Thailand-Day 8-Lampang-Chiang Rai

We had come to Lampang not to wander through what promised to be interesting, but not too unique temples-but to go to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. I picked this among the many, many elephant riding facilities, because it at least seemed in the guidebook to treat its elephants reasonably well, I figured it was the least I could do. It was amazing how quickly after we hopped off the bus I was on top of an elephant. If you've never ridden an elephant-I'd highly recommend it. Why? Because it's riding an elephant. It was a great ride-me in the seat, with a mahout crouching on the elephant's neck directing it along a nice trail through very peaceful and green forest including two dips in ponds. I have no problem being obvious in saying that the thing that most struck me was that elephant's are big. Giant. Huge.

John met up with me after my ride, and we caught the elephant show. Apparently, the conservatory has a bunch of elephants that are retired from the outlawed logging industry, and with not much else to do, has taught them to paint, play music instruments, and do all sorts of little tricks. The show featured the mahouts and (mostly foreign) tourists who were mahouts-in-training as part of a three day package. I'm pretty sure that the elephant in this show played the xylophone better than anyone in my third grade music class. It was on the move after the elephant park, a bus back to town, then another to Chiang Rai.

We arrived in Chiang Rai, and got a sweet ride into town from a contact (and her friend) John had there through the teahouse. We had a delicious noodle dinner at a streetside restaurant. I downed an ice cold Beer Leo with my noodles and was quite satisfied with the meal. We wandered around the streets of Chiang Rai, through some of the handicraft markets and restaurant and bar streets. It was my first time in Thailand to see how many tourists are really in Thailand, as Chiang Rai is a pretty popular destination in the north. On some streets, the only people you would see were white tourists and Thai wait staff and most signs were in English, with the occassional German or French (but not Thai). The Lonely Planet guidebook always seems to castigate any tourists that aren't totally adapting to the local way of life, don't carry a backpack, or come with package tours. Contrarily, my view is that Thailand significantly benefits economically from the tourists, the tourists love the beaches and the Buddhist culture so it seems to work out pretty well. I was once again thankful to John, as his contact let us stay in an apartment above the cafe she runs.