Sunday in and around Chiang Mai

Yesterday we visited an Elephant camp which was rather touristy but Fiona and I had an interesting Elephant ride. We went up and down hills and into the river but even on the flat the ride is fairly uneven. Although the camp claims it is dedicated to conservation of the Elephants (whose numbers are very much lower than a 100 years ago due to changes in forestation), it was an uncomfortable feeling to see the elephants not in use with a chain round their legs that allowed them movement of only a meter or two.

After that we visited Tiger Kingdom which I expected would be very touristy, but actually turned out to be a quite special experience. For a not-very-cheap fee you can spend 15 minutes "private time" with tigers of different sizes (or lion cubs). I got in with three 8-month old tigers (and 3 handlers!). Now, an 8-month old tiger is not far off fully-grown so these are not at all small. I could stroke them and sit beside them for photos. The girls got in with 2 baby lion cubs (and 1 handler) and could stroke and play with them - I could video them through an open window. Naturally we made dozens of photos too! It was worth the money.

In the evening we went back into Chiang Mai for the Sunday "walking street" market. As I wrote before, the quality of what is on sale in CM is much better than Bangkok, relatively little tacky crap, so even if we weren't buying it was interesting to "window shop". And the food stalls were excellent - not only different kinds of Thai food, but also lots of other like Sushi, fried fish, etc.

On the way we saw a Wat (temple) in the grounds of which, among other bizarre ornaments, stood a large statue of Donald Duck eating noodles.