Baanchang Elephant Park: Chiang Mai, Thailand

I still have plenty more pictures to share from our time in Cambodia, but this week I thought I would take a break and fast-forward to the next destination of our honeymoon: Chiang Mai, Thailand! Specifically, the Baanchang Elephant Park north of the city.



As I mentioned before, when Jonathan said he wanted to ride elephants during our honeymoon, I was concerned with the ethical issues around animal tourism. So, I Googled "ethical elephant riding in Thailand" and found several possibilities, including Baanchang Elephant Park. I then looked each of the locations up on Trip Advisor to seek corroboration of their claims of ethical treatment. Several of the parks had reviews noting visible animal cruelty or otherwise unpleasant experiences by the visitors, but Baanchang's reviews were positive overall, and many users noted the respect between the mahouts and the elephants at this park. So, Baanchang it was!



Riding elephants was part of the package, but the focus was on elephant education. We learned about the various circuses and cities the elephants had been rescued from, which unfortunately included some pretty horrific stories about the abuse the elephants had endured. :( We also spent quite a bit of time feeding the elephants, which was amazingly fun! The park buys all their produce from local villages to help support the local economy, which I thought was pretty neat.

5 Fun Things We Did on our Honeymoon

My spanking-new husband and I just returned from our honeymoon on Monday evening, and though I definitely plan to share more photos and stories in upcoming posts, I wanted to give you a little sneak peek to enjoy this weekend. :) We decided to visit Asia for the first time for our honeymoon and split our time between Cambodia (Siem Reap) and Thailand (Chiang Mai, Railay Beach and briefly Bangkok). Here are five fun things we did during our adventure:

Things that make me go "hmm."

Source: fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net via Megan on Pinterest

My favorite pin of the week!

This is not a statement about the ethical issue of cloning one way or the other, but this cloned baby goat is adorable! See more pictures here. 

This cute and clever video from the New York Times explores the question of what makes a native species. (Spoiler alert: We European humans aren’t exactly native, if you were wondering.)  

I’d say these students could use some “cultural sensitivity” training. 

Funny longread: What happens when a 35-year-old man retakes the SAT? 

The 20 coolest bookstores in the world. (Oh, and the best ones are on my Pinterest already.)  

Having a long day at work and just need to “get outside” for a little while? This awesome trail view website can help. 

A drunk klepto with a conscience. 

Score one for endangered turtle species!  

TIME magazine announces the 140 best Twitter feeds of 2012.  

Absolutely crazy: This guy’s Reddit comments led to a movie deal!

Did you know we have eight new U.S. Historic Landmarks? Because we do!

Zoos and cute animals and such.

It's Wednesday, which means it's time for two link-ups: The Vintage Apple's "Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday!" and This Kind of Love's "What I'm Loving Wednesday."

First, a couple things I'm loving:

• My little brother is in town for his spring break! It's been fun having someone to come home to and checking out some new restaurants around town.
• After a few snowy days last week, it's warmed up considerably, so I can ride my bike to work again (following all these rules, of course)! It's also lovely to still have a couple hours of sun left when I got off work. (Thanks, Daylight Savings! I was mad at you on Sunday when you stole an hour of sleep, but now I like you a whole lot.)
• I'm going to Vail, Colorado, this weekend for a staff retreat! I just hope I don't make myself look like a fool next to all the experienced skiers I'll be going with.
• My $50 Visa gift card from winning Lovely Undergrad's internship attire contest came this week! (Thanks, Jessica!) See my winning entry here.

And now, on to the pins! Quick question: Am I the only person who feels bad about how much I love zoos? I mean, obviously I would prefer to see exotic animals in their natural habitats, but that is very time- and money-intensive. Instead, I get uber-giddy about visiting zoos, but then I always feel bad that the animals have been taken from their native lands. I try to console myself with the thought that endangered animals can breed in zoos and keep their species alive, but it doesn't help that much. The reason I've been pondering this is because my theme for this week is adorable animals! Enjoy.

Source: google.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: tumblr.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: nnm.ru via Megan on Pinterest

Source: zsazsabellagio.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: theberry.com via Megan on Pinterest

And finally, these puppies grew up together. Check out the photos taken five years apart. #adorbs

Source: cuteoverload.com via Abby on Pinterest

I actually did a similar post to this one way back in 2011, before I knew about Pinteresting Wednesdays, but I figure there's no such thing as too many cute animals, right? See my previous post (with more adorable photos!) here.

Things that make me go "hmm."

Source: outsideonline.com via Outside on Pinterest

This photo doesn't have anything to do with the links below, but I just think it's gorgeous. Do you agree?

Did anyone else notice the middle finger during the Super Bowl halftime show? I thought something controversial might have happened when my screen freaked out for a minute, but I wouldn't have even noticed if the network hadn't tried to censor it (too late).

Have you been craving some iguana meat? Then you're in luck!

How did I not know about this?

Be careful when streaming Netflix away from home, or you could get an $10,600 bill like this family.

This is probably old news, but I've never seen Toddlers in Tiaras, so I don't know. I do know I'll definitely never watch it now!

Did you know Americans eat almost half of the world’s yearly supply of chocolate?

This Victoria's Secret model retired to save her body for her husband.

An interesting controversy over whether home-schooled students should be allowed to participate on public school athletic teams.

And you thought you had a big salt- and pepper-shaker collection.

A New York Times "Modern Love" essay on how a woman became her own in-law. Yup, you heard that right.

And just because I am a complete nerd: The evolution of a turtle's shell.

Happy weekend! I'm skiing up in Angel Fire today. What are you doing? Anyone seeing/saw The Vow?

Things that make me go "hmm."

Time for week two of my new series - "Things that make me go "hmm." Enjoy the little tidbits I've gathered from across the web over the past week! But first, this video:

 Don't feel like you have to watch the whole thing, but watch about the first minute or so and
then skip ahead to 2:15. You won't want to miss it!

  

A beautiful argument for the written word (and against book-banning).

Did you know: LeBron bikes to work "all the time"!

Looks like students aren't the only ones who obsess about higher SAT scores.

Your community doesn't have to be rich to have a good library system. Good to know!

This was quite funny to me, considering I read Jonathan Franzen's Freedom on my Kindle and hated it. But somehow, I don't think that had anything to do with the fact it was an e-book....

30 travel terms that don't exist but should.

And finally, the most relaxing song of all time. You're welcome.

Rad video from WWF.

This is super cool. Just wanted to share.

The world is where we live from WWF on Vimeo.

We are all connected.

Are you having a bad day?

I love Pinterest. As my friend Caroline likes to say, "All I do is pin, pin, pin no matter what...." One of my boards is called Just to See You Smile, and it mostly consists of cute baby animal pictures that I like to repin to save for a rainy day. If this is one of your rainy days, take a look below. I hope it makes your day a little better. :)

Source: thebedlamofbeefy.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: prepfromthemidwest.tumblr.com via Megan on Pinterest