Salam,
Alhamdulillah! Today I was on time to meet Selina at the lobby around before 9 am. We wanted to head for the Elephant Farm at Maesa which is about 45 minutes from our hotel. FYI, Maesa is a location where all the flora and fauna farms (you name it elephant farm, tiger farm, orchid farm, snake farm) are located as well as the area for extreme sports activities such as bungy jumping, go-karting etc.
Maesa Elephant Camp
Souvenirs sold right after the entrance. Please do not bargain too much here since all the profits will be used for the maintenance of the elephants.
Yes it's me of course! :)The landscape of the elephant came is so breathtaking and peaceful because it is based on a natural village. The workers are the villagers here so you may enjoy the fresh air, and gorgeous landscape of trees and streaming rivers. So do not worry the elephants are enjoying their natural habitat here.
Picturesque view of the Maesa Elephant Camp
With my Thai sister Selina :)
We came just on time to catch the Elephant Show. The elephants came in a queue lead by their Mahuts (A Mahut is an elephant care-taker, guests can sign up for trainig to be a Mahut which is a very unique experience). The elephants entered the ring with a Welcome sign where the audience sat surrounding the ring.
The elephants entered the ring carrying a Welcome sign.
As for the first segment of the show, Selina (who is very used of watching the elephant show so she could not care less watching it she just listened to her I-Pod) said the first segment would be quite boring because the elephants would demonstrate their functions during the days of Ancient Thai such as as a mean of transportation for men, carrying heavy logs to build houses and for protection during war. Hehe of course for her it was boring but certainly not for me. Indeed elephants are more or less like dogs, they are obedient friends to men. It was also quite nerve-wrecking watching the elephants' loyalty while shaking their humongous legs over the stomachs of their Mamuts. If only they had stepped on their stomachs, certainly they would be killed, but of course the elephants won't they were just teasing the audience :p So even animals have their sense of humour :p
As for the second segment, the elephants showed their skills playing soccer (when I went for my second trip to Chiang Mai, that time with Ummi and Nana it was during the World Cup season and that time was cooler, the elephants were painted with participating countries' flags which really excited the tourists from those countries). It was really amusing whenever the elephants would tease the audiene like they were going to kick the ball but just not yet. The coolest part of course was whenever the elephants scored a goal, they would raise their trunk in salutation or just bow down in a circle for the audience. Definitely the audience would cheer for the elephants as if watching a real game of soccer.
Elephants playing soccer.
The elephants cheering to the crowd after the game.
The third segment was the most mesmerizing to me. Thailand is indeed infamous for its work of arts, but to witness ELEPHANTS PAINTING was a totally new experience for me. The elephants were brought with an artiste board with clean, white paper of course. Then the Mamuts would dip the brushes with the required colour and hand the brushes to the elephants' trunks. The Mamuts would then let the elephants paint as they like, but of course with the assistance of the Mamuts :p Still an elephant painting like a human being, like a real artiste is so cool because even I cannot pay as good and effortlessly as these adorable animals. :)
The elephants painting with the assistance of their Mamuts.
An elephant painting a bunch of red flowers.
Naturally the elephants most of them painted images of flora since that is their natural habitat. Still it brought lots of ooohss and aaahhs among the audience :p
Another painting trees at a green forest.
The thing which I like most is that these art pieces were immediately put on sale for the guests to purchase. Of course the prices are quite high like RM 100-300 but hey they were not man-made, they are animal-made. Best of all, the money collected from the sales would be put in the fund of this camp's maintenance. In fact everything sold would be put in the same fund, so these monies are the money earned by the elephants and the Mamuts for their food, camp, salary etc.
Check out their art pieces! I was just so amazed with the way they blended the colours and it shows that these elephants themselves observed the nature well and appreciatte its beauty, so people please love out Mother Earth =)
A reserved piece, a bunch of red flowers.
Oh I love the way the colours were blended in this one.
Orange flowers this time.
Trees.
This is the most jaw-dropping for me because it's an elephant painting of an elephant, haha just like a human doing a portrait of another human. So it is obvious now that elephants regard themselves as cute, adorable creatures =)
The guest Mamut in blue.Like I have told you earlier guests could sign up for Mamut training for a few days. So the final segment is the time to call up one guest mamut to 'compete' with an elephant on who could burst the most balloons using darts. I think they purposely give thicker balloons to the Mamut or sharper darts to the elephant because es expected the elephant would win :p Of course it is always entertaining to watch.
After the show, when I wanted to leave the ring, I was stunned when an elderly European woman grabbed my hand; just to tell me I am beautiful. Oh thank you Madam, you just saw one Malay girl, if you see more you'll see more beauties ;)
Time to snap some pics with these friendly mammals.
I would love to ride an elephant, exploring the elephant camp through the village, hills and rivers. Alhamdulillah I managed to do that with my sis and mum in June which was very very cool. Selina and I have made up our minds for another important agenda for us ladies so that was why I cannot do the elephant ride just yet.
I love this pic, reminds me of a scene from the animation about elephant royal family, Arthur =)
Tourists buying some fresh snack, coconut juice & corn in the cup.
I took a quite minute to browse around the souvenir shop, which basically selling items related to elephants. I purchased one cute circus elephant brooch and elephant tissue box case for Ummi. I would have love to purchase the paintings, they are the ones painted by the elephants but most of them are modified by the human artistes in the camp. There are also T-Shirts and other stuffs with great, attractive designs but I justhad to watch out my budget. Luckily I had the chance to purchase for more stuff in June. Oh yes as usual, all the monies will go to the fund of the camp's maintenance.
Modified paintings painted by the elephants for sale.
This is a great piece of art, I just love the vibrant colours on it.
Another gift store, Save The Elephants.
Can you believe this ELEPHANT DUNG PAPER PRODUCTS? Hehe I was tempted to buy but the thought of them as dung although recycled, still could not convince me enough. Could be a great gift for your ex-lover maybe, if you had a terrible one :p
Another Muslim restaurant as my lunch destination. This time I was too famished to take the photos of the food. There was one cute Caucasian guy at the opposite table smiled at me when he saw me, but I was too shy to smile back I just looked down focusing on my food. I saw his face changed when I didn't smile back, but actually I like the fact he did the Du'a before enjoying his meal, of course he was a Muslim too =) I felt bad for not smiling to him, but maybe it was just not his rezki :p
Rarinjinda Spa Resort, the most exclusive and chic spa resort in the heart of busy Chiang Mai.
Yay finally the agenda I was looking forward to enjoying! My spa treatment! Ok seriously I have shopped too much for the past few days and my budget did not allow me to go for a spa treatment. I confided into Selina about this and she advised me to buy something nice for Ayah. So I purchased a nice celadon ash tray with an elephant in the middle of it and sticky rice with mango which is Ayah's all time favourite (it's not bribery just I already had the intention to treat Ayah, and ok ok I need more money for the spa too) and I told Ayah I wanted to try out the spa. I don't know why but I always have this guilt since I was a child where I always would not feel right to ask from Ayah for more money for toys, or anything for pleasure, unlike my sister who could easily ask Ayah for anything because he is out father.
Alhamdulillah Ayah granted my wish and he was even eager for me to try the spa treatment. He insisted for me to try the RM 500 spa treatment but that made me gulp my own saliva, I did not want to waste half a thousand ringgit of my father's money just for that, so I downsize the offer by going for the RM 300 plus treatment, which was blissful enough for me =)
It's a spa resort consisting of 20 rooms for the guests to stay. Oh how I wish ayah had booked this resort :p
The breathtaking tropical landscape.
The reception area, where soothing forest-like sounds played.
This hostess greeted us asking us which package we would like to have.
As always, just like Baan Celadon, Rarinjinda Spa also welcomes their customers with th super refreshing lemongrass juice. This time it is couple with a piece of hot towel to freshen up ourselves.
The scented massage oil and body scrub for us to choose. Among the scented oil are rose water, lavender and jasmine. I chose rose water of course. The body scrub offered vegetable scrub, fruit scrub, flower scrub and even TOM YUM scrub. Of course I would not want to smell like spicy food after my treatment, so I chose flower definitely.
One of the relaxation areas.
For our foot scrub. We chose the Guava Foot Scrub treatment, the rough texture of the scrub really smoothen our feet, and boy was the smell so good! I was almost convinced that I could kiss my feet. Hehe ok that is too much :p
Selina enjoying her foot scrub.
This is as much as you can view my leg :p I felt quite awkward having someone rubbing my feet, especially when the woman is older than me, I had pedicures but this one made me blushed a little like I am disrespecting this lady. However of course this treatment was heavenly.
Our treatment room, Cat's Eye. Privacy please =)
The comfortable room with warm blankets and cooling air conditioner.
How I wish I could take a photo of myself in the bathrobe but of course no no no. :P
The dressing table.
Free toiletries anyone?
The scrub.
The post-treatment lounge. Now it's time to fill our stomachs with snacks.
Tropical fruits which you can get at any market in Malaysia as well. Rambutans, Bananas, Mangosteen and Mandarin Oranges.
Selina selecting peanuts, sanwishes and crackers.
Crackers with Tuna spread anyone?
The coolest dessert of all; the Mango with Sticky Rice which Thais are very proud of. We made sad faces when we saw some Caucasian customers only ate about 1/3 of their mango and sticky rice =(
Yummy baby!
Feeling all fresh and light!
The display of Rarinjinda Spa's beauty products on sale. You may purchase anything from the scented massage oil, body scrub to the scented lotion, all the ones which are used for their treatments.
I purchased one of these, the rose water massage oil.
I noticed the night before that Selina was busy making one of her bead accessories after dinner. I had the hunch she wanted to give it to me as a gift but I just kept quiet of course.
Tonight when it was almost done I just sat with her admiring her handiwork. Then at her office when we wanted to call it a night, Selina gave it to me saying it is a gift from a sister to another.
OH I LOVE YOU SELINA! NOT FOR THE GIFT BUT FOR THE GREAT COMPANY MAY ALLAH BLESS YOUR HEART =)
Pretty isn't it?
A great end to a great vacation. Thank you Chiang Mai =)
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