Elephant riding

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Elephant riding. What more can I say? It was just the most amazing experience! We visited the Elephant Conservation Centre near Lampang, northern Thailand today. As some of you may know, the elephant happens to be my favourite animal, therefore this was especially exciting for me. Firstly, we watched the elephants bathe, with their trainers scrubbing at them until they were squeaky clean (well, relatively less smelly at any rate!). Then they were put through their paces, showing the mesmerised audience (ok, so admittedly it was mainly me who was 'ooh-ing' and 'aah-ing') of tourists how smart this large land mammal is. Highlights included an elephant race, playing the xylophone, staping on inflated balloons to pop them, and elephant painting!! Naturally, these are all behaviours that would be displayed in the wild...
But anyway, this one elephant painted...an elephant!! And it was actually pretty damn good!! Well, this masterpiece will soon be hanging on my wall at home (depending on the reliability of the Thai postal service that is), cos I couldn't help but buy it- it was so CUTE!!!
Following this exhibit of artistry, we climbed on board a large male elephant, and through the jungle we went! It was pretty damn cool, and boy can those beasts move their hips 😊 Hehehe.
Once back on solid ground, I went to feed a baby elephant, who proceeded to molest me after I ran out of bananas- watch where you're sticking that trunk boyo! And can I just say, just for good measure for the guys reading this, elephants are damn well hung...!

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