I could spend years in this town; it is so beautiful, filled with tourists, yet quiet, small and in the middle of a paradise. It is surrounded by mountains, and a river flows next to it. Yesterday I went tubing, in a big tractor tube, going down 3 kilometers of river. It was beautiful, especially the scenery along the river. It is such a tourist attraction at this point; there are bars all along the riverside everywhere with big sounds systems, water slides and swings at many of these bars. It takes a bit of the magic of the scenery away, but it adds another dimension to the experience. I was with a few people that I have met on the minivan coming from Luang Prabang, it was a fun day!
I didn’t get to do the elephant ride, it was not available at the cheap place, and to expensive at the other places. Plus I was talking to people that told me the elephant are chained up and all, which I didn’t like the idea. Apparently some places the elephant are really well taken care of and they have “fun” with the tourists, but some places are more like a zoo. Hard to know what you are contributing too. Maybe I should have done it in Chiang Mai, two people told me about one place that was great and caring for the elephants. I have mixed feelings about activities like these, like going swimming with dolphins in captivity, elephant riding, or going to the zoo. Sometimes the animals are well taken care of and the money contributes to taking care of them and all, but sometimes it is simply a tourist attraction, a business and the animals don’t really have a good life.
I hope you are all good too!
Charles
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