When we first walked up to the elephant, I thought we were going to each ride our own. But in actuality, we sat on this bench that came across the elephant's back while a local villager guided the elephant through the jungle. Although that's probably much safer, I was kind of bummed I didn't get to ride my own. But, thankfully, about 3/4 of the way through our trek, he jumped off and asked if one of us wanted to guide the elephant! I jumped at the opportunity and next thing I knew, I was sitting on the elephant's head with its floppy ears whacking my legs while Charlotte stayed on the bench (for safety measures). It was so amazing!
Our elephant was quite a character too...on multiple occasions, he stopped and got himself a snack. Despite the guide's multiple elephant calls (which sounded like a bunch of umphs, moos and eeehhhh?[yes, with a question mark because his intonation went up at least 3 octaves higher than his original voice]), the elephant wouldn't budge...he needed his afternoon snack. We were cool with it since it gave us a slightly longer jungle trek :)
[Little babe just chillin]
[Into the jungle we go...]
[Our awesome guide!]
[Elephant crossing.]
[Another elephant encounter. This was tricky because the path was narrow & the mud was thick and slippery. But thankfully, our elephant was a trooper & got us up the mountain safely.]
[Our guide was pulling leaves and sticks from trees as we went along
and this is what he made for us!]
[Posing as he takes another snack break :)]
[The scenery was breathtaking.]
[Into the lake we go for a little refreshment!]
[Look, Ma, no hands!]
[Then, we fed him a basketful of bananas for all the hard work he did.]
The pictures don't do any justice, but it provides a sliver of how beautiful the elephant trek was. And our elephant was gorgeous too--look at those orange spots! His skin was very different than what I imagined an elephant to feel like...he was very rough and there were these straight, course black hairs sticking straight up as if he had the worst bedhead ever. What a cutie!
Part IV of Thailand will come soon, I promise! Until then, bisous xoxo
Part IV of Thailand will come soon, I promise! Until then, bisous xoxo
2 comments :
Wow! What an amazing experience. The kids would have squealed with delight at the chance to ride an elephant. Of course Little Mary would fall in love with hers just like you did with yours.
Sweet!
Oh my gosh I am so incredibly jealous of your elephant ride!! Thank you for sharing your amazing travels with me. You've had some pretty amazing experiences and it's nice to read all about them!! :)
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