Thailand: Hanging with Elephants

The tourism industry in Thailand has really taken this whole "spend a day with an elephant" thing to new levels of absurdity. Now, not only can you feed the gentle giants bananas and ride them through the jungle. You can also watch them jump through hoops, play soccer with one another and paint landscapes.

The magnificence of these shows keeps growing, because there's an increasing competition between elephant camps to bring in the most number of visitors. 

         

I kid you not, this was the finishing product. 

The streets of Chiang Mai have one tourist office after the next offering their own version of the same experience. I chose the show at Maesa Elephant Camp. The whole spectacle's a bit overblown, but you'll get a good laugh.