Chiang Mai: Elephant Sanctuary and Thai Cooking Workshop

Experience a Thai cooking workshop with a real local chef! Experience cooking firsthand, visiting an organic farm, observing the daily routine of elephants, and getting up close and personal with them. Enjoy the mountain atmosphere while learning to cook Thai food and join activities with elephants in the same area.

Departure by air-conditioned van outside Chiang Mai to Pon Elephant Thailand, approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Start under the guidance of your guide by exploring the organic vegetable garden to collect fresh herbs daily. Learn to prepare your four chords of Thai ingredients and cook authentic Thai cuisine. Learn the five basic flavors of Thai cuisine: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and spicy. A variety of dishes can be tailored to your culinary preferences under the guidance of an experienced guide. Here, you'll choose to create your own dishes using traditional methods and the finest ingredients. Discover Thai cooking techniques such as Pad Thai, Khao Soi, Tom Yum Goong, Green Curry, and Mango Sticky Rice. You'll also get to choose from a variety of other dishes, including delicious homemade meals amidst a natural setting with stunning mountain views. You'll also receive recipes to take home and create delicious Thai dishes, sharing your new skills with our culinary guide, who's happy to share his culinary knowledge with you so you can share them with your family and friends.

After spending time cooking and eating delicious food, you'll visit and receive a briefing on the elephants' habitat, history, habits, and behavior, including how to behave around them. Walk around the natural environment with the elephants and enjoy the special opportunity to feed them Napier grass, sugarcane, and bananas. Interact with the elephants up close, creating unforgettable memories in their natural jungle environment. Highlights of this tour include taking the elephants to the river, swimming and bathing with the giant elephants and their loving family. It's a truly intimate and peaceful experience. Please note that the elephants choose to bathe in the river; we don't force them, so some activities may change shortly. We support the local villages with this activity, and by helping the elephants, they help us protect and preserve our community forest for the long term. Before saying goodbye to our big friends, we return to Chiang Mai, completing a wonderful day of activities.