Woke up after a rather disturbed sleep, had some breakfast and off we set again. It was raining so the ground was pretty slippery, which was fine until we got to the downward hill. With nothing to hold onto and slippery ground, it was no easy task, a couple of us inevitably ended up on our bottoms.
Strangely is was easy to almost run down but I only braved that when I was near the bottom of a hill. If I had a metal tray I would have got down no problem, probably would have wanted to run back to the top and do it again but a pair of vans was all I had.
Luckily the rain didn't last long and the ground dried up pretty quickly in the heat, back to dripping wet with sweat then! We were in good spirits though, maybe the thought of the elephant trek at the end was keeping us going. We got to another waterfall and had another dip to freshen up. No boob flashing at this one, I learned that lesson. I put fresh plasters on my ankles and we headed towards the end of the trek.
The last part of the trek wasn't too bad and we eventually got to the van - hallelujah! We piled in the back with accomplished smiles on our faces, we had survived the jungle! Next stop - ELEPHANTS!
They were so big and beautiful, I was so excited. So I got into the chair thing that's on the elephants back and off we went down a very steep hill, OH my goodness I thought I was going to fall and then be crushed by their big feet, where's my seatbelt? Oh that's right I'm in Thailand you just need to hold on and pray!
Once we were on flatter ground it was great fun, his ears were flapping about hitting my feet. I think my elephant was a bit of a muncher cause he kept wandering off to the nearest bush for a snack but I didn't mind, I'm a bit of a muncher too.
It's a bumpy ride but so enjoyable, I have since found out that it's more fun and you feel a lot safer if you don't sit in the seat but on the actual elephant so maybe I'll try that next time. After about 40-50 mins of elephant trekking we had some lunch. Then off to the bamboo rafting.
We were split onto 2 rafts so inevitable a water fight and race to the end broke out. We were told to sit on the raft but kas decided to stand and try to assist with the driving and after about 5 mins I decided to stand too as he hadn't fell off yet. Much more fun standing and trying not to fall off. The river was pretty calm with the occasional bumpy bit, our driver shouted snake and pointed over to the left, sure enough there was a snake just sunbathing on a rock - Another reason not to fall in then.
There was a river rapid coming up so we were told to sit down which we did promptly but it wasn't so bad, nothing adrenaline inducing. There were loads of butterflies and dragonflies just flying about the river bed, it was so beautiful.
We got to the end - obviously we had won the race and the others weren't far behind so back in the truck, homeward bound!
As soon as we got back it was straight to the shower then me and the Javier's (Spanish guys) had some dinner and a couple cocktails as they were leaving that night, was sad to see them leave as we had such a laugh together. The others joined us except the German girls as they had to catch a bus 30 mins after we got home. It was a good end to the trek. We had survived, I had managed to control my bodily fluids and we got to play with elephants! :-D