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
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