Our first little adventure as "husband and wife" was to go see the elephants in Kanchanaburi, Thailand and hike around Erawan National Park!
We just left early on a Saturday morning and returned late Sunday. It's only about a 2.5 hour drive if you leave early and beat the traffic. We stayed at a sweet place with small villas right on the River Kwai called Oriental Kwai Resort. Saturday we spent our day at the Erawan National Park. It it supposed to be about an hour hike to the top of the waterfalls and you pass through the "7 levels" throughout the hike. Since we were there on the weekend it was just packed, so I'd recommend a weekday next time! Other than the extreme amount of tourists and locals - it was fun day. The falls are a murky turquoise and just beautiful. I will say if you plan on swimming - get ready for all the fishies to eat you up! They don't actually "hurt" you, but they sure do nibble away...it's scary!
On Sunday morning we got up early and headed off to spend the day with my favorite 5,000 pound friends - the elephants! The elephant sanctuary is called Elephant's world, and they call themselves a "retirement" home for elephants, young and old. Basically they rescue elephants who were previously being used for money with substantial injuries, such as logging elephants, ones about to be sold into the circus, or ones being used on the streets of Thailand for rides or "tourist" purposes. The whole trip involved learning about taking care of the elephants and their daily routine. Our day started with feeding them gourd like local vegetables, then preparing the rice balls for the elderly elephants. You have to make the rice balls for the elderly elephants because they all are over 75 and have lost their teeth. On average, most elephants in the wild only live to be around 65 because they lose their teeth and can no longer survive because they die of starvation. So in short - these guys and gals are really livin' the life at the retirement home - makes me so happy! Next we visited the home of the Mahouts - you could call them elephant guru's - they work with the elephants one-on-one and can teach/discipline them. Most of them are actually Burmese and speak an entirely different language from their specific Burmese tribe. Afterwards, we had an amazing thai lunch prepared by a sweet little lady who lives on the plantation. Then we headed out to cut banana trees but unfortunately there were none available to be cut so we headed back to bathe the elephants. This was absolutely the most FUN part of our day. Basically we all got into the water and scrubbed their muddy backs and played in the water for awhile. They also have a small deck with a rope swing which was a blast. I rode one of the elephants out of the water at this point which doesn't hurt them as long as the weight is under 100kg. They explained how elephant rides with the wooden/metal seats which usually weigh about 50kg and 2 people on their backs really hurts them and wears away at their structure after years of being "worked" for tourists.
There were about 10 young volunteers working there from all over the world such as France, Columbia, Holland, and Mexico. Most were on a traveling spree around Asia for one reason or another and were volunteering for at least a month. So for the entire day it was just Alo and I and the elephants and volunteers - NO other tourists or guests - could we have picked a better day??
Here are some pictures and videos from our day with the elephants, volunteers, and mahouts!
We never ended up getting to cut the banana trees because on this specific day none were available but we did all stumble upon a path to a cave on the side of a small mountain close by so visited it instead (that shiny look is pure sweat!ha)
We just left early on a Saturday morning and returned late Sunday. It's only about a 2.5 hour drive if you leave early and beat the traffic. We stayed at a sweet place with small villas right on the River Kwai called Oriental Kwai Resort. Saturday we spent our day at the Erawan National Park. It it supposed to be about an hour hike to the top of the waterfalls and you pass through the "7 levels" throughout the hike. Since we were there on the weekend it was just packed, so I'd recommend a weekday next time! Other than the extreme amount of tourists and locals - it was fun day. The falls are a murky turquoise and just beautiful. I will say if you plan on swimming - get ready for all the fishies to eat you up! They don't actually "hurt" you, but they sure do nibble away...it's scary!
On Sunday morning we got up early and headed off to spend the day with my favorite 5,000 pound friends - the elephants! The elephant sanctuary is called Elephant's world, and they call themselves a "retirement" home for elephants, young and old. Basically they rescue elephants who were previously being used for money with substantial injuries, such as logging elephants, ones about to be sold into the circus, or ones being used on the streets of Thailand for rides or "tourist" purposes. The whole trip involved learning about taking care of the elephants and their daily routine. Our day started with feeding them gourd like local vegetables, then preparing the rice balls for the elderly elephants. You have to make the rice balls for the elderly elephants because they all are over 75 and have lost their teeth. On average, most elephants in the wild only live to be around 65 because they lose their teeth and can no longer survive because they die of starvation. So in short - these guys and gals are really livin' the life at the retirement home - makes me so happy! Next we visited the home of the Mahouts - you could call them elephant guru's - they work with the elephants one-on-one and can teach/discipline them. Most of them are actually Burmese and speak an entirely different language from their specific Burmese tribe. Afterwards, we had an amazing thai lunch prepared by a sweet little lady who lives on the plantation. Then we headed out to cut banana trees but unfortunately there were none available to be cut so we headed back to bathe the elephants. This was absolutely the most FUN part of our day. Basically we all got into the water and scrubbed their muddy backs and played in the water for awhile. They also have a small deck with a rope swing which was a blast. I rode one of the elephants out of the water at this point which doesn't hurt them as long as the weight is under 100kg. They explained how elephant rides with the wooden/metal seats which usually weigh about 50kg and 2 people on their backs really hurts them and wears away at their structure after years of being "worked" for tourists.
There were about 10 young volunteers working there from all over the world such as France, Columbia, Holland, and Mexico. Most were on a traveling spree around Asia for one reason or another and were volunteering for at least a month. So for the entire day it was just Alo and I and the elephants and volunteers - NO other tourists or guests - could we have picked a better day??
Here are some pictures and videos from our day with the elephants, volunteers, and mahouts!
National Geographic picture?? Love this one!
Making the rice for the older elephants!
Gosh he's so handsome :)
No he's not a robber - this is how locals dress to block the sun!
We never ended up getting to cut the banana trees because on this specific day none were available but we did all stumble upon a path to a cave on the side of a small mountain close by so visited it instead (that shiny look is pure sweat!ha)
Feeding the older elephants their rice balls we made!
We just loved the wee baby! So darn cute!
All the volunteers and us at the end of our day!
Weeeeeee!
And some videos :)
That's really cute! Love it!!
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