More From the Los Angeles Times
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April 25, 2024
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The Chai Lai Orchid is one of the more unusual resorts in this overgrown part of northern Thailand. Owner Alexa Pham and her high-spirited local partner, Puang, have created a small but welcoming retreat that feels more like a home stay than a hotel. (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)
Alexa Pham’s Chai Lai Orchid features typical activities such as hiking and elephant rides but is also a way for girls to avoid falling prey to the sex industry.
Elephants make their way on a path along the Mae Wang River. The Chai Lai features all the signature activities of this popular area: rafting, hiking to hill tribe villages, raft rides and bareback elephant trekking (a full-body tactile experience not to be missed). (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)
Pham, right, and her Thai business partner (left, in yellow T-shirt) ride elephants bareback to the Mae Wang River. (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)
The Chai Lai elephants get a bath in the Mae Wang River. (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)
Pham scrubs her elephant during bathing time in the Mae Wang River. (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)
A young elephant at Chai Lai. (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)
Free English lessons are offered in the Chai Lai Orchid cafe every evening. (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)
The blackboard at the Chai Lai Orchid cafe. (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)
Ann, 23, is one of three women training at the Chai Lai. She was smuggled into Thailand from Myanmar when she was 6 months old. (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)
A man takes a morning stroll across the Mae Wang River to the Chai Lai Orchid. (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)
A morning offering at a “spirit house” on the grounds of the Chai Lai Orchid. (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)
Pham reclines on a bamboo raft along the Mae Wang River. (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)
April 25, 2024