Thailand Adventure - A Very Scary Car Ride to the Elephant Sanctuary in Chiang Mia, Thailand

Elephants are very important in the Thai culture and to the Thai people. We learned from our tour guide that in ancient time, the Thai king rode on an elephant into battle leading his soldiers to fight against their enemies. There are many tour groups offering tours to see the elephants in Chiang Mia. We chose one that would cause no harm to the animals, i.e. no riding on the elephants or making them do anything to entertain us. We booked a half day tour to see the elephants.

Our tour driver came and picked us up at our hotel and we got on a vehicle with a family of four from Portugal. This vehicle was very different from the one we rode in from our previous 1 day tour.

It had an enclosed area for the front 2 seats where the driver was sitting but with a semi open seating area behind the driver cab for 6-8 passengers. There was a  metal  bench against each side of the vehicle with a metal bar above us. There was no back door at the end of the passengers’ compartment. As there was no seatbelt on these 2 benches, the only thing to stablize ourselves and keep us safe was holding on to this metal bar above our heads.

The car ride was about 1 ½ hour from Chiang Mia to the Karen Elephant Sanctuary. This  ill equipped tour vehicle sped off taking us towards our destination while I was sitting on the left side, at the end of the vehicle. The vehicle was going through city streets at a reasonable speed and at about 80 km on the highway. I was a little anxious about this unsafe situation. I started talking to Bruno, the Portuguese gentleman in his 50’s, sitting beside me. I told him this ride was a little scary for me. Right away he echoed his sentiment with me. He said in Europe, this vehicle would never be allowed to take in passengers without the installation of seatbelts and without other safety features. I told him in Canada this would not be allowed either and this was why I was concerned. Throughout the entire car ride, I kept praying that God would protect us from any accidents and harm. Because both Bruno and I knew that if there was any accident of any kind, all the passengers would be thrown out of the vehicle and would sustain serious injuries.

I kept praying all the way for the Almighty’s protection. Thank God, He did listen and we reached our destinations without any incidents! Praise God for His protection and mercy on us!

RT, Chiang Mia, Thailand

2025