Chiang Mai - Elephants

Today was the day I had been waiting for since this vacation was planned oh so many months ago. Today was the day we got to ride on elephants. We signed up for an all day jungle excursion. We got picked up from our hotel and headed up to the jungle.

The first thing we did was we got to ride and feed the elephants. It was cool to feed them. While we were riding, the elephant would just reach its snout up to us, grab what we handed it, and then eat it. After the ride we fed them more from the platform which was pretty neat. That was when we got to pet them and really get up close and personal. The elephants really are huge and getting on them was scary, plus we were just perched up there on a little seat. The ride was much smoother than I was expecting. It was fun to ride through the jungle. I just hope the the elephants are treated well and that they live happy lives. All of my joy while riding was tainted by a little guilt. But, the Thai people believe that when an elephant dies its next reincarnation will be as a human. They also believe that elephants are good luck. These two things give me hope that they treat them well.

After the elephants we headed to some bamboo rafting, which was actually pretty fun. I was a little apprehensive since our travel doctor told us to avoid fresh water, but after seeing other Americans and Euros participating we firgured it was pribabaly safe. They had these really long rafts made entirely of bamboo and a driver that stood at the front with a really long pole to push us along. Our driver was 13, didn't speak any English, and thought it was hilarious to splash all the girls. At one point we ran headlong in to a rock and our little driver flew face first into the water and I almost followed, but was able to catch myself. Joseph said the rafting made him feel like Huck Finn.

After rafting we went hiking through the jungle to a waterfall and back. I also learned how rice paddies work, which I had been wondering about since we got here.

After the hiking we headed back into town, and we were exhausted.

After showering and cleaning off all of the jungle dirt we went out to eat with our new friend Boong. She was our travel agent and was very friendly and helpful.

It was a fun day, and a good way to see a lot of the jungle area.