Letters: Elephant center has more to offer

Elephant center has more to offer

As a former resident (and U.N. staff member) in Thailand, I was reading my favorite Thai blog, which had a link to Christopher Smith’s story “Hear an Elephant Purr for Only $2.55” [Feb. 7]. I thought I’d point out a couple of things about the Elephant Conservation Center, which makes it an even more valuable place.

Stays can be as short as one-day admission, which apparently Smith did, to multi-day programs. You can learn about such programs at https://www.changthai.com. Check the tab for “activities” to see possible stayovers. Check “feedbacks,” then go to “reviews” for a link to the Tripadvisor page on the camp. The site is run by one of the trainers and is kept up to date.

We were there for the three-day course in 2004 and can highly recommend it.

-- David Hastings, Broomfield, Colo.

I thoroughly enjoyed Smith’s article on the Elephant Conservation Center in northern Thailand. I went to a similar type of place northwest of Chiang Mai near the resort of Kangsadarn, https://www.ichiangmaihotel.com/hotels-chiangmai/kangsadarnresort/index.htm. It was high in the mountains in a farming village. The elephants didn’t need to be rehabilitated and roamed free like cattle. One was brought for us to ride. My elephant decided to leave his mahout and take off alone with me to drink from a nearby spring. We got to feed our elephants at the end, and they loved to eat and play around. It was one of the best experiences I had in Thailand.

-- Keith Ensminger, Merced, Calif.

Plane problems? Try the train

Regarding “Bad to Wurst” [On the Spot, Jan. 24]: Yes, airline travel is now an invasive, expensive, crowded and perhaps a humiliating way to travel these days, but a solution is always at hand.

Instead of credit cards awarding air miles, why not rail miles? It would get folks an opportunity to appreciate the journey as well as the destination.I traveled across Russia on the Trans-Siberian and across Canada on the Rocky Mountaineer and have a bucketload of memories. Who can remember four good things about a flight from LAX to JFK?

-- Kurt Sipolski, Palm Desert

This is no place for politics

When has the Travel section turned into a political piece? The letter Jan. 17 in response to the Maldives article [“Getting Their Green On,” by Amanda Jones, Jan. 10] should have been on the editorial page. The Travel section has no business allowing this kind of diatribe. Using words like “its leader,” “taken in” by some “two-bit horror movie and Al Gore’s “unscientific blathering” about sea levels rising,” which won him a Nobel Peace Prize, among other honors, is inflammatory and disrespectful.

That letter was unworthy of The Times, especially in the Travel section.

-- Lynda Austin, Orange