What an amazing day!

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Good evening everyone,



I thought I would up date you on yesterday's event as i know younare eagerly waiting to know the next instalment of my travels lol.

6 of us decided to visit the elephant park there was me, Alex, Charlotte, Kico Amanda and Evan and along the way we picked up an mother and son who I think were from possibly South America or possibly Spain or even Portugal, they didn't speak much English so it was hard to find out.



Our guide for the day was an amazing lady called Joy and she was a Joy to have around. She spoke very good English and was so enthusiatic all day and never lost focus on us. She was funny caalinf us superman and super girl and asked us which country she was from and called us Miss England or Mr Canada or Mr Brazil . She told us what we would be doling throught out the day and all about the elephants etc. She just talked and talked and was such the loveliest of guides. Always smiling, making jokes and generally very entertaining.



We stopped off at a butterfly farm for a quick comfort break and the headed out to the jungle to see the elephants. It took us about 1.30 hours to get there and were were in the backmof a land rover with bench seats which just fitted 8 adults.



When we arrived we were given a change of clothes as the elephants do,like to have dust barpths and don't care if someone is sitting on the back of them or not lol. Plus later on we would be taking a bath with them in a muddy pool complete with elephant poo! We had all put our swimming gear on so we just had to change from shorts and t shirt to our groovy outfits. See pics for more info.

Once changed Joy told us about the elephants and their handlers how they are trained etc. then we had a lesson in elephant commands, stop, go, left, right, the usual stuff you need to know when riding on the back of a ten foot elephant lol.



We were then give bunches of bananas and introduced to some of the elephants and a baby jumbo. If you give them food thenfirstbtime you meet them then they will remember you and be nice to you lol. After we had exhausted out banana stash and meeting a baby jumbo and 2 of the elephants we then moved on to,stage 2 getting on, riding and getting done from an elephant. Easy I hear you cry, no it's not I say. See pics to see just how difficult I found it lol. We all took turns and of course laughed at each other's attempts to,get on and off. And I can I say just for the record it's high up there lol.

After I finally got up on my elephant we walked round the compound,me the elephant and her handler. Of course my trust steed decide she was thirsty and wanted a drink so she headed for the pool where they batHe, I thought I was in for an early bath to be honest, but luckily she only wanted to quench her thirst and I got away dry as a bone.

After all the fun of us ungainly getting on and off elephants it was time to go trekking with two,of us per elephant. I was the passenger and Charlotte was the driver. I got on first and had tomshuffle back somimwas midway across the elephant. Theremwas a rope going around the elephants middle with a small loop,at the top for me to,hang on to, and by god did I! my word today my thighs are a little sore and tender from the experience as if I had been horse riding for a few house except my trustee steed was 3 times as wide as a horse at least lol.

The trek was about 20 minutes long altogether, we left camp with Joy waving us goodbye saying she would see us in a week, and headed out our first hurdle to negotiate was a small down ward slope and stream. So as when riding a horse you need to lean back but you still slide forward as there was no saddle some hung onto that plop of rope for dear life and squished into the elephant with my thighs. I ended sliding forward over its front shoulders which was not the most comfortable place to be I can assure you.

All the elephants were naughty stopping to eat the yummy vegetation along the way and the handLEDs had to keep them in line. Our next hurdle was a very steep slope going up and again the elephants were being naughty and stopping to eat and not budging but we all eventually got there.

The track then levelled out but the steep slope just negotiated was now on our left, and of course our elephant decided she wanted to eat and got nearer and news are to the edge and was putting her head down to eat, that was a scary moment more for charlotte than me but scary all the same, so we shouted in panic for Joe our elephants handler who was just laughing, and pulled our naughty girl away from her yummy vegetation by the ear and back on to the path, panic over.

We continued our trek stopiping along the way and from time to time having total grid lock as one elephant wanted to,pass another but not being able to, it's notmwasynon a narrow path with steep slopes on either side. So the. It was time to,head down the slope and our elephant decided to,go down at a faster pace than she had gone up, and of course it was down so we slid forward and was back over this shoulders and hanging on for grim death and very uncomfortable to say the least! I shouted to slow the elephant down as i felt like i was going to fall off, so she was made to slow down bless her.

So we finally made it back to the camp and that lovelay watering hole! The elephants went in one by one and then knelt down so they could wallow in the water. As ours went down I fell off and went under the lovely brown water mixed with elephant poo! Luckilynimmanaged to close my eyes, shut my mouth and hold my nose before I went under. im happy tormentors there have been no nasty side effects from my early bath lol. So we threw small buckets of water over our lovely lady mad scrubbed her thick wiry skin which she seemed to enjoy. She spent most of the time on her left side with her head and trunk submerged lol. After the bath we all came out of the water fir a last final photo shoot. The elephants headed for food, no surprise there lol and we headed off to dry off and get changed and then lunch. Sweet and sour curry, yellow chicken crust with potatoes and boiled rice followed by fresh pineapple.

After lunch we headed out in the land rover for a short ride which was about 20 minutes long. We piled out and followed Joy up the path and along the way she told about some of the plants which grew around. One you can rub on cuts to stop the bleeding, another has lovely looking fruit but is poisonous, one you touch and all the leaves curl up.

After about ten minutes walk we came to a small water fall with a pool at the bottom. There were a group of local boys there who were more than willing to give us a demonstration on how to get up to the top and slide down. Kico was first down closely followed by Amanda and the rest of us. We all had a couple of turns and then headed off as a group of gap year age people turned up so we left them to it.

We then went back to our transport and headed for our next activities white water and bamboo rafting. We were kitted out with our helmets and life jackets, given our safety briefing and how to paddle by Joy in her unique way lol and then headed down the river as Joy sang the the theme from Titanic - she is a crazy lady lol. In our boat we had Amanda and Evan and our oarsman who was a bit like silent Bob and didn't say anything unless it was instructions on when to paddle or not, and in the other it was Kico, Alex and Charlotte with their guide who laughing, joking and messing around. We were having a bit of a competition to see who could get down the river first. So we headed off first and doing really well leaving the others behind. However when we got to the rapids we got stuck and we were overtaken and continued to lose ground and kept getting stuck and had to dislodge ourselves as the river level was lower so it wasn't as easy to negotiate the river in places. I should also mention that a storm had been brewing, black clouds were gathering and there was that feeling in the air you get just before the heavens opened. There was a torrential down pour, almighty claps of thunder and rod lightening, it was awesome! I just loved the whole experience!

So we finally caught up with the others and by this time the rain had finished and the airways cooler and fresher, and headed for the shore where there was an old man waiting with bamboo rafts. We had to clamber out of our dinghies on to the rafts trying to avoid falling in the river!

The bamboo rafts were about 20 feet long and consisted of large bamboo pieces bound together with twin, cord or anything else they could find. All we had to do was to keep our balance. the raft didn't totally float on top of the water but it was just under the surface. All,we had to do,was keep,our balance, but Amanda was struggling as she wanted to take photos and needed to turn to take shots of Evan and I and the other raft which unbalanced us. She managed to pass the camera without losing it in the river to Kico who took shots of us and when she turned around she unbalanced the raft. I of course was laughing my head off at all the antics.

At the end if it all we landed in shore safe and sound and dried off a little. There were official photos taken but I didn't buy one, i had an almond magnum instead lol.

We then headed back to the hostel. Chow had arranged for us to go and see Thai boxing but I was just too knackered to go from the days events. I just went out for food with Alex and Charlotte and then chilled.

When Alex came back she didn't seem too impressed with it all. She said it was very violent and one guy looked as though he had dislocated shoulder, and it all started off with young boys about the age of 7 fighting! So glad I didn't go and charged 400 bhat for the pleasure.



night all

Xxx

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