We get up in the morning and we check out how to get to the national park, where there is the opportunity to ride some elephants. It doesn't appear to be too far, maybe an hour by bike. Get some breakfast, of bead, eggs, coffee and tea. The tea here is delicious, when you drink it, it tastes like cake. We call it cake tea, and in a lot of places you get a free glass when you order a coffee. We are about to head off when Elias discovers that he has sheered his luggage rack. How does that even happen? By driving too fast in to pot holes, that's how. Elias decides that he will get it fixed when we get back from the elephants.
-----
We head out on another glorious day towards Ban Don. The first part of the road could not even be called a road. Just sandy gravel with pothole after pothole. I mean you would be forgiven for thinking that it was just some lane, but no, this is a road, it appears on maps. Elias doesn't even adjust his speed considering Sally 2's injury, poor girl. As usual I am lagging behind, but have confidence that Jessie is in good health. After the usual bit of asking where we are, and getting the language barrier, we eventually find what we are looking for and so drive the bikes in. When we get down to what looks like an office, there are a number of people having lunch. One of them comes over to us and we ask about the elephants. There is no one else here, perhaps we are in the wrong place. This woman makes a phone call and it is not long before someone who speaks English arrives, we talk about the prices and decide that after some lunch we will take the elephant ride for an hour. We get some lunch in the place we just saw and then it is back to the office.
-----
We follow the guide across the bridge to where we are going to meet the elephant. As we are in Asia I am not sure how big the elephant is going to be. For our money we are both going to be on the same elephant, with one guide controlling the beast. After a short walk we see the elephant emerging from the forest, an impressive sight. It's only about 9ft tall but is is still a hulking beast. It gets maneuvered over to a podium that we are able to climb up. It has a large frame on its back that has a back and sides, and a wooden plank for you to sit on. The guide is just sitting on the head of the elephant. We clamber up the stairs and Elias gets on to the elephant first, then I follow. We pass our cameras over to our guide so that he can take a few photos of us on the best before we set off on our trek. The skin is so tough, and the hairs on the back are like the bristles of a yard brush. Apparently takes about 10 years to get the elephants fully trained, a long process.
-----
As the elephant starts to move it becomes clear that this is not going to be a comfortable excursion. The metal frame sticks in to your back as we are being jolted from side to side with the motion of the elephant walking. There is also not a lot of room for the two of us on the seat, so it is cosy. We move through the forest with the elephant stopping periodically to rip a particular plant up out of the ground, we find out later that it is after the root to eat. The guide gets the beast back on track with a swift kick to the head. It is some experience being lead through the forest, and although we do not see any wildlife, we get to see a Moto, in the wild. Beep, beep beep! As we progress through the forest the guide gets off the elephant and walks along side, all I can think about is what would happen if it just decided to run off. Run away elephant, with us on the back. Then, to my horror, our guide spots a spider in amongst the trees, he uses a pole and removes it from it's web and starts playing with it. Ehhhh! I say to Elias in as calm a voice as I can muster, that i'm not so fond of the spiders and I hope the guide doesn't bring it anywhere near me. Luckily he plays with it for a short while and then puts it back on a tree, thank god. As we near the end of our hour the guide lets us get on to the head of the elephant to try that out. It is significantly more comfortable here than in the back. Though there is not anything to hold on to, with my feet resting either side of the elephants eyes. I feel like I am some real safari, we get a few photos taken and then it's back over to the platform to get off. The elephant is so tame, I mean we can sit on it's head, pat it, stand right in front of it and pat it's trunk. It is just amazing, what an experience.
-----
Quick drink and then it is back on the girls as Elias needs to get his sheered luggage rack fixed before we set off tomorrow. Heading back out the road with the sun sitting low in the sky, then suddenly Elias starts slowing down in front of me. We pull over and surprise surprise, another issue with his bike. It won't even start. We discuss the very real possibility of me towing him back. That idea is parked quickly, and we decide that we should try and flag down a truck for his Moto. Thumbs out, the first truck that passes stops. A little English, and no problem. The 3 of us scramble the bike up in to his truck and off we go. Elias rides in the cab and I follow behind. It's only a bout 20km to BMT, so it doesn't take us too long, and the guy drops us right to a garage. It is quickly identified as a spark plug, out with the old and in with the new. I take the opportunity to turn my light on and shine it in to the sky to see if the guy can fix that, as it is now dark. To my horror he just smiles, grabs the light casing and points it down. That's it! Unbelievable. I didn't even think about doing that> Dick. Ha. With my light now working we head back to the hotel, the garage we were at did not have any welding facilities, so we will have to get that done in the morning before we head off.
-----
After dinner we head back to the cafe/bar place with the pumping music, and have some coffee and beer for a couple of hours before heading to bed. Garages open at about 8, so we want to get the work done quickly and be on our way. Here's hoping.