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Published: March 12th 2010
Elephant Kisses
Elephant kisses are sweet but slobberyChiang Mai- northern Thailand
Chiang Mai, our first stop in Thailand, is known for having tons of wildlife including tigers, jaguars, and gibbons, but the main event is the Asian Elephant. So we booked a day trip to an elephant camp which turned out to be a truly awesome and special experience. Elephants are magnificent creatures to see up close, with their floppy ears, bristly hair, long trunks and really, really big bellies! We learned that the elephants eat pretty much non-stop, about 250 kilos per day! They also have really cute human-like habits like sleeping laying down (only at night) and sucking their trunks when they're babies like human babies suck their thumbs. The trainers taught us how to ride them using a bunch of commands in Thai. When you yell "yo ka!", the elephant lowers itself, and bends it's leg to make a convenient stair to climb up onto its back. We also got to ride our elephant Bophun to his favorite smelly, water hole where he and his friends roll around and bathe. After we gave Bophun a bath, the camp's trainers playfully started a massive water fight and the humans lost (badly) to the elephants. They
Leading the Way
We led the pack on our walk to the elephant water hole can shoot water out of their trunks like those crazy super-soaker water guns! It was really fun and really sad to leave Bophun and the other elephants at the end of the day.
Koh Samui - island off south eastern coast of Thailand
Over-developed? Probably. Touristy? Definitely. More expensive than the rest of south-east Asia? For sure. But we didn't care. KOH SAMUI IS PARADISE! To sum this place up: bright sunshine every day, clear blue-green waters, soft white sand, lush tropical palms, great food, and happening nightlife. During our week of beach-ful bliss, we rented motor bikes and explored the whole island, stumbling upon an awesome private beach which was great for a picnic lunch. We also made it to the rocky gorges and waterfalls and another day out to the national marine park for some sea kayaking, snorkeling, and hiking to the famous emerald lagoon. Back at Lamai Beach, our home base, we were pleasantly surprised that some of our best meals were from the street stalls -- you just grab what you want (delicious pad thais, fresh seafood, fried chicken, coconut and massaman curres) and then find some plastic chairs to sit down, and
Bophun
Our elephant Bophun was humongous, but thankfully pretty slow-moving wash it all down with a Chang beer!
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cheryl
non-member comment
I am so blown away by this part of your trip. You are making getting up for work harder and harder. So happy that you are having a great and exciting time. love, cheryl