For the Love of Travel: Chiang Mai, Thailand

There’s nothing like traveling to somewhere you’ve never been before.  For a girl who likes structure, schedules and familiarity, traveling is the opposite of what’s comfortable for me.  And that’s exactly why I love it so ridiculously much.  It’s a break from the confines of day to day life to just be.  Go where you want to go and do what you want to do.  Traveling is more than just relaxing.  It is good for the soul.  In the past 10 years, I’ve gone from a kid who had never been out of the United States to a world traveler that lives for adventure.  Seeing so many different cultures, countries and beautiful places has impacted my life to the very core.

It’s almost become a bit of an obsession.  Any chance we get, Matt and I always want to go somewhere new.  Our list of places that we want to go to seems to get longer every week.  And for years and years, Thailand has been at the top of that list.  So early last year, we began planning.  And after months of patiently waiting, December had arrived and we embarked on a trip that we will never forget.

After 30+ hours of traveling, we finally reached our first destination.  Chiang Mai, Thailand.  It was our first taste of Thailand and it was magic.  We spent our time in Chiang Mai exploring the city and getting immersed in the culture.  And spending one unbelievable day with some very special elephants.

We were beyond excited that first morning we woke up in Chiang Mai.  All we kept thinking was omigoodness.i.can’t.believe.we.are.here.

The Night Market in Chiang Mai is huge and overtakes many of the streets.

Oh, fish spas.  Kind of grossed me out but are quite common in Thailand.  You put your feet into the fish tank and they eat off the dead skin.

Our last full day in Chiang Mai was spent with some amazing elephants.  Matt and I are huge animal lovers and the one thing we wanted to
do in Thailand was to spend some time with these very special creatures.  Much research and time went into finding the right place since there
so many different ones and types in Thailand.  When we heard about Patara Elephant Farm, we knew it was the perfect fit for us.  They really
have a heart for the elephants and we loved the idea that we would get to be elephant ‘owners’ for a day.  We learned how to care for them,
feed them and ride them.  And the landscape there was so beautiful.

The first step was to dress like the trainers do.  We put on our new threads for the day.

Next we got to bond and make sure we were a good fit with our elephant.  This was my girl, Boon Yue.  And there is no better way to bond
with these big beauties than with food.

After snack time, we had to get all of the dirt and grass off of the elephant before we could bathe them.

We got to scrub our elephants down in the river.  These guys are huge so it took a lot of time and muscle.  They really seemed to enjoy
the water.

They were happy to return the favor and surprised us with a shower.

There are a few ways to get onto an elephant.  I chose to try the way where you use the elephant’s trunk as a step and she lifts you upwards.

Matt was a little more adventurous with his elephant, Mae Wan Dee.  He chose to do the jump method.

Boon Yue seriously loved to eat.  She snacked her way through the jungle and often went off the path to collect food.

After our trek, we had quite the lunch spread with a gorgeous view of a waterfall.  Lunch was officially over when a few elephants came
and started cleaning up all of the fruit and banana leaves.

We loved this experience so much.  It was hard to say goodbye to our new elephant friends and to the city of Chiang Mai.  It wasn’t long
enough but we were excited for our next stop, Khao Lak.  Will be blogging that portion of our trip next week.  Happy Tuesday!