On my previous journey to Chiang Mai I had simply hopped into a cab and asked the driver to take me to the nearest place I could ride an elephant. The experience left me in awe of the creatures but with a bitter taste in my mouth as well. It seemed to me that the elephants I saw were unhappy, perhaps even abused, performing for the tourists simply to make money for their owners. Painting with a brush, standing on their heads, is this what an elephant's life is all about? After researching on Google it was clear that very few elephant parks in Thailand actually treated their animals humanely. The Elephant Nature Park is different. It is a refuge, a sanctuary, a home for many of the elephants abused and distressed by other parks in the region.