There are many elephant camps in Thailand, especially in the north around Chiang Mai. Many are no more than glorified circuses and petting zoos. The government sanctioned Lampang Thai Elephant Conservation Center is a refreshing exception to this trend. The center is set in the verdant jungle at Km.29-29 off of the Lampang - Chiangmai Highway, about an hours drive from central Chiang Mai. Entrance to the show is THB70 for adults and THB30 for children. The center offers a variety of experiences, including mahout (a person who drives an elephant) training courses, from 2 days to 1 week. For these, there is accommodation at the camp. The center also offers the usual elephant show 3 times a day (10am, 11am, 1:30pm), but with a twist. Unlike many of the other shows, this one focuses on the elephants' traditional work in the logging of teak wood. Some of the things these elephants can do is absolutely amazing. Also not to be missed for first timers is an elephant ride through the jungle. The other unique feature of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center is that there are two hospitals within the grounds. One is run by the government and associated with the center and the other is independently run by a private citizen as a charity. Any sick, injured or orphaned elephants are treated there. They even have a mobile rescue unit that will go anywhere in Thailand to rescue an elephant and bring them back to the hospital for treatment. A visit to the hospital is not for the faint of heart. Many of the animals suffer from terrible wounds inflicted by land mines along the Thai-Burmese border. Others have been given amphetamines and nearly worked to death before being released in the jungle to die. There is also an elephant dung paper plant at the center where you can buy various elephant dung paper products and see how they turn elephant dung into usable bio-gas. The center is highly recommended by any who visit there. It has received rave reviews on the website Trip Advisor and I have received a lot of positive feedback from people I know on both the camp and the mahout course. If you would like to experience the majestic elephants of Thailand, then this is the place to do it.

In a small town on the northwest side of Lampang there's  a village called Thung Kwian. At the edge of this village you'll find the Elephant Conservation Center. Here we staid for 3 days to join a mahouttraining together with Mark and Peggy a Dutch couple we met in Laos and with whome we crossed the border to Thailand.  After a warm welcome we got our working outfit and we got introduced to our personal trainer. My trainer was called Lai. He introduced me to Pang Kod a huge female elephant of 21 years old. Mayke was introduced to Look Khang a 10 year old elephant.  They gave us a small piece of paper where several commands in Thai were written on. The first day was great!! These giants are so friendly and careful while people are standing around them, amazing!! At half past three in the afternoon we jumped on the elephants and brought them back into the jungle. Here they will sleep for about 4 hours. In the center you'll find a hospital for elephants too. They do a great job here. The first day we learned a few commands already. Hop on by the elephants leg, hop off over his head etc etc. At 6 in the morning we had to pick the elephants up out of the jungle and back in the camp they were washed in a pond. We were not allowed to wash them because it was to crowded in the pond and accidents could easely happen. After washing the elephants we had breakfast and the training began for that day. At the third day it was showtime!! They expected a large audience because it was a feastday in Thailand. The show went very well and we showed the people what we had learned in those three days, it was awsome an experience we'll never forget!!! Enjoy the photos of our great adventure!!!

In one town we went to a friend’s restaurant advertised as the famous “flying greens.” I was wondering what that meant as it was a humble rather low budget place next to a river. Fortunately a tour group came in and offered the “famous flying greens” spectacle. They came squished in a dozen tuk-tuks a herd of pudgy pink Americans. A group of high/drunken Thai men gathered around a large drum and started a wild racket. Drumming, singing, tapping spoons and bottles they were going into a near frenzy. The middle-aged Americans were grouped on one side with their camcorders catching this “Kodak moment”. One of them was clothed with an apron and given a pot lid and saucer to hold. A headdress of two stalks of greens was tied to is head as was a cucumber to his groin. Then the action started, first a Thai demonstrated by climbing a ladder to a narrow platform on the top of an old bus. Meanwhile down below the chef was firing the wok. With deft flicks the greens flew up and down in a circular motion a squirt of cooking wine and boom tongues of flame shot out in an impressive flambé. I used to do this job in a restaurant its not too hard to pull off. But what came next was very skillful. With the greens cooked in sauce the chef grabbed hold of the wok and turned his back to the bus, with saucer holding garcon. At this moment the improvised band/dancers did three last beats 1.2..3… Whooshh was the only sound the next second as all eyes were fixed on a lump of green held together by a sticky brown bean sauce flying through the night sky. That was all the time it took to leap from the wok swung over the chef’s head to the saucer in the garcon’s outstretched hand. Ssmack.. It landed with a musical riot of rejoicing from the inebriated Thais and cheers from the chubby tourists. Next was the tourist’s turn. He waddled up the ladder and to the end of the platform like a duck, the Thais were getting hysterical. When the clatter stopped and the green mass flew he held the pot lid over half his face in a feeble shielding gesture. In spite of this it stayed true to its target, this guy should be a major leaguer, ssmack.. and the crowd goes wild! It was an amusing and definitely worthy spectacle. Drunken crazed Thais and overweight aging tourists all making asses out of themselves. All and all it would be worth the money if I had pay for it.

Seriously guys.

When I was a tiny girl, I had a Famous Five video in which the Five met a circus boy who was washing an elephant in an English stream. I forgot about it soon afterwards, but it all came flooding back in Lampang.

Lampang is a tiny tiny place with a nice train station and a huge elephant conservation park. Since the Thai authorities banned logging in the 1970s, thousands of elephants are out of work. Some mahouts were taking their elephants into cities like Bangkok in order to make money begging with them, which is a terrible idea because Bangkok is tiny and elephants aren't. In Lampang, ecotourism is all the rage. Tourists are literally the best way to make sure the elephants aren't put down or put into unsuitable situations - Lampang has a free hospital, information etc etc. In the way of all Thai tourist attractions, there seems to be things missing - it seemed slightly shallow in some unnamable way - but it reminded me that I want to live in the jungle and sit on elephants' backs and generally bond with them.

We got soaked to the skin taking an elephant ride in the monsoon and then got straight onto another sleeper train, this one heading south to Lopburi, the town with the monkeys. Sleepertrains are a necessary evil when you've only got three days.

Today we left Sukhotai, travelling by song thaew to the bus station, and then enjoying a rather cramped four hour bus ride to Lampang. At least the bus was airconditioned!

After arriving in Lampang, we visited Wat Phra Lampang Luang, the largest wooden temple in Thailand. Not only was it a magnificent example of northern Thai / Burmese influenced Buddhist architecture, it was quite peaceful and free of tourists... a nice change from the madness of Bangkok's Wat Phra Kaew. Like Wat Phra Kaew, this temple has a smaller emerald Buddha.