Mudwrestling with Baby Elephants in Chiang Mai

The sound of a thunderous trumpet rolled dangerously close. And then something moist and fuzzy struck me in the back of the legs, right at the bend of the knee. I crippled. Fortunately, her foot missed my face on the way down and, aside from the water I drank through my nose, I came out unscathed. After she barreled into the river herself, I laid there in the rocks ruminating on the fact that an 1,800-pound baby elephant had just head-butted me. And I'd survived. I like to think she was mudwrestling. We’d just taken a bath and she was on a high after I’d scrubbed muck on her belly. Plus, we had a good thing going, and all of the elephants at Into the Wild Elephant Camp were playful that morning in the lush Thai jungles in the north of Chiang Mai. I was there with just a handful of other travelers, in the middle of acre upon acre of open fields and dense vegetation.

 
Thailand is a bustling backpacking mecca of Southeast Asia, attracting almost 33 million travelers in 2016 alone. And though the world-renowned islands summon many a gap year student and honeymooning couple alike, the north is quite the cultural experience. Chiang Mai, in particular, is a charming corner of the country, and a stopover for many a-digital nomad. An echo of peace permeates the city, emanating from the many ornate Buddhist temples lying within the old city walls. Food stalls saturate the air with smoke, selling chicken skewers and sausage and Pad Thai and seared pla pao, erupting with smells that could alone sate one’s appetite. And the city is surrounded by green mountains as far as the eye could see—and as high, given its claim to Thailand's tallest mountain, Doi Inthanon.

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