Arduous
Chaing Mai Thailand 2007
I was taken to an elephant camp where elephants, formerly used for logging, are trained for shows to the public. There is no teak logging in Thailand now. The trees have been overcut and the government forbids cutting of the trees in order to reforest.
My guide told me that most elephants used in the tourist industry are from Burma where logging of teak continues. Burmese mahouts make more money trundling tourists in the Thai jungles than they could working as loggers at home. Thai elephants have been shipped to the coast where you might find them giving tourists rides at the beach.
I read that the elephants suffer from the weather in coastal locations…too hot and no respite from the burning sun, which blisters their hides nor from the scorching sands which burn their feet so that they become lame.
One more note: The huts in Chiang Mai jungles are roofed with teak leaves. The leaves are the size of diner plates and they are laid on the roof the same way tiles would be laid.