Mae Sa Elephant Camp

Two weekends ago we visited Mae Sa Elephant Camp, and it was awesome! We watched an elephant show and then just wandered around the camp, checking things out and marvelling at the fact that we were sharing the paths with dozens of elephants.

The show is pretty amazing. The elephants play soccer, throw darts, paint pictures, and eat snacks out of your hands.


Dave wrapped in trunks


Dave feeding elephants


Elephant performing


Elephant painting


Isabella with an elephant-painted picture


Walking with elephants


Elephants bathing


Dave and Isabella with baby elephant

After the show we made our way to the Mae Sa Craft Village and Resort, which Liv pronounced "the nicest hotel I have ever seen!" She was pumped that the rooms came with the use of slippers -- "Mommy, these are much warmer than my regular feet!"


Our resort


Our bungalow


Me, Dave, and William in the sling


The pool

After the girls and Dave took a icy cold swim in the pool, we had supper at the resort's restaurant (plates and plates of different Thai dishes) while my dad sat in the corner by himself doing a phone interview with the director of his new school in Poland. Later, after the girls had finally worn themselves out and gone to sleep, the four of us grownups sat out on our little bungalow's balcony and enjoyed some chips, beer, and Phase 10. That was the fun part of the evening, the rest -- not so much. The bungalow had two single beds and a small cot. Olivia was on one bed, William and I were on the other, and Isabella was on the cot. In the game of musical beds, Dave was out. First he tried bunking with me and William, but he found that a quarter inch of mattress simply wasn't enough space for him, imagine that. He moved over to Liv's bed, but since she was quite adamant that she WAS NOT going to share, he had to kind of curl up at the bottom and try to cover up with a little piece of her sheet. Add to this the fact that these mattresses were as hard as planks of wood and you have all the ingredients for a miserable night of sleep. I kept waking up every hour or so just wishing it was morning so I could get up already. Luckily the resort had a resident rooster who was happy to wake us up at 6 am.

All in all, it was a really fun experience, though. It's not every day you have to look out for elephant poop when you're walking down the road!