Tusk to tusk

Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle, Anantara Elephant Camp & Resort, Dean’s, Bar Betsy, best Paris wine lists, MORE

Apr 25, 2026

∙ Paid

GETAWAYS • Thailand

Elephant district

I arrived in Chiang Rai on March 13, Thai National Elephant Day, a holiday I hadn’t realized existed until my driver informed me that all resort elephants were on vacation for the day. Elephants are the national animal of Thailand, representing wisdom and strength, and while I’m typically wary of elephant tourism, I was about to check into some of the most eco-friendly hotels in the country.

Four Seasons and Anantara are right next door to each other, both owned by William Heinecke and partnered with Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation to support wild elephant conservation and captive elephant rehabilitation. I stayed at both for a few nights each with elephant encounters every day. I’ll never forget how quietly the majestic mammals walk, their rippling muscles, the rough feeling of their skin, the way they spray mud over their backs to cool off, and their insatiable appetites. Elephants eat 10% of their body weight each day, and spend up to 18 hours a day eating. (Honestly, relatable.)

Four Seasons is the more intimate experience of the two, with just 15 glamorously designed glamping tents featuring outdoor rain showers, spacious terraces, and beds facing the jungle (above). Leave the canvas flap unzipped to wake up with sunrise (my tip for beating jetlag!) and there’s no need to lock the padlock on your door. The decor evokes the 19th century, with antique wooden trunks, intricately woven wicker baskets, and faux elephant tusk faucet handles.

Each morning, guests can feed the resident elephants a mix of bananas, watermelon, cucumber, and carrots while enjoying breakfast. There’s more privacy here, but also a lot of walking and steep stairs to navigate, plus a dramatic suspension bridge that could prove challenging if you’re afraid of heights.

Spa treatments at Four Seasons are fairly rudimentary, but the open air jungle spa has unbelievable views. Anantara’s spa has a more comprehensive menu of services, since it’s a larger resort with 63 rooms and suites, including newly renovated Mekong Explorer Suites that blend Thai Lanna design with colonial influences, and jungle-facing terraces with Thai-style daybeds.

Both resorts invite guests to meet their resident elephants (17 elephants at Anantara and 6 at Four Seasons) in the surrounding sanctuary habitat, learning more about elephant biology and behavior, and dressing in all-blue denim-like cotton outfits that mahouts (elephant keepers) traditionally wear.

Private dining experiences are also a highlight, like a Kanthok family-style Lanna feast at Four Seasons, or camp peak breakfast with panoramic views of all three Golden Triangle countries and local delicacies like coconut and taro sweet black sticky rice and phulae pineapple.

At Anantara, I was hoisted 170 feet into the sky for a canopy treetop dining breakfast, watching elephants grazing through binoculars while sipping cold brew and savoring local Chiang Rai dark chocolate ganache cake for breakfast. Perhaps the most spectacular memory of the entire week was a safari-like night with two elephants in a jungle bubble. I enjoyed a multi-course Thai meal by a private chef while elephants Ja Thong and Kammool munched on sugarcane, then took a quick dip in the hot tub and fell asleep under the stars with my new friends just a few feet away. –Amber Gibson

→ Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle • Vieng, 499 MOO1 T. Vieng • Rates from $2981/night spring weekend
→ Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort • 229, Wiang • Rates from $1088/night spring weekend

REAL ESTATE • First Mover

Three for-sale single-family residences in Chicago that came to market in the last 14 days.

→ 1816 N Hudson Ave (East Lincoln Park) • 5BR/4.1BA, 5000 SF single-family • Ask: $3.195M • high-end finishes and rooftop deck with pergola • Days on market: 2 • Annual tax: $43,253 • Agent: Rosalie Lemperis, Coldwell Banker Realty.

→ 2140 N Clifton Ave (Lincoln Park) • 5BR/5.2BA, 5500 SF single-family • Ask: $3.6M • move-in ready brick and limestone • Days on market: 9 • Annual tax: $48,224 • Agent: Emily Sachs Wong, @properties Christie’s.

→ 3026 N Lake Shore Dr (Lake View, above) • 6BR/7.2BA, 9100 SF single-family • Ask: $8.45M • 66’ x 200’ lot w/ sport court, terraces, outdoor kitchen • Days on market: 14 • Annual tax: $26,028 • Agent: Frederique Leforestier & Madeleyne Sutton, One Sotheby’s.

GOODS & SERVICES • Big Ticket

Select answers to the FOUND Routine query, What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?

→ MELANIE MASARIN, founder & CEO, Ghia (Paris, above): I bought The Row loafers and they’ve become my everyday shoe. The leather feels like butter. I wear them with everything — jeans, dresses, even on long walks through the Marais.

→ LUIGI DI RUOCCO, vp & co-owner, Mr. Espresso (SF): I bought a Kamado Joe grill during our backyard renovations. While it sat idle for a while, I’ve recently started putting it to work. I’m really enjoying the process, especially smoking steaks and burgers to lock in that flavor before finishing them with a high-heat sear.

→ ISOBEL SCHOFIELD, founder & designer, Bryr Clogs (SF): I just discovered this wonderful handmade bag company called KMM & Co. I got myself one of their market totes for Christmas. It was expensive, but I know I’ll have it for the rest of my life.

→ LEENA CULHANE, owner, Force of Nature & co-owner, Crudo e Nudo (LA): I love my Aventon Pace 4 electric bike. I used to be a hater on electric bikes in general, but at the time I was living at the top of the hill and the hill at the end of a 16-hour day was preventing me from wanting to take my bike. I went to try an electric one in the parking lot behind the shop and I was immediately hooked. I now live at sea level but still take the bike almost everywhere I go daily, because the radius isn’t that far and I love experiencing the world on a bike. I put a milk crate on the back for my dog, and he’s pretty happy about it, too. Pro tip: get a SUPER good lock. Pro-pro tip: Make sure you register the lock.

BARS • New York

Gastro, pub

Right next door to their Italian-French hit bistro King, Jess Shadbolt and Annie Shi have opened Dean’s, a compact, elegant British pub shaped by the same seasonal, ingredient-driven approach for which they’re known.

Tables are packed close, with just enough wiggle room to pass. The bones read pub, but retooled. Framed photos line the walls, while a cream-painted ceiling lends a subtle coastal feel. The place is straightforward in design, but genuinely pleasant to sit in. Peek into the open kitchen and you’ll spot Shadbolt’s AGA, the same type of cream-colored enamel stove where she first learned to cook.

Like the room, the food feels familiar, but only loosely. It pulls from the British pub canon, then filters it through Shadbolt’s Suffolk roots and a (very New York) farmers’ market sensibility. Of course there’s fish and chips — flaky hake in a crisp, buttery shell made with Old Speckled Hen beer, alongside properly puffed triple-cooked fries, tartar sauce, and a lemon cheek. The point isn’t reinvention: everything at Dean’s reads mostly straightforward, but there’s real work underneath, from product sourcing to the technique to the daily handwritten menus that subtly track the seasons. –Kat Odell

Heavens to Betsy

Two doors down from FOUND favorite Betsy in Altadena, Bar Betsy — the latest from chef and owner Tyler Wells — is bright, casual, all-day, and for walk-ins-only.

Where Betsy is rooted in live-fire cooking, heartiness, and making an evening of it, Bar Betsy is a more relaxed affair. Low-slung two-tops line a banquette on the right inside the entrance. At frontstage, a tile-topped bar that surrounds farmhouse-style built-ins housing glasses, mugs, bottles of wine, a fridge, a glistening espresso machine, bags of coffee beans. On the sidewalk out, tables spill out into the sun.

Like its neighbor, Bar Betsy’s menu is primarily concerned with keeping things fresh. For me, a plate of market tomatoes served on arugula with burrata and candy-sweet strawberries, followed by an excellent sandwich of wood-oven chicken with greens, cucumber, cheddar, and tarragon dijonnaise. Other enticing sandwiches included roasted carrot with romesco and clover sprouts and a classic Parisian ham and cheese. –James Royce

MORE at FOUND LA

AROUND FOUND • Other Notable Intel & Recs

→ PARIS: Places like ALT sit quietly in your head, waiting — until, of course, they show up at exactly the right moment. Reservation required. I call. Someone had just canceled. Pushing the door open, I harbored a split second of doubt, as the place lives in a kind of faded, unpretentious charm, none of the try-hard cool deployed by the wave of restaurants flooding the 11th arrondissement. Instead, actual space and breathing room.

→ LDN: Carousel founders Ed and Ollie Templeton debuted Cometa, a Mexican seafood restaurant, in their former bar space in February. Unlike Carousel’s revolving residencies, Cometa and its duo of chefs from Mexico City are very much here to stay.

→ SF: Can a bro hangout turn a new leaf? Lobalita, a new Mexican cantina in the Marina, is trying. Walking in on opening week, there were usual Marina boys and girls, but I did a double-take when I spotted a baby in the front window, kids coming from soccer practice, and a golden retriever wagging on the back patio. What’s this, an unaired episode of Full House?

GETAWAYS LINKS: Inside Philippe Starck’s new Hôtel Villa Colette in Cap Ferret • Checking in at the new Andaz Lisbon • Quantas sets first half of next year to debut SYD-LHR flight, world’s longest • This is the coolest bar in St. Barths right now.

RESTAURANTS • The Nines

Classic Paris wine lists, Right Bank

The Nines are FOUND’s distilled lists of the best. See also, Classic wine lists, Left Bank.

Le Taillevent (8th arr), sophisticated restaurant operated by Gardinier family (of Les Crayères in Reims), 300,000+ bottle cellar