spoke of a baby elephant who died after being attacked by a cobra. Thankfully we didn't see any snakes today.
The most fascinating part of our time with these two elephants (one was 56 and the other in her 70's) was feeding and bathing them. The elephant stood perfectly still as we threw buckets of water over her. Feeding her pumpkin and patting her trunk was such a thrill.
After our day with the elephants we got into our air conditioned vans and winded our way up and down mountainous hairpin turns for the three hour drive to Chiang Mai. Dinner and shopping at the night market completed a very full day.
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