We've entered the stretch of the trip that is brand new for me as it was not part of the itinerary last year, and this program hasn't been to Ban Nam Hom in 10 years, so I can't make any predictions of what will happen over the next several days.
Before giving a brief intro to Mae Sot / Ban Nam Hom, I'll back up and describe our morning activity, which was our annual visit to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, about an hour out of Chiang Mai. Elephant tourism is incredibly tricky in Thailand. There are plenty of elephant sanctuaries that mistreat elephants. And there are sanctuaries that provide a home to elephants who can no longer live in the wild as a result of habitat loss, injury, being transferred from other sanctuaries or zoos, etc. For these elephants, tourism dollars are incredibly important as they fund the facilities and resources--especially food--that are needed to care for these elephants. This article speaks to the drop in tourism during/post-COVID and its impact on the elephants. From the article:
"Elephants are expensive. An adult needs to eat 100-200kg (220-440lb) of food a day, and drinks up to 100 litres (22 gallons) of water. "
As a non-Thai, I don't think it's my place to tell the Thai people what their relationships with elephants should look like, but I will say that I think this particular elephant conservation center does a pretty darn good job of prioritizing elephant care and education. Getting to see the relationship between the mahoot and their elephant is really special. And it was also really cool to see some very deliberate changes this Conservation Center made to their "elephant demonstration" (formerly "elephant show") that removed any instances of elephants having to carry riders in howdahs (the box structures on top of elephants used to carry riders). They also removed a lot of the gimmicky elephant tricks (e.g. balancing on logs, etc.) and instead prioritized showcasing how mahoots and elephants relate to one another.
There's also an elephant hospital on-site to care for sick, injured, pregnant, or recently born elephants. Whatever your take is on elephant tourism, I personally think this Center did a really good job of emphasizing the cultural importance of elephants in Thailand and sent a strong message of protection and conservation.
After leaving the elephant sanctuary, we drove another 3ish hours southwest of Lampang to Mae Sot, a small-but growing town that borders Myanmar. I've never been to Mae Sot. Given its proximity to the Myanmar border, there is a substantial population of Burmese immigrants and refugees. And it's a big trade hub, notably gems and teak, and also some illegal trafficking (paraphrased from Wikipedia...sorry :( )
Tomorrow, we'll be visiting Dr. Cynthia's Mae Tao clinic, which serves refugees and displaced persons. We also leave for Ban Nam Hom tomorrow, and I will not be bringing my laptop, so hopefully I'll share an update on or around June 1.
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