Sleeping in a Treehouse by the Lazy River and Elephant Riding

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March 15, 2015

After returning to KhuraBuri and saying goodbye to Nichole, we rode in a van to our next adventure. We went to the opposite side of the national park where we stayed in tree houses! Arriving there we settled in then had lunch. The next adventure was to be in a small kayak drifting down a river. We again drove to a location where we met up with our guides who would be doing all the paddling for the boat. When we first got in the boats they handed us a bag with fish food in it and we fed the fish. The fish knew it was coming and all hung around that location waiting. It was a fish frenzy and a lot of fun to watch! Then we pushed off. I never dreamed it could be so beautiful! We went around a bend there was a mountain that looking like King Kong and was named after him.

Towards the end there was a drone that flew above us and had a camera on it! Hard to believe they already have cornered that part of the world!

Half way through the ride we pulled over to a beach and had coffee/tea. The guides has a huge black kettle hanging over a fire, with water boiling in it and they made us the hot drink of our choice. The drinks were served in cups made out of bamboo and the stir sticks were carved out of bamboo as well. It was charming!

After the boat ride we returned to the treehouse. The four of us shared a room that had a king size bed and a bunked. There were mosquito nets over the beds because we are, after all, in the rain forest! We could hear the song of the Gibbon money,which is distinct and recognizable, however we didn't see any. We had been warned to keep our windows and doors closed though, they are not too afraid to invite themselves into the rooms to explore! My 2 roommates, Shana and Barb went to the room in the afternoon and a monkey walked right up to the door. They chased it away but al least they got to see one!

There was an army of big ants that flowed next to the railing of the stairs to out house. I have a video of them below. There are insects in the woods here that are so loud and strange sounding it is like an electrical transponder. That is the only way I can explain it! At first, I didn't know what the sound was until Meghan told me. It is a huge beetle that is calling for its mate. Of course they are all calling at the same time! Must be confusing for the females!

Afterwards we wandered around town and went to the best pizza place according to the locals. We ordered a ham and pineapple and got a green olive pizza. We were told that you just suck it up if that happens. There is no sending it back! So we did. It was....well, lets just say, don't get pizza unless you are in Italy or the USA!

Then we had free time and Livia and I decided we would explore the elephants. I had a concern that we might see some of the horrible caretakers of elephants I had read about but was very happy to see these men had no poles to stick them with or any other contraption. They followed voice commands and did so very well. When we got there we climbed stairs to get us high enough to get on their back and as our elephant approached her eye was just high enough to see over the top of the platform and she was checking us out to see what she had in store for her. It is amazing how long their eyelashes are! The trails they took us on were very narrow and I assume, hard to walk in,. But they did it with grace and ease. We had an opportunity to feed them sugar cane at the end of the ride. When we got back to the hotel we met with a group to go out on a night hike through the park to look for wild jungle night animals. We did see one animal that was a cat like creature that lives in the trees. We also saw a few snakes and spiders but for the most part it was a very hot sweaty hike, that we had to pay a guide to take us on and I would have rather not gone.

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