I signed up for a tour involving elephants, bamboo rafting, snakes, and monkeys. The tour also visited an orchid and butterfly farm, which was a tranquil place. I missed the monkey part of the tour because a German tourist turned sickly, and the tour operators took us back to Chiang Mai early. Inevitably, one tourist out of ten will likely be suffering some sort of intestinal affliction. Just drink bottled water and you'll be fine. I've never had any serious problem, except for a five hour spell of misery once in Cambodia, and a churning gut one day in Bangkok in 2005.
These photos show the elephants. This part of the tour included an elephant ride through the jungle and a trained elephant show. Not many of these elephants had the big long tusks you sometimes see, but the one in the photo at the bottom of this page (playing basketball) sure did.
Photos by Mark Isleifson ©2006
A baby elephant.
Falangs (foreigners) on elephants.
Each elephant had its own trainer/pilot sitting on the neck steering the beast.
An elephant bath.
Feeding the elephants bananas and sugarcane.
Some of the elephants painted pictures of flowers.
They had a sports themed show with basketballs and soccer balls.
