Elephants and Lanterns: New Year's in Chiang Mai

Hello, xin chào, and สวัสดี!

The end of December was surprisingly hectic, so I return not with a post about food in Hanoi (which will happen… eventually), but a post about my fantastic New Year's trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Conveniently, Sunday and Wednesday are my days off, and New Year's Day (one of a handful of paid holidays) fell on a Tuesday, making it easy for me to take off New Year's Eve and spend a few days in Thailand.

This was my second time coming to Chiang Mai—the last time being on my two-week trip to Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia last January. Normally I'd be somewhat hesitant to repeat a destination so soon after my first visit, but I didn't feel like I had enough time there last time I went (mainly thanks to a delayed sleeper train from Bangkok). Moreover, when I was searching for the best places to spend New Year's in Southeast Asia, Chiang Mai popped up as a rather unique option among more typical suggestions like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Kuala Lumpur. Those cities earned their spots on these online lists for their parties, fireworks, and headlining performers à la New Year's Eve in New York, but Chiang Mai was notable for its NYE lantern festival.

Lantern festival at midnight.

From about 8 or 9 o'clock to midnight, hundreds upon hundreds (probably thousands, but I truly don't know) of people, foreign and local alike, gathered along the moats surrounding the old city to release 3- or 4-foot-tall paper lanterns into the sky. The number of lanterns released noticeably peaked at midnight, but it was absolutely beautiful watching them float into the sky all evening.

Lanterns stuck in a neighboring tree.

I camped out on the side of an elevated planter in a park for most of the evening to enjoy the views of the lanterns. Most of the time I was sitting next to a middle-aged Japanese woman who would gawk and gasp and take photos every time a lantern got caught in a neighboring tree (which was frequent).


Eventually, a couple Thai women in their 20s or 30s started offering me and this German guy in his 20s Thai whiskey (which is actually more like rum), and we all released a lantern together around midnight. After that, it was time for bed, as I had spent the whole day at an elephant sanctuary in the mountains.

The elephants checking me for more bananas.

Visiting elephant sanctuaries/habitats/parks/etc. is one of the biggest activities for tourists in Chiang Mai. A lot of its ubiquity has to do with the fact that by the time Thailand outlawed using elephants for logging in the 1980s, there remained nowhere near enough natural habitat for them to be returned to the wild. Consequently, many elephants were then used to earn money through elephant rides, street begging, and continued illegal logging. Awareness has steadily grown in recent years, however, that these activities are incredibly inhumane, so there's now a vast array of sanctuaries where tourists come to visit with retired elephants and their offspring.

View from the entrance. The Karen village is visible in the upper center.

I did a lot of research beforehand to ensure I chose the most ethical/sustainable option available. I found many highly rated sanctuaries, but a lot of them had a few negative reviews pointing out that these elephants were leading better lives but still being exploited for large volumes of tourists (doing tricks, being forced to take baths, etc.). Luckily I found the Elephant Nature Park, an organization recommended by various conservation groups for its commitment to the elephants' wellbeing. My tour didn't actually go to the eponymous park; instead, I took a small group tour to a project in a Karen village where the owners had decided to free their elephants from labor with the support of the Elephant Nature Park.

One of many feedings.

About a dozen other people and I took a van an hour and a half up into the mountains and then transferred to the back of a pick-up truck to conquer the steep and extraordinarily bumpy dirt road to the project. We found ourselves in a small valley of rice terraces that had the elephants and a few small thatched buildings one one side and a village of half a dozen thatched houses on the other.

Walking in the forest.

We started out feeding the elephants bananas, which an American living at the project (without electricity or hot water) told us was like chocolate for them. Relative to their size, they didn't get a lot, and the rest of the day saw them eating copious amounts of bamboo-like grasses (of which they apparently eat 300-500 pounds per day). All of us on the tour were surprisingly intimidated to be up close and personal with them at first, but as the day wore on, we all got a lot more comfortable. Next, we took a walk through the forest with the elephants, who were surprisingly agile along the steep and uneven trails (with which I was admittedly struggling).

The elephant on the right was about to whack me with the stalk of grass in her mouth.

We eventually stopped at a clearing where we started feeding them a cane grass. The guide stressed that this was not sugar cane, which many sanctuaries have their visitors unhealthily give to their elephants. It also made for a good photo op, which became a little harrowing when the elephants started sniffing all around you with their huge trunks.

Mud bath time!

Later came a nice lunch break and then some mud bathing that the elephants loved. There were about a dozen of us on the tour, and at first only three people said they wanted to get in the mud. I had a moment where I realized that I was much more likely to regret not getting in than I was to regret getting in, so I followed suit. The elephants were wading through and rolling around the sometimes knee-deep mud, and per guide instructions, we all tossed mud on them and rubbed it in. (Elephants, like pigs, take mud baths to cool down since they only apparently sweat only from their toenails—if I understood the guide correctly.)

I'm the one throwing the water.

After the mud bath, we joined the elephants in the adjacent river (more like a big stream) to rinse off. The water was cold, but I was excited to clean off the copious amounts of mud covering my arms, legs, face, and hair. We didn't spend too long in the river (10 or 15 minutes probably), but I was happy to see that it seemed like the elephants were able to decide when they didn't want to be in the river anymore. After that, we all piled back in the pickup truck, transferred to the van, and made our way back to Chiang Mai.

Looking for dinner on the sidewalk.

Temple during the night market.

I spent most of New Year's Day, meanwhile, wandering around the city. It was clear it was a holiday, as there wasn't much activity on the streets; that said, I was totally fine having a quiet day passing ornate temples left and right.

Wat Phra Singh.

I returned to my favorite temple from the last time I visited Chiang Mai. Coincidentally, after only 15 minutes or so wandering around the complex, some sort of religious ceremony began. I found a ledge to sit on and spent 45 minutes watching dance and music performances and listening to Buddhist prayers in the shadow of the golden stupa.


Overall, just about the most refreshing New Year's experience I've ever had. Though I usually stick to street food when I travel, I decided to kick off 2019 by splurging the equivalent of $10 on a meal at a hotel restaurant recommended by the New York Times.

Waiting for my food at On the Ping.

Curry on the right, roti on the left.

Sitting on the banks of Chiang Mai's Ping River, I treated myself to duck confit in red curry with Thai roti (somewhere between a crepe and naan but also somewhat flaky). The water came in a glass bottle! There was a bread basket (which I finished alone)! They provided mosquito repellent! To say nothing of the food! I was pleased.

On my pre-flight stroll.

After a quick late breakfast the next morning, it was back to Hanoi, which involved one of the most stressful airport experiences I've ever had. I checked in with the AirAsia app, and I received my mobile boarding pass with the instructions to proceed straight to the boarding gate. My flight left at 1:20pm, and I reasonably got to the airport at about 11:30am. Of course, security wouldn't let me through without a paper boarding pass, so I had to get in line at the AirAsia check-in counters at about 11:45am.

Despite having three crowded flights departing within half an hour of one another, AirAsia decided to have three agents working. I didn't make it to the front of the line until 1pm, 20 minutes before my flight was supposed to depart. Luckily there were almost a dozen other people in the same situation, so the plane was held, and we were all rushed through security and immigration. All's well that end's well, but I was on the brink of totally losing it spending that hour in line at check-in when all I needed was my boarding pass printed.

Anyways, life goes on in Hanoi. And who knows, maybe a food post will surface sometime soon.

Till next time,
Gray

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