While we experienced just one day of the Songkran festival (Thai New Year) in Koh Samui, we’d have a chance to experience a few more days when we came back through Bangkok. It was wet and wild again, with water works over at the Icon Siam and private pool parties at our hotel.

We saw some beautiful fireworks one evening during the festival from the hotel - almost as good as the ones that greeted us on our first pass through. And the food opportunities were amazing, even though I had to pass on the scorpions!

This was a good chance to just “veg out” for a few days and recover from recent adventures. Or was it? No - we saw all the painted elephants and the question was asked…”can we find them?”. Of course - anything is possible, so we booked flights to Lampang and back. It’s just about a one hour flight each way and about $50 so we did it! We contacted Man at the Le Meridian in Chiang Mai and he helped us get a driver for the day. What a great guy!

We headed to the Elephant Hospital - a working place, not a tourist destination. Founded in 1993 by Ms. Salwala, they have helped many elephants, and have five “residents” on a permanent basis. Mosha is the most well known, as she was rescued at seven months old after stepping on a land mine. She has had several prosthetics and serves as the poster child for the program here. She was having some issues when we visited - going through puberty to some degree and had recently injured one of her handlers. So she was a bit off limits.

Motala, another amputee could be seen, and appeared to be doing quite well. We also saw Ms. Salwala visiting one of the elephants - it is quite clear the love goes both ways!

We donated some money directly to the Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital. The “Elephant Parade” also sells the painted elephants and donates a portion of their profits. A good organization and cute items, but donating directly to the hospital felt a bit better.

We spent the rest of our day visiting a couple local markets, one last temple, and a pottery factory (of course we brought some home). A fun side trip for a day, and a great way to end our time in Thailand.

Thailand was fabulous overall - we’ll be back, because there is so much more to see and we loved so much of what we did see. The people here are incredible. It is truly the “country of smiles”, with some of the most friendly people we have ever met.

Now it’s time to head off - to Bali for a ten day visit.

All the best,

Tim & Eileen