Settling in to the elephant camp

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Been at the elephant camp for over a week now, so starting to settle in and get to know the locals abit better. having a really wicked time over at the camp and also off the camp. a typical day means waking up at half six to work with the elephants and the mahouts till about three in the afternoon. In this time we take our elephants for several walks and a few showers. also feed and water them. we get to know all the mahouts, meet and chat with their familys. also get fed and watered ourselves. altho not to sure about all that is offered. This week we have started to get more involed with every aspect of elephant care, including going with whicha on his motorbike to get sack loads of fruit from the local market for soi-tong, it's a bit hairy riding back with all.

Also got to know a english guy who moved out here to be with the elephants full time. His mahout's elephant was taken to another camp so steward brought him a new one. So he can com and ride her everyday. he lives in an apartment block not far from the camp. which conviently has a swimming pool. so our afternoons consis of cycling down to the pool for a relaxing swim. feels great to be clean again after working with the elephants.

As we get a half day on Saturdays and we had a another girl, steph join us, we went for our normal swim. then a cycle down to the pier in pattaya, to discover the ferry times to get over to one of the islands nearby (kao lahn). hoping that the beaches would be nicer over than in pattaya. as our trip to the beach last weekend had resulted in no swimming, owing to the fact that be getting in the the water we saw a dead rat and sainatry towel floating in the water. so it was kind of off putting. The only problem with the cycle was the massive hill we had to cycle up to get back again. it was going to be the bus the next day.

On saturday evening Apple, one of the girls who for eco-explorer, invited us out to the local night market with her friends from bangkok. Did you know that it's possible to fit six people on a motorbike and side car, quite an intertaining ride altho scary at times. The market was great, much better than the ones at home. you name it, it was for sale. loads of cd's,dvd's, clothes,ornaments and food. Not sure about the fryed frogs and fryed insects thinks i will give a miss and stick to the egg and banana pancakes with condenced milk on top. yummy.

Sunday and a trip to kao lahn. the beaches and the water were a lot nicer so finally ventured in to the sea for a swim. great day of exploring and swiming on the island. in the evening after meeting a couple(craig&karen) from liverpool on the island we all enjoyed a lovely roast dinner included another couple (zoe&dan) who have also arrived to work with the elephants, so that now makes five of us.

Going to have to go to sleep now, as i have to be up at five in the morning tomorrow, have to fetch soi-tong from the forest and take her to the lake for a bath before breakfast.

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Photos

elephant Shower
getting wet again

bananas
i know their here somewhere

dinner
How yummy does that look

kao lahn
much cleaner. yey

bananas
found them

dan the puppy
me, steph, jacqui and our friend, dan the puppy, enjoying the sun

mahout in training
my first tourists

Comments

[Ern & Jill]

Latest Blog
Hi Zoe, It all looks fantastic! Go for it. The pictures are great but I don't see any of the native mahouts. Bet it was nerve racking taking your first tourists for a ride on Soi-tong. These blogs are a great idea saves writing hundreds of post cards, and we get to see the pictures almost as they happen, so keep the blog going. Good luck from Ern & Jill

[kelvin]

hi zoe. glad to see u are having a good time. i only found out about this the other day. its really cool to see what u have been up to. your pics are really good. keep them coming. keep on enjoying yourself. kelvin.