Masea Elephant Camp - Chiangmai

I'll start out by saying that I am humiliated to have given my money to such an awful, sad place.
I have always wanted to ride an elephant, and after visiting the wonderful Elephant Nature Park I thought that there was a way to ride an elephant without it being painful and torturous. My friend and I had a driver for the day who brought us to this elephant camp. I think it cost 600 baht to enter but I can't remember exactly. The second we entered I immediately saw chains around the elephants, and "trainers" with long sharp hooks to stab the elephants with. The elephants were not like the ones that I had seen at the Elephant Nature park; they were underfed, tired, and performing tricks for the people. I had an awful feeling in my stomach but still kept going through the camp. The "show" was even worse. Baby elephants were being ridden and they were playing soccer, basketball and painting pictures. Many seemed uninterested, with sad eyes and painful scars on their ears from being stabbed. My friend and I couldn't watch the whole show it was too sad. We then went to the elephant riding place were we got on a 52 year old exhausted elephant and I immediately regretted it. The trainer riding only with us was only 3 days in and was a young, rude, insensitive guy. Our elephant was tired and distracted and I felt sick to my stomach when the trainer hit his head. We cut our 1hr ride down to 20 minutes and I ran off to go buy food for the elephant but when I ran back he already had 2 more people on his back and the trainer wouldn't come back so the hungry elephant could hit. I was able to feed 3 elephants some bananas but that barely made me feel any better. I left feeling sad, embarrassed, and regretful.
Please avoid this camp at all costs and give your money to the Elephant Nature Park instead. Trip advisor shows many negative reviews as well of Masea Elephant Camp. This place is depressing and abusive and displays outright animal cruelty.

Chiang Mai Elephant Nature Park

The Chiang Mai Elephant Nature Park is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. This conservation park has rescued and saved elephants for many years from forced labor, abusive owners, and trainers. The park is about 1 1/2 hours from the center of Chiang Mai, and the park provides transportation to and from your hotel. Our day started at 10am with a small group of around 9 people. We were joined by a very educated young thai man who was able to answer any questions we had about the elephants. First, we were able to feed the elephants their breakfast of watermelon and bananas. Then we walked through the ground and got right up close and personal with the beautiful animals where we learned all about what they had been through personally and their daily life. We then went back to the building to have lunch and watch a documentary about the park and elephants. Then we went down to the river and were able to bath 3 huge elephants. The day ended watching 2 families of elephants interact, bath, and eat. The 9 month old baby was the cutest!
I highly recommend this place to any backpacker, tourist, honeymooner, or just anyone passing through Chiangmai. It was a truly wonderful experience that I will never forget.

Price: (2500 Baht per person, this includes transportation, lunch and being at the park from 10am-3pm)
Disclaimer: If you want to ride an elephant this place is not for you!

Thailand

I have been in Thailand about 3 weeks now, and only have 1 week left. So far I have been to Koh Saumi, Koh Phagan, Phuket, Bangkok, and Chiangmai. Since I have been in Thailand the country has experienced a coup d'etat and the country is now under martial law. Fortunately, the state of the government has not directly affected me or my travels. Although, for a couple of days there was a 10pm curfew in place, which has now been lifted to 12am.
Thailand has been absolutely eye opening and I have gotten to do and see such amazing things. I want to do reviews on a couple of places and tourist attractions that I have been, so those posts will follow.
With just a week left, tomorrow I fly to Cambodia for the weekend and then a short 3 days in Bangkok before I fly home to Portland, Maine.

A Few Snapshots in the Past Year: Paris(France), Salzburg(Austria), Krakow(Poland), Benidorm(Spain)

The Beginning

I have always traveled with a journal on all of my adventures, and felt that fulfilled my desire to save all of my memories, thoughts, and experiences. That was up until recently I wanted to share my stories instead of keeping them to myself.

My name is Eliza Amory, I am 18 years old, live in Portland, Maine, and just finished my freshman year at Syracuse University. I have traveled to 16 different countries...
Canada, Costa Rica, The Bahamas, The British Virgin Island, France, Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Spain and Italy.
I lived in Spain when I was 16 for 5 months and Italy when I was 18 for 3 months. I am off on my next adventure in one week, I leave for Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos; and will be traveling there for a month.

I caught the travel bug when I was 16 years old and first traveled abroad to Spain and lived with a host family in the small city of Alicante. The thrill I got from being exposed to a completely new culture was addicting and from that moment on I have never been truly settled in one place for longer than a few months. I have fallen in love with traveling and the beautiful people and things that I have been able to see on my journey. Not one experience compares to another, and every place has something uniquely beautiful to see. Traveling has opened my eyes to what it means to live. As St. Augustine once said “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” So I hope that this blog inspires at least one person to leave their comfort zone, become more than a "tourist" and read the whole book.