Elephants and Tigers and Buddahs, Chiang Mai!

The first thing we did in Chiang Mai after dropping our things off at the hotel was to drive to see an elephant show. The elephants were so sweet and performed some amazing tricks! They played soccer (one elephant was the goalie and another the kicker), they stacked giant logs to make a wall, they played harmonicas, and even painted pictures! After the show, all the elephants reached out with their long trunks towards the crowd to be fed bananas and other snacks. Being at the show made us hope that the elephants were treated kindly, and it also got us excited for our own elephant ride we would be going on later in the trip!We saw the tigers next. We had to chose if we wanted to be with the new borns, cubs, teenagers, or full grown tigers. Our whole group chose the full grown ones. It was mid-day and the trainers all said that they are nocturnal and this is the middle of their slumber and that's why they were so mellow. But we kind of think they were sedated or something because the trainers would pull at their whiskers, hit their faces, and lift their lips (exposing their teeth!) to get them to wake up and they still barely moved. There were three tigers that we got to pet.

Now I can say that I have "spooned" with a TIGER! Crazy!

Look how huge their paws are!
Here's a video of me petting one of the tigers.

(Above) These are the toilets that we used while in Thailand. I don't know about Erik, but I got pretty good at these squattie-potties. When you're done, you have to take the bowl in the orange pot and fill it with the water and pour it down the toilet to flush. No toilet paper.

(Below) These are the steps up to one of the Wats we saw. It is called Doi Suthep. Notice the monk on the right side of the steps on his way up. They are so cute!

Up on Doi Suthep, there was a fortune-buddah area where you have to shake this cylinder full of sticks until one stick falls out. Each stick has a number on it. The number on the stick that falls out corresponds with a number on a sheet of paper that has a fortune on it. It's kind of like a horoscope. It took me a few tries because more than one stick kept falling out- it's harder than it looks! Our tour guide Tee is shaking the sticks in the picture below to show us how it's done.

(Below) Inside one of the temples on Doi Suthep was a monk who was blessing people and tying string around their wrists for good luck. Monks cannot touch women, so there was an assistant next to him (not pictured) where the girls had to go after the blessing to get their string tied. We all got a blessing and our string bracelets.

These bells were constantly ringing while we were up there. They believe that ringing these bells will bring your prayers up to heaven. People were walking down the line and ringing every single one.
Here's a view of Chiang Mai from Doi Suthep.