Elephants!!

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Yesterday we went to the Elephant Conservation Center. It started with a bus ride with a very spirited monk who friended us on Facebook and took lots of photos with us.

The elephant hospital is a great place in Thailand where sick elephants come to be rehabilitated. We got to ride on one for about a half hour and it was awesome!! They are very kind to the animals and the animals are surprisingly happy!! We got to see a few mamas with their newborns, baby elephants are so cute!!! We bought some bananas to feed the baby's, one of the babies was so sleepy we tried to feed him and ended up just hitting him the head with the banana instead... It was pretty funny.

When it was time to leave we had no idea how to get back to chiang mai... The bus makes a special stop to drop you at the sanctuary but doesn't pick you up there. Just down the road was a bus stop but we had no idea it was there, so we ended up hitchhiking back to chiang Mai with a very nice family. The four of us were so thankful that they were willing to give us a ride in their air conditioned car!!! It was over a 100'!! And about an hour to get there 😊 he was a civil engineer and so excited to give some crazy Americans a ride.

We ended the day by getting a massage for $6 at a famous spa employed by Thai women who are ex convicts. They give them a trade and employ them at a spa to help them support themselves to have a second chance. They were so lovely!! Ilona and I were laughing during our massages... We are so wimpy and these old ladies are so strong!! It was great experience.

Today we are making our way up to Pai in northern Thailand to meet some friends from vail! There are so many people we know traveling in Thailand!!

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