We spent a week in the Northern, old walled, and moated city of Chiang Mai. It was a peaceful place full of temples, night markets, and girls in elephant print pants. This is the cultural hub of Northern Thailand and a must for any Buddhist, foodie, or tourist.
Lucky for us our hotel had free bikes to use. It took a while for us to figure out how to ride with lefthand drivers and motorcycles who stick to what ever direction they feel like. We mastered crossing four lane one-ways, mixed traffic flows, then found some wonderful bike lanes and bluegrass/country music roadside beer joints.
Six hour into a self guided bike tour, we realized the scale on our local map was "slightly" off. None the less, we found this modern temple constructed in memory of those who died in the earthquake and tsunami in 2007. It was completed in 2013, immaculate, and completely devoid of anyone who could tell us how far to our next stop.
Each temple, Buddha statue, and shrine opened more questions. It really made us realize how little we know of Buddhism.
Elephants are a huge part of Thai life. They are used as plow animals, tree haulers, for highway construction, and entertainment. While we were not fortunate to see any in the wild at Khao Yai, we did visit a retirement center in Chiang Mai. Basically, this group buys elephants who have been abused and gives them a free range home, the 100 kilos of food they eat daily (each), then elephant enthusiasts pay to come bathe them. They had six elephants, including a ten week old (Note: bathing the elephants seems to get them in the mood.) We had a blast and met some great fellow travelers. Our guide was amazing as she spoke six languages, had visited thirty countries, visited forty-three of the US states, and washed all of our hair in a river after we gave the elephants a mud bath.
