I visited an ethical non-touristy Elephant Sanctuary in Thailand [4K]

I arrived to Thailand on a solo trip and, straight away, on the first night in the hostel, I made a new friend, Dustin from Germany IG: @full_time_millennial. As our plan coincided, we decided to continue our trip to the North of Thailand together. We took the 10 hour bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and thought we'd go find a tour in the city and see the elephants. However, as the city offices were overpriced and were sending us to the very touristy spots, we rented a car and made our way to a super non-touristy one, called Maerim Elephant Sanctuary. As promised by the sign at the entrance, the elephants are truly loved and cared for in this place, their wishes are respected and boundaries kept :D Since then, our friendship has evolved, we met in two other countries, Dustin has traveled to Moldova, met my friends and family and we still keep in touch even living on complete opposites sides of the planet. That is the MAIN reason why I like solo traveling so much - SOLO doesnt mean ALONE!! 0:00 Introduction – Trip to the Elephant Sanctuary 2:00 Confusion in Chiang Mai – Office vs. Real Sanctuary 4:00 Street food, insects & mango sticky rice 7:00 Discovering the real sanctuary – Marim Elephant Sanctuary 9:30 Feeding time – Meeting the elephants 12:00 Elephant personalities & respecting their choices 15:00 Meeting the baby elephant & her stepmom 18:30 How elephants are cared for – Food & habits 21:00 Jungle walk with the elephants 24:00 Water, mud & playtime with elephants 26:00 Final moments, photos & reflections 27:15 Wrap-up & On the way to Pai Watch for more info and Enjoy!