'Long Necked' woman, we bought this hand woven scarf.

Saturday ,( Thailand), 29Oct., 2016 (Tour day 9)
   Another early departure, 7 am, and it’s raining.  Thunder during the night and we were told a couple of days ago the dry season had started.  Buddhist monks depend on the people for everything, even their daily food. There is an area where they go in the morning to beg for food, and give a blessing.  We drove by there but it was raining and we didn’t stop.  We then drove to the area of the Maetaeng Elephant Park Clinic.

A view of the market of the Native People and Hill People

 Nearby several of the hill people and native peoples have set up shops and display their traditional dress. Our guide took us to various representatives and explained their costumes and some of their beliefs and customs.  We then had an opportunity to buy their wares.  The 'Long Necked' women eventually can no longer hold their head up without the rings for support.

   Next we were taken to the 21 year old  Elephant Nature Park.  This facility houses 71 elephants, some 500 rescued dogs, cats, water buffalo and 12 horses.  We learned 1 elephant eats between 200 to 300 kg of vegetable matter daily.  Their oldest elephant is 90 but the 

Dick and 2 others from tour washing elephant

average is about 70 years.  Thailand has about 3000 domestic elephants and about 300 wild ones.  Average height is 2.5 metres and weight is about 3000 kg.  They fed us a nice buffet lunch then took us to the river where we washed elephants by throwing buckets of water over them while they were fed treats of water melon, squash and less popular cucumber.

From the Elephant park we went to the Bai Orchid-Butterfly Farm.  They have a lovely orchid display and gardens and a large butterfly enclosure.  We enjoyed both the orchids and wandering the lush plantings in the butterfly enclosure.  Then it was back to the hotel about 4:30 to enjoy some quiet time.