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We had our complimentary breakfast at 8am, we requested pork rice soup again as it was delicious the first time we had it here. The minibus came to pick us up at 8.30am for the 'Baan Chang' elephant park day trip. This was a small elephant sanctuary where they care for previously mistreated elephants. They provide a fantastic life for these animals where they do not have to work or perform for humans again. There was a small group of us (8 people including us), we got chatting to everyone: two sisters from Switzerland, a couple from Leeds, Olivia and her mum Melissa from Texas, America. Upon arrival we changed into our official Mahout clothing so that we can be with the elephants for the day. We were educated about the park and it's purpose before we were introduced to each individual elephant, there were 16 of them, from young to old (2 were pregnant). Once aquainted with the elephants, we were allowed to feed each elephant their breakfast with sugar cane and bananas. We passed the food over by one hand close enough for them to take it with their trunks. Two of the elephants had visual problems so we had to pass the food directly into their mouths. After feeding them, we all gathered around our guide to learn the basic commands for controlling them whilst riding on their backs. 'Baai' is go straight, 'Gweck' is turn, which is distinguished by left and right kicks, 'How' is stop and 'Nalong' is lay down. To practise these commands, we were allowed to ride two elephants each. After this, we had a lunch break, this was provided as part of the package. After lunch, the elephants were taken out for their daily exercise, this was when we were allowed to ride an elephant through the jungle. We rode them bare back with no seats, this was an amazing experience. We stpped half way through the trek so the elephants could rest, eat and cool off. The elephants rested for 20 to 30 minutes whilst we learnt more about the elephants from our guide.
We finished off the day by bathing our hot elephants in a pool of water, we scrubbed them clean using a bucket and a hard bristle brush. The elephants loved it, they flapped their big ears and submerged themselves into the water. Bathing them was a messy, muddy, wet and really fun experience. There was a baby elephant that was being cheeky, he sprayed water over Jay with his trunk then Jay got the baby elephant back by chucking water over him with the bucket. Helen also joined in with the water fight by grabbing her bucket and chucking water over the baby elephant whilst getting soaked herself.
Going to this elephant park was a great experience and a day neither of us will
forget. It was so nice to help care for these beautiful animals for the day, it was also educational, learning lots about them and how the park works.
For dinner we went back to 'Ratana's kitchen'. Jay had pork with ginger and steamed rice, Helen had Penang curry with beef. Jay ordered his dish very spicy
and it was cooked to perfection (too hot for Helen though). We were both surprised how good the beef was for Helen's dish. This was one of the best dinners we have had on this trip.
In the evening we went to the 'Kiss Bar', not realising it was a gay bar until we ordered our drinks. There were posters of topless young men on the wall and we
also noticed young Thai guys with older western guys. When we finished our drinks, we went to a restaurant that had a beer Chang bar outside it. Jay had a bottle of
Chang and Helen had a papaya shake which was sweet and tasty.
In summary we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Thailand, it is a very touristy country but with many beautiful things to see and do. The people are very friendly
but can tend to be money driven which is expected. We were particularly
overwhelmed by the beauty of Koh Rok, it was paradise (white clean sand, warm
crystal blue sea with superb marine life).
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