(Français à la fin).
We have left Chiang Mai for Sukhothai after 12 days great days. Chiang Mai is a bustling city. Last post I said there were 140,000 people but in fact greater Chiang Mai is over 600,000. We tried to keep the activities to a minimum but it was challenging. Our first highlight was the full day expedition to the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. Despite the remoteness of the village they thoroughly documented our group (only 7 people with 3 elephants) on facebook since we couldn't take pictures while in the mud or water. You don't need to have a facebook account to see them just go to https://www.facebook.com/elephantjunglesanctuary?hc_location=timeline
and look for October 31.

This new tourist outfit would be totally illegal in Canada as safety is a complete afterthought. Long drive in the back of a pick up truck, very muddy hills, walking bare foot onto slippery rocks into small waterfalls/rapids while trying to avoid elephants backing onto you (luckily only the baby stepped on me while I had my shoes on...and that hurt!). But its Thailand, and rules and safety are virtually non-existent compared to Canada! Léa ended up with a minor foot infection that luckily went away after a few days, and we left with a pretty amazing experience feeding, mud bathing and washing elephants and witnessing very basic living conditions in this small Karen tribe hillside village.

More Chiang Mai in the next post but I wanted to share a project that Léa did on the elephants since she was so excited about them. I can't manage to upload her pictures but here are her words below (in english and french):

Elephant Jungle Sanctuary:

On Halloween day, my family and I went to the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. It was an hour and a half ride. Papa, Grand-Maman and a German couple were siting in the back of the pick up truck and me, Amélie and Maman were in the back seat. The last 10 KM up the mountain were enormously bumpy and we were jumping around everiwere. When we got to the Pratumra catholic Village, we carried bags of bananas down to the sanctuary for the elephants. We changed into the traditional shirts they gave us then we hiked up to see Mabusi, the 54 year old, pregnant female. She has been pregnant for more than a year now and will soon have a baby. We fed her corn stocks off the ground. I put bananas in her mouth and she took some with her super strong trunk. She eats up to 200 KG every day and weighs 2700 KG! I posed for a picture with her.
Next we went to see Nong Mai a 40 year old female, and her 10 month old son, Pitak. Wen we were arriving, Pitak charged at us, happily. Luckily his tusks hadn't grone yet, because he steped on Mamas foot. I pealed some bananas and touched Pitaks tongue, puting them in. Their owners played a lot with Pitak. Pitak will stay with his mother for 5 years.
Our guide was very curious in the truck on the way there: he took the little explosives that me and Amelie bought at the and started lighting them and trowing them out the window. His name was Tim(Timmy). He was fun to be with all day and we learned allot from him.

Sanctuaire d'éléphants dans la jungle:

La journée de l'Halloween, ma famille et moi, on est allé au Sanctuaire de Jungle d'Éléphant. La route était 1h et demis. Papa, Grand-Maman et un couple de l'Allemagne était dans l'arrière du camion et moi, Amélie et maman on était dans le "back seat" du camion. Les dernier 10KM en montant la montagne était énormément bosseux et on volait partout. Quand on est arrivé a Pratumra Village, un village catholique dans les montagne, on a transporté des sac de bananes, en bas au sanctuaire, pour les éléphant.
On ses changé dans les veste traditionnelle thaïlandaise. Ensuite on a marché voir Mabusi, Une femelle enceinte qui a 54 ans! Elle a été enceinte poure plus d'une année et va bientôt avoire un bébé. Les éléphant porte leur bébé pour 2 ans. on la nourris des tige de maïs. J'ai mis des bananes complète directement dans sa bouche et elle en a pris avec sa trompe. Mabusi peut mangé jusqu'à 200 KG par jour elle pèse 2700 KG!J'ai posé pour une photo avec elle.

Ensuite on est allé voir Nong Mai, une femelle de 40 ans, et son fils Pitak, il a 10 mois. En arrivant, Pitak a chargé vers nous, content de nous voir. Au moin ses défense n'avait pas encore poussé! Il a pillé sur le pied de maman. J'ai pellé quelque bananes. En les mettant dans la bouche de Pitak, j'ai sentis sa langue touché ma main. Son propriétaire jouait beaucoup avec lui. Pitak va resté avec sa mère poure 5 ans.

Notre guide était très curieux: il a prit mes petit explosif et il les a allumé, ensuite il les a lancé par la fenêtre ouverte. Son nom était Tim(Timmy). C'était amusant d'être avec lui toute la journée. On a appris beaucoup de lui.
Voir les photos sur la page facebook de la compagnie a
https://www.facebook.com/elephantjunglesanctuary?hc_location=timeline le 31 octobre.