Thailand has long been on my bucket list, and my passion for helping animals came full-circle with our volunteer day at The Elephant Sanctuary in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  

After a great few days in Cambodia touring Angkor Wat, we flew from Siam Reap to Chiang Mai.  We found an incredibly chic boutique hotel for our 2 nights in Chiang Mai – Na Nirand, which sits on the bank of the Ping River.  The hotel has this stunningly massive tree that adds to the picturesque setting.  It’s centrally located, so we could walk around town and check out various markets, temples, and restaurants.

The next morning, a van from The Elephant Sanctuary picked us up, and drove us 1.5 hours, along with 6 other people also from the US.  

Seeing all the rescued elephants, dogs, and water buffalo was simply awesome.  The compassion shown to these animals that have lived a truly awful life before they were rescued – is second to none.  

Please do NOT ride elephants.  They are broken of their spirit in order to be around people, and the methods used are horrifying.  

We spent the day walking with the elephants: hiking, swimming in the river, feeding them.  An experience we will never forget.