Day Tour part 5

Our final stop was the orchid and butterfly gardens.  Truly works of art!

Day Tour part 4

After eating lunch and crossing this rather shaky bridge, we finally got to ride the elephants.  (I was worried that Ana would get stuck on the bridge, but she actually did better than many of the Asian women I watched!)

The girls rode on a rather tall male elephant because he could carry all three of us.  The countryside is very beautiful.

 

 We fed our elephants sugar cane and the mahout let Ana get down on the elephant's neck (she probably wasn't supposed to, but you only live once.)(Yes I photoshopped us out.)

Then we all got sprayed when the elephant sneezed!

 

 We liked walking along in the river.  It was much more shady and cool.

 

Here's Matt and China on their elephant. 

Our mahout was very talkative and told us the ages of all the elephants, how much the elephants like giving rides more than logging, and how our elephant wasn't Thai, but had been rescued from somewhere else.  It was a nice ride with enough hills to keep it exciting for the kids. 

Day Tour part 3

By this time Ana was DYING to get on an elephant--so I was very thankful that the elephant show was so interesting AND let you get up close and personal.  The elephants were very calm and LOVED the bananas we were scammed into buying.  All the elephants in the show were six and under--one as young as eighteen months. 

 

They did such things as raising a flag, head stands, kicking a soccer ball (wouldn't want to be in the way of that ball), and bowling. 

 

I had seen elephant painting before that resembled splotches on the page, but I was amazed with this elephant.  He had amazing fine motor skills--not even sure Ana would have done as well as he did.  You could tell he was thinking too. He really placed the brush where he wanted it and was able to retrace the trunk of the tree repeatedly.  The end result?  A tree that truly resembled the one behind him. I'm sure this took a lot of training, but he really seemed to enjoy it AND was quite proud of himself when he was done--you should have seen his bow and elephant smile!

Day Tour part 2

Next, we were quicky led down the road and into the ox carts.  Definitely a bumpy ride and not much to see except some local housing (complete with satellite dish!!!).  We primarily rode on the road.  I can't imagine riding in one of these on dirt roads!  We always see tons of these carts in the countryside in India. 

I was really thankful for the umbrella!  It was really hot and sunny--the first day it's been like this.

 

As a side note we noticed that this was the retired European/American or Chinese tour.  (Probably because there are more exciting zip line/tree top tours or trekking tours available.) We were THE ONLY younger caucasians with kids.  It made me think how lucky our kids are--they are experiencing many things that many of their peers can't imagine. 



Day Tour part 1

We took a basic day tour on Saturday.  The first thing we did was to take a very tame river boat ride.  It lasted about a half an hour and didn't interest Ana in the slightest--she was too focused on riding the elephants (which ended up being last).

 I enjoyed the peace and quiet, some beautiful trees, and our cute passengers--probably the boaters children.

It was interesting to watch them load the boats back on the truck (using a hydraulic lift on the back of a flatbed truck) to take them back up to the starting point.  No more poling up the river--this is a very streamlined business!!