THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2016
I’m ecstatic to write this post!!! This was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. One of the things that Tracy really wanted to do was ride an elephant in Thailand. So, before we left for Thailand, we booked a two day and one night tour with a company called Panda Tour.
|
| Tracy and I in the back of the truck. |
The company picked us up at our hostel in Chiang Mai and then we drove about an hour from the city to the mountains. They made a short stop at a market, where I also brought a towel (because I forgot one). The tour guide and driver then dropped us off 10 minutes later at a place that looked like it only had a shack and we all went to the bathroom. From there, we were given water bottles and we ditched the car, and the tour guide led us on our jungle trek. We were a pretty small group. There were a total of 6 of us and the other 4 were from France! What are the chances? haha. I’ve never heard so much French being spoken around me.
|
| The bathroom wasn’t too bad actually. I think I’m getting use to flushing the toilet by pouring water into it. |
I love hiking, especially when the hike leads to a waterfall. The weather was absolutely beautiful. It was a little more on the warmer side, but I’ll take sunshine over rain any day. The atmosphere was so different than what we’ve been experiencing. There was no one around. It was so peaceful and quiet and I truly enjoyed the hike. I got to see fields and fields of cabbage being grown and our tour guide was well versed in all things nature. He’s the type of person who you could give few tools too and he could survive in the woods, no problem.
|
| He made a raincoat and rain hat out of large leaves. |
He impressed me. For instance, when there was a puddle too big to jump over, he would start laying large rocks in the puddle, making a “stone path.” It was another reminder to me how important it is to know how to problem solve.
After 40 minutes, we reached a waterfall, but there were already people there. Our tour guide decided it was too busy, and we kept trekking for another…. 20 min? It felt like another 40 minutes though. I didn’t mind the hike. When we finally arrived at the second waterfall, it was amazing! It was so quiet and we had the place to ourselves. As we changed into our bathing suits, our tour guide started a fire and began heating water. He made a cup out of bamboo, and served instant espresso. I’m not a coffee drinker at all, but espresso?! in the woods?! This guy can do everything.
|
| I promise I’m wearing a bathing suit. |
Oh, and the water? It was FREEZING! It was way too cold. Not that I’ve ever done a polar plunge before, but I imagine that was what it would feel like.
The tour guide had also carried our lunch in his backpack. It was a chicken leg, fried rice, and an apple. It was actually very delicious. After we were done eating, we headed back to the camp we would be staying at for the night.
We’ve been hiking for 2 hours and I could tell that we were getting close to the elephant camp. The sun is going down, but there’s still a little bit of daylight left. Then, without warning, the elephants came into view. There were quite a few of them and we were all eager to interact with the elephants.
We walked over to the elephants and they let us feed one of them. I forget the elephant’s name, but it was a girl and she was 22 months pregnant. Did you know that elephants are pregnant for 2 years?! I didn’t. It makes sense now considering how big the baby elephants are. We were given bananas to feed the elephant and we all got to take pictures and keep feeding her. Apparently, elephants sleep for 5 hours of the day and eat the other 19 hours. There were probably around 12 elephants that were chained to the ground. The trainers told us that the chain is in the ground because elephants will rub against poles if they are chained to a pole.
Our tour guide showed us to our rooms and prepped dinner while we showered and talked outside the cabin. (More on where we stayed later).
|
| The food was really good. |
|
| Pineapple in the shape of a turtle. |
Steps walked: 25,406
