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Here we go..... #3. Woke up to Josh with his head between his legs. Good one, Anna managed to pass it on. But anyway...breakfast at our local (the downstairs cafe , we think they almost knew our orders off by heart) and before we knew it our guide was outside looking for us. So we quickly finished our toast, put our coffees in takeaway cups and headed for the van. Baanchang Elephant Park here we come. A well known rescue park for elephants who are ready to retire or have been rescued from bad situations. All money paid for entry goes towards maintence of the park and feeding of the elephants. Josh managed to keep it in untill we arrived at the park then scurred away tothe toilet. We changed into some yolo looking clothes all matchy matchy and sat down in ewe of the 20 somthing elephants staring back at us, our guide woody told us that elephants have different personalitys. Some kind some loving some angry some sassy and our favourite some gangsta. We were given baskets of banannas and sugar cane to feed the elephants, woody said to watch out if the elephant dosnt like you it will
smack you with his trunk or kick you with his footsey. We spent this time getting to know the elephants laughing at them as they stole bunchs of bannanas and stashed them to the side then reached out for more. Our guide then told us some basic commands 'non long' which is asking them to sit down. 'Kwey' as you jiggle their ear on the opposite direction to the way you want to go to turn, 'How' meaning stop and 'Pia Pia' meaning go forward. Next was lunch, pad thai Brits favourite! (And vegetarian so she wasnt freaking out about the chicken!! ) Anna still seedey and josh on the verge we politely ate a few mouthfulls then handed it over. After lunch it was time for practice, josh magically awakend and was a true natural. His elephant passed with flying colours through the practice course. We headed off on our trek around the park. Highlights definetly included b
ig mama do her "nose down, trainer jump " circus routine, Annas walk off into the jungle, totally own their own page routine and Joshs timid,follow the pack routine... probably best with his unsettled stomach! We spent our trek picking
lychees from the elephangs bareback, and trying to squish the fire ants off our heads and the elephants Followed by heading to the wateringhole to wash our elephants. Some of us found this easy.... others ( MICHELLE) didnt manage to realise there were stairs and completly missed the ledge leading to a full faceplant into the dirty, poo filled, elephants water. ? we scrubbed our elephants with brushes as they submerged them selfs with their trunks out for air, what a sureal feeling and a privilige to have these gracious animals accept you enough to ride on their backs and chill with you in the water. Our mahouts chucked buckets of water on us and our guide woody yelled "smile" from the bank, a day we will never forget. Michelle looked glorious in one of her photos so we thought we would share it. Sassy look with her bum out (Awaiting paitent) our ride home was quick as we were the first to be dropped of we hugged our woody goodbye and headed up stairs to have a shower. We never did mention that the rooms we were staying in looked pretty similar to the ones out of taken, were
liam neeson finds his daughters friend... but we were safe, and cool, and happy. Nothing for our families to worry about. 3 nights in our taken 2 rooms before we were off to Chiang Rai. 3 hours to Chiang Rai on this bouncy, old ricity (supossedly A-class, air-conditioned a bus) and I guess we we see how much longer we have to go soon.
Love Jabm ?
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Karen Lloyd
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Can see youre having an awesome time. Hope all the tummy bugs have moved on. Thanks for the updates, almost feel like I am there. xx