Wash an Elephant? Naked?! Well...Okay!

Needless to say, Nick and I have had an eventful first couple of days here in Chiang Mai. We knew that we wanted to visit an elephant sanctuary but had no idea where to start. Luckily on our first night, Kikie (yes, from Kikie's House) hooked it up with a local elephant sanctuary that treats the elephants with the respect they deserve.

We shelled out an astounding 1400 baht (just kidding, that's only $47) for a full day hang with two beautiful elephants, Matun and Nampun.

After getting picked up at 7 am, Nick and I went along with the crew to gather seven others for the expedition. Along the way, as usual, Nick was able to somehow fall asleep. This time he passed out with his large melon resting on the rattling metal railing.

First thing we did upon arrival was put on a rather interesting set of clothes that were forced upon us. Traditional Thai garb, only color it came in was Nick's favorite aka pink.

Below is a 360 degree video to attempt to capture how awesome these creatures are.

Then came the natural walk where the group walked along side these massive beasts along a trickling river, definitely one of the cooler parts of the expedition.

Finally, what you have all been waiting for, the elephant bath. Now Nick and I were prepared with a pair of swim shorts for the bath as it was advertised in the brochure. What we were not ready for was changing into the pretty pink Thai clothing that we had to wear. After we walked over to the bathing pool (a good distance from our spare clothes) we were told we were going to start the elephant bath. This was where our tour guide told us to take off the clothes to scrub the elephant with mud in the mosquito cesspool they called a bathing pond.

All members of the group had a resounding "wth" look on their face. After standing around embarrassed for five minutes, everyone (except two Frenchmen) committed to the malaria infested pool that their doctors told them to avoid while abroad. So down to our skivvies we went to bathe two perfectly clean and capable elephants.

After scrubbing the elephants down, the guide proceeded to throw mud at those who entered the vat of standing water. We decided to play around a bit and embrace the mud and malaria until we were led to the river where we could rinse off ourselves as well as the elephants.

Overall, this was an incredible experience with some amazing animals (all for less than $50!). We are very pleased with the tour and hope you enjoyed in the adventure as well!

Up next: Nick and Alec rent a scooter and attempt to conquer the bustling streets of Chiang Mai! Stay tuned for the next post and subscribe to be the first to see it!