DAY 645

Today we visited an elephant sanctuary. There are hundreds of places you can see elephants around Chiang Mai and it's all a bit touristy, but we felt better about visiting this one as they don't offer any rides, no performing of any sort and all the elephants (except a few who have been born there) have been rescued from various sad fates. The elephant on the left in this photo stepped on a landmine on the Burmese border - you can see her back right foot is pretty mangled. Others have dislocated hips from logging, others have just been rescued from abusive owners ... it's sad but they seem happy here. They're allowed to roam around the large park, and the groups of tourists walk with them and bathe them in the river. This is the website in case anyone is interested.