Elephants

Well, am in Koh Chang here, which in Thai means "Elephant Island".

So, pretty much not much going on here which suits me.

My day is pretty much this. I wake up between 8 or 9 AM. I roll out of bed, do a few hygiene things and then after stretching out on my porch which has a DIRECT view on the sea with NOTHING blocking it. Hehe, yes I am that lucky AND it only costs me 12 dollars a night.

So the weather is usually about 80-90F or 30-35C. Nights are never to bad, and the days you can get through. My hut is very Spartan and the bed is hard, but I like how simple it is too. But it is right on the sea too.

So after leaving the hut I go to the pricey bar which has hammocks, which I then lay in for 2-3 hours till lunch. I sometimes read or talk to other guests while there.
Then I get a tasty Thailand lunch, get a snack and go on the internet for 30 minutes or 60.
After all that hard hard work I go back to the cottages or to the beach and sun, read and lay around more until dinner, which I get around 5-6.

Then I rest more or read more and my day is over around between 9 to 11 PM.

So that is what I do mostly, EXCEPT today.

I saw an Elephant, and then I got on him and rode around for 2 hours.

An elephant at a zoo seems so close but is always so distant too.
When you get up to one they are far more interesting I think. You see there eyes, which look similar to a horses, there skin is VERY thick and has many small hairs and they are a rather plodding creature which I'm amazed that we as people can even control since they can go fast and be mean if they want too.

So as the day went I was driven directly to the Elephant place and was put on what seemed to be THE biggest one. The driver was nice enough but rather harsh to his elephant. Not being an elephant man I have NO clue if he was to harsh or if he needed to be. Seems being lax with a giant elephant may or may not be a good idea.

Anyway we plodded along a well used trail going partly into a rather unexciting jungle. Mostly it was good for getting photos of being on the elephant. Though, to my surprise the driver got off and told me to ride behind the head of this huge elephant while he walked ahead! Though he was nearby I was expected to help with getting this giant to move and to stay on him! That was rather scary at first, but easier as we went along.

After the jungle trek we were taken to a spot to swim with the elephants. Not being aware of this before I did not have swim wear, so I only watched. Though it may surprise some, elephants are very good in water!
Pretty neat to watch them swim around and have fun. Also the elephants were using there trunks rather well and use them like hands! I saw how well they did with the other tourists that gave them bananas.

So after our swim we got back to the pens.... then it dumped rain like crazy while we going back. Gladly the rain was warmish and I had plastic bags for my camera. Also the rain washed the elephant smell off.
Overall, good time had today!

Now for laying around till the 20ths then days of travel till home, in Tennessee! What a trip this has been!