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Travel & Experiences

Thailand’s Chai Lai Orchid resort

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.

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.

Mae Wang River

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)

Elephant riding

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)

Elephant bathing

The Chai Lai elephants get a bath in the Mae Wang River.  (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)

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Elephant bathing

Pham scrubs her elephant during bathing time in the Mae Wang River.  (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)

Young elephant

A young elephant at Chai Lai.   (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)

English lesson

Free English lessons are offered in the Chai Lai Orchid cafe every evening.   (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)

Chai Lai Orchid cafe

The blackboard at the Chai Lai Orchid cafe.  (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)

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Chai Lai trainee

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)

Morning stroll

A man takes a morning stroll across the Mae Wang River to the Chai Lai Orchid.  (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)

Spirit house

A morning offering at a “spirit house” on the grounds of the Chai Lai Orchid.  (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)

Alexa Pham

Pham reclines on a bamboo raft along the Mae Wang River.  (Jeff Greenwald / For The Times)

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