Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi everyone!
We have been very busy since our last blog which is why we haven't wrritten one in a while. So let's see...
Last Sunday we booked our trek. It took us absolutely ages to decide which one to do because there was so many to choose from but we eventually settled on a two day one night on which was leaving monday. On the first day we were going to do a trek to a waterfall, go white water and bamboo rafting and visit a hill tribe village and the second day was to be spent at Baan Change Elephant park with the mahouts learning how to control and elephant, riding them, playing with them etc. So with that booked we went to the Sunday night market near our hostel andf had a look around but then it was early to bed as we were bing picked up at 8am on Monday.
We were up early and had breakfast and were ready in time for our guide to pick us up and we met the rest of the people in our group - they were three American guys who were all really lovely and who ended up being loads of fun for the two days we were together. Our guide was also really lovely, he was a young Thai guy called Lulu who was so funny and really went out of his way to make the trip fun for us.
We drove for a little while to where we were going to start our trek and we walked for a good hour or so to the waterfall - it was absolutely boiling and i don't think either of us have ever been so sweaty. As far as waterfalls go it was quite pretty but nothing spectacular - it was quite fun walking through the jungle though as Lulu was pointing out different plants and things to us as we went. I can't remember the names of them now but it was interesting at the time!
After the trek we went back to our truck and it was off to the rafting camp for the white water rafting. We had never really imagined that Thailand was a hotspot for water rafting and that's because it's not! As it goes we spent most of our time stuck on rocks, there was a couple of exciting bits but all in all the rapids were not that rapid. Apparently it's because it's the dry season and they're a lot better in the wet season. The guide we had for that was brilliant though, he was like a Thai rambo! he was a lot of fun and kept splashing us and jumping in and out of the boat when we got stuck. He also stayed with us when we went bamboo rafting or 'bamboo submarine' as he called it and he was right. I think we were permanantly underwater for the time we were on the bamboo raft! One of the American guys was punting us along so the rest of us could just relax. We did pass swimming water buffalo though which was quite cool!
After that we got changed and headed to the tribal village with Lulu. We visited the Akha tribe which were orginally from China. It was a bit of a bizarre experience as they were waiting for us and trying to sell us things which seemed to be whole point of our visit there. We weren't there for very long and after that Lulu drove us to the elephant camp where he left us for the evening.
Now this was the highlight of our trip so far, it was brilliant! We arrived about 4:30pm and were shown to our very basic but very nice room and we could then chill out until dinner and wander around the camp where there were elephants just roaming about. They had two baby elephants two which were SO CUTE but we were told not to get too close as the elephants didn't know us yet.
We then had dinner which was delicious and we played some drinking games for a while until the mahouts built a bonfire for us. We sat around that with them for a while playing music (they knew lots of english songs in Thai so we sang some Westlife together) and they had made lanterns for us which we could releaseinto the air (I believe this is good like in Thailand) they had one for each of us. They also made us sticky rice which is basically rice, coconut milk and sugar put inside a bamboo shoot and cooked on the fire which was absolutely delicious! They also gave us some buffalo skin to eat which tasted a lot like bacon but was a bit too chewy for my tastes.
After that we all drank a lot of beer together! And the Thais took great pleasure in showing us a bunch of party tricks they had and daring us to figure out how they did them (we couldn't!) After that we asked to see the elephants so they took us all (very quietly) up to field where the elephants sleep so we could watch them at night. Elephants actually don't sleep much and only for about 2 hours at a time so some were awake when we went up to them, we saw the babies sleeping which was pretty sweet!
Eventually we had drunk all the beer so we went to bed.
The next day (Tuesday) we were up early and were very tired form the night before! We had breakfast of chicken and rice soup (surprisingly good) and got changed into our very stylish Mahout clothes and waited for the day trip people to arrive. When they did they also got changed and the group of about 13 of us went over to feed the elephants. That bit was really fun, they had at least a hundred bunches of bananas for us to feed them which the adult elephants eat pretty much whole. These elephants were very friendly so you could walk up to them and they would open their mouth for you and you chuck the bananas in - it was pretty slimy but very fun.
After that we were taught how to make the elephants lie down so we could climb onto them - it wa really weird as elephants are actually pretty flexible! It was such a strange feeling to be climbing onto these huge animal and it felt a bit rough as you had to grab hold of its ears and hold on whilst it got up so you didn't slide off the back. We also learnt how to make them turn left and right, go forward and stop although I'm not sure how much they listened to us rather than the mahouts.
After lunch we were off to ride the elephants. Me and Katherine were sharing an elephant so she started off on his neck and I was on his back. It was very uncomfortable as you sit right over their spine which moves as they walk and digs into your bum. Ours kept stopping a lot to pee and poop. We swapped over about halfway and I sat on the elephant's neck which whilst more comfortable felt a lot more unsafe as they're constantly moving their heads around looking for food and you always feel like you're going to fall off. We also got completely covered in elephant snot as they're constantly blowing out of their trunks and they don't care where they aim!
We rode them to the camp then and then to a type of pool they had in the park where we got to bathe them which was definitely our favourite bit. It was such a strange sight because you stay on the elephant as it walks into the water and it just kind of sits down so you're submerged with it. ours kept ducking under the water too so you kept sliding off, it was literally chaos with trunks flying about and people throwing elephant poo but it was so much fun. One of the babies was playing with Katherine and kept putting its hooves onto on her to try and push her off our elephant it was really cute as you can tell how much fun they're having and they're such playful, intelligent animals. They kept squirting us with their trunks and ducking in and out of the water - it was really sweet. The mahouts were a lot of fun too and kept trying to push us off and splashing everyone but it was so much fun.
After that we had showers and left. We tipped the mahouts quite a lot as they made the trip amazing for us. We had noticed it before but it was particularly evident in the guys who worked at the camp how friendly the Thai people are. They are constantly teasing and joking (you can't get a straight answer out of anyone) and were very hospitable. We went out with the Americans for dinner that night which was a lot of fun too.
We are now packed and killing time until tonight when we are getting an overnight bus to Bangkok where we will change and head on to Kanchanaburi. We will be spending three days there we think as there is lots of scenery and things to see. We have been in Chiang Mai for over a week and loved it and we are quite sad to leave.
Well there you go - a marathon blog entry to make up for the lack of them in the last few days! Lots of love to everyone back home xx
- comments
Jess Pillar Sounds fantastic Sarah! X
Shirley Sounds fab fab fab! So glad you ended up with a good company and then had good company! don't fancy the elphant snot though lol. Wish we were there! xx
Maureeen Tomlin Sarah I am just a tiny weeny bit envious - the elephant camp sound amazing - I want to do that!! My only question to you is that I am struggling to find the blog you made for your exciting time at Logic!!!! Take care Love Maureen xx
carol Hi That all sounds absolutely fab Sarah, so glad you are having a great time, just love it when a new blog entry appears on facebook!xx
Adam Awesome x
Emilie guys it sounds amasing!! cant believe you rode an elephant. im jealous! im glad your having such an awesome time an i love readin these blogs. take care x x x x x x x x x
sue & andy What a great couple of days - an amazing experience - up close and personal with elephants. Glad you found friends to make the days more of a laugh.
leccy these blogs are amazing! Both me and tamsyn are seriously jealous of your elephant senanagins and can't wait to see more photos!
leccy these blogs are amazing! Both me and tamsyn are seriously jealous of your elephant shenanagins and can't wait to see more photos!
Jen ahh guys it sounds like you're having an amazing time! really love hearing what you've been up to and looking through your photos. miss you LOTS xxxxxxxxxxx. p.s. bring me back a baby elephant if at all possible x.
Jen by the way... i love it that you go all the way to thailand and still find people to play drinking games with. thats my girl x.