Dead Reckoning up the Mae-Ping River

Our uneventful 180 minute flight from VTSP to VTCC was made a little turbulent by 78 MPH winds off our port bow. We had them with us from departure to arrival as well as up & down various flight levels.

We grabbed an R-66 for our flight from VTCC to a point 56 km North of Chiang Mai.

Approach to Royal Ping Resort

Royal Ping Garden and Resort

 We’re off to visit the Elephant Training Center ChiangDao.

 After studying various maps and satellite images we established our Dead Reckoning bearings.  We’d follow Asian Hwy 107 north to San Mahaphon where the road splits off to the East.

From there we continued to fly north for another 5 miles, over Inthakhin, to our lodgings. The Royal Ping Garden and Resort was easy to find. It's on a distinctive bend in highway 107 where it meets the Mae-Ping River.



Best friends for life

Founded in 1969, The Chiang-Dao Chiang Mai Elephant Training Center is surrounded by small hills with the Ping River running through it. The center only work the elephants during the mornings . The rest of the elephants day & evening are spent roaming in natural habitats.
Each elephant has his or her own mahout to care for them on a one-on-one basis, for life. It is easy to see why the centers elephants are happy, healthy and thriving ...they are loved. Linda really loves the babies.

What an opportunity to learn about elephants, their traits, lifestyles, talents and charms. The lifelong friendship between and elephant and their mahout is very real and extremely heartwarming.

Linda’s argument is this ...a baby elephant weights around 250 pounds. She says that will still allow her 1500 more pounds before reaching our weight limit for Little Bird. I’ve got to put my foot down …seriously.

Speaking of foot ...notice the mother's L front foot ...she stepped on a land mine. The Center rescued her and her baby. Both are doing well thanks to them.
Our adventure continues ...