After a week of diving in the Gulf of Thailand, an all night full moon partyand driving around Koi Tao looking for a sunset, we flew to Northern Thailand to Chiang Mai. We had a busy three days, starting with a tour of the paper parasol factory with hand painted designs, the silver crafts shop, the silk making factory and the elephant poop-paper making factory. On day two we went to Baanchang ("elephant home"). They rescue elephhants from the lumber industry, shows and zoos and other places that have elephants they can no longer care for. We became Mahouts for the day, feeding,riding and batheing elephants for the day. The home is privately owned and they rely on donations of food and money and the money collected from groups like us to feed and care for the elephants. Then we toured a few of the older Wats(temples) in the area and learned quite a bit about the Buddist religion from our guide, who was a monk for seven years.
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