May 13
Good news is that I survived the overnight train. Not nearly as ghetto as feared. We arrived at our hostel bright and early (note crazy bed head)
...and decided to rent mopeds for a drive up the mountain to see a temple and/or palace. The admonition to "always have a prayer in your heart" never had more meaning to me than during this 5 hour period.
Some shots at the palace grounds:
On our way back, we stopped at a cool water fall
...and then we got a 2-hour Thai massage. I want to rave about how awesome it was. I'm sure it would have been awesome to people who like to be massaged. To me it felt like I was being simultaneously bruised and tickled for two hours. Seriously, I was ready to give up national security secrets to Jack Bauer.
I laughed a lot...to keep from crying, so at least I saved some face in front of a random Thai lady I will never see again. I will admit in hindsight though that my body felt really good afterwards.
May 14
Woke up bright and early today to (#3) ride elephants!!!! It was an hour ride from our hostel to Baan Chang elephant reserve. Once there we dawned charming denim scrubs and then our guide, Tom, gave us a brief overview of the elephant reserve.
The first item on the itinerary was feeding the elephants a snack. Apparently, elephants spend four hours a day sleeping and spend the rest of their time eating (maybe elephants are my spirit animal haha).
We also got some kisses from this cute little guy. His style is more airy than I expected.
After a practice ride, we hopped onto (some of us heaved ourselves onto) our elephant. Ashley and I shared an elephant. I was glad to have a buddy. Here are some unexpected lessons from elephant riding:
1) Pie= go (again, spirit animal), goo-ay= turn, how= stop
2) Ugly outfits= less chaffing
2) But you can never escape chaffing
3) Best leg workout ever if, like me, your legs are locked in a death grip around an elephant's neck.
4) I'm certain an hour riding uphill and downhill on a bareback elephant is the equivalent of 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu
5) Bathing an elephant might result in it bathing you
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