Thanks to another Jolley recommendation, our stay in Chiang Mai was at Baan Hanibah bungalow bed and breakfast (hmm, delicious sticky rice with mango/banana/taro). We arrived in the evening and grabbed dinner down the street at the rather romantic Ginger and Kafe restaurant, before an early bedtime in anticipation of the next day’s trip.

Pick-up for the Elephant Nature Park was promptly at 8am. The Elephant Nature Park is an animal sanctuary that rescues injured, mistreated, and abandoned animals, mostly elephants, but also dogs and cats. We spent the entire day feeding, bathing, and learning about the elephants, absolutely amazing animals and fascinating to watch. Elephants eat 10% of their body weight every day. All the fruit provided by the staff are merely snacks, supplementing the leaves that they eat on their own throughout the sanctuary. The latest baby elephant born in the park weighed in at a birth weight of 100kg, around 220 pounds! Unrelated, Ryan was one of three visitors at the elephant park that day wearing UT shirts. Small world.

Sniffing Ryan

Maybe she knows Ryan is hiding a watermelon

All they do is eat

Making friends with one of the older elephants

Mother and baby

Roaming down by the river

Protective mother and friend

This elephant spent over 30 minutes covering herself in mud

Finished mud product

Elephant washing

More elephant washing

Donning attire purchased at the elephant park — Excited to be wearing something new

Update on Ryan: We made it to Perth about 36 hours later than expected. Ryan felt well enough to fly, but still is not feeling great, and spent much of the past two days laying in the hotel room. Hoping he gets better soon!