Goerwitz

Although I don't think there there are really any elephants in the wild left in Thailand (except maybe in Khao Yai National Park), elephants are raised widely, mainly, we gather, as tourist and recreational attractions. Elephants brought in for rides and general amusement have actually become quite a problem in Bangkok.

The Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang offers mahout (elephant trainer) courses. Here we see a mixed group of mahout trainees and real Thai mahouts emerging from a bath in a deep pool. This was a very interesting place to visit. The elephants seem better treated here than anywhere else we visited.

Here Jariya feeds an elephant a piece of sugar cane at the Elephant Conservatory in Lampang. Elephants are remarkably adept at handling small bits of food handed to them.

Amy taking one of the thousand (thousands?) of pictures she snapped while we were in Thailand. Here she captures two mahouts on the edge of a water pool on their elephants, at the Elephant Conservatory in Lampang province.

Wat Phra That Lampang Luang is around ten miles from Lampang, and sits atop what used to be a fortress that guarded the road to Lampang. This wat (temple) is well known because of the care with which the structures on the inside have been preserved and/or restored. There are also plaques all around explaining when various things were build and