I took Thaivisa member Dr Strange down to Tiger Kingdom, and rather than go in ( again ) I went for a wander along to the Elephant Poo Poo Park next door. Intrigued as I was by the concept.....you won't believe this but it was quite a refreshing visit.

I'll begin by the ending, I was talking to the Park Director and discovered that the staff I had been interacting with were from the Thai Yai Mountain Tribe, as we know a lot of these people's find it difficult to get any type of residency recognition in Thailand, and are effectively stateless. The company behind Elephant Poo Poo Paper has managed to secure work permits for these young ladies and that in itself is a heart warming story. A few of these ladies have been working for the company for 8 years, so this ecological idea has also had the effect of improving the life of some of the dispossessed people of Thailand.

Much better this than that horrendous fake Karen Village next door.

Anyway, let's go......Elephant Poo Poo Paper.....

Various " flavours " of poo........

I say flavours because you are invited to smell........eh, I think I'll pass.......

Or even touch!!.....no way!! I'm not that daft......

The poo is dried.......

Then is processed onto screens.....

By this happy young lady who complained that her hair was a mess when I was taking the photo....

Set out to dry.....

In some cases dyed than set out to dry.....

Until eventually it's turned into dried sheets ready for use.....

The paper is made into envelopes, gift cards and the like and much of it is exported.......here's an envelope before.......

Middle......

and after.......

Then the greetings card......note the elephants

Now it's show off time, a notebook!!

Add the strength.....

Trim......

Insert pages......

Ensure it can close......

Ready for the decoration.....

More Elephants coming up....

Position ......

And complete!!.......lovely photo this one.

Elephant Poo Poo Park, right next to Tiger Kingdom, entry 100 baht, well worth it, and I took home my specially made for me notebook for another 100 baht, Add it to your day out the next time you go down to Mae Rim

Nice. Did not know it was there.

As you say,we'll worth adding to the guest itinerary.

Thanks

I had seen the sign before when passing by and always wonders what the heck it was all about, thanks for the very interesting post.

Thanks for posting this. Nice wee insight of the mainstream travel path that looks worth exploring.

There is a great sense of calm and tranquillity in these pictures.

Edited June 27, 201313 yr by Morakot

Thanks. Good yarn, good pics.

My pleasure......if your down Mae Rim it is an interesting place to visit, you could rush round in 15 minutes but I could picture people taking their time and actually participating ( which is encouraged ). I was delighted to spend time watching the young ladies making up the envelopes and the like and that part is interactive. A good addition to Mae Rim.

I thought 'Thai Yai' was the generic name used by Thais for Burmese people living in Thailand and not a specific hill tribe?

E-bay has them for sale....expensive! 6 x 8" notebook with 32 sheets..$225US plus shipping! If someone could get the shipping prices down from Thailand then they'd sell fast.

I thought 'Thai Yai' was the generic name used by Thais for Burmese people living in Thailand and not a specific hill tribe?

It is the generic name used to refer to the Shan, a group linguistically and culturally closely related to the Thais, and in fact a Tai people. Most Shan live in Burma where they, along with all the other non-Burman groups, have been living in opposition to the Burmese government but themselves are now divided into two major armed political groups.