Charlotte's Web: Chiang Dao

This past weekend we visited Chiang Dao, a small town about 1 1/2 hours north of Chiang Mai. We left early Saturday morning and arrived at the Chiang Dao Elephant Training Center by 8am. There we started off by riding elephants, followed by bamboo rafting, and finally watching the elephants getting washed. Even though I had already had the chance to ride elephants in Nepal, it was just as exciting to be with elephants again. After we left the elephants we headed to the Chiang Dao cave, where we had a quick lunch before exploring the caves. It was great to cool off in the cave and explore around, looking at beautiful rock formations and Buddha relics. Half of our group headed back to Chiang Mai after the caves, and 5 of us found a hotel and for $9 a person we rented out a two bedroom house. The house had 2 porches, 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, a huge living room and a kitchen. We felt very spoiled to be in such a nice house with beautiful scenery outside. We spent the afternoon relaxing on the porch and playing frisbee. We went to an early dinner and enjoyed some delicious food before coming back and having an early night in. Sunday we returned to Chiang Mai in the early afternoon.