Elephants, Bamboo rafting, and Waterfalls

As I mentioned, we booked a 2 day trek yesterday to get us outside of Chiang Mai and into some of the nearby areas and experience some truly Thai things. Every hotel/guest house advertises tons of different treks ranging from half day adventures to a week long hike in the mountains. We figured we should get out of the city and see what was going on outside the city walls (literally, since Chiang Mai is surrounded by a moat and walls).

Our trek picked us up at our guest house, and we, along with a couple from Amsterdam, a couple from Beijing, and a kid from London, headed on a van ride about an hour outside of Chiang Mai. On the way, we drove past Chiang Mai University which was incredibly impressive with many different schools for medicine, nursing, and dentistry!

Our first stop was an elephant camp. We got to climb on the elephants and go for a trek through the woods and through a river. The elephants had a kind of bench strapped onto their backs, but our guide encouraged us to get off of the bench and ride bare back on its neck. I was wearing shorts, so I may have gotten an elephant burn from her course skin and hair. We named our elephant Stampy. She was the best. She was sooo hungry and kept raising her trunk up to ask for a banana. We got a hug bushel of bananas and fed them to her, one at a time, skins and all. I did a little experiment to see what would happen if I peeled the banana. Discovery - she ate the fruit, but when given just the peel, she would throw it on the ground. Smart elephant. She also stopped for sugar cane and even took down an entire tree branch at one point (that was actually a little scary). We took tons of pictures and got really, really dirty.

Next stop, a trek through the woods to a beautiful waterfall. The hike took us over some questionable bridges. Our guide was really funny. He would warn other hikers of the "tiger" we just passed, point out the "white elephants" (on an abandoned beer bottle), and would pass us large leaves to use as fans. The largest leaf we found was upgraded from a fan to air conditioning. We got to swim in the waterfall before heading back to town for a delicious lunch of soup, rice and veggies, banana chips, eggs, and pineapple.

The afternoon portion of the trek consisted of bamboo rafting down a river. Four of us climbed onto a bamboo raft and Mike stood in the back attempting to help steer. He did a great job while the rest of us attempted to stay standing and not fall in the river. This became increasingly difficult as we approached low branches and went through large rapids. I decided to call this Thai Surfing.

For our evening activity, after a good shower and nap, we went to a place called The Riverside. The guide books said it was a popular place for local Thais and tourists. This was also the first place we've been to that took credit cards, so that was pretty exciting. We had an amazing dinner. Most notable was a seafood curry dish served in a coconut. There was live music the whole night performed by incredibly talented Thai musicians. They played many of our american favorites so we sat near the stage and sang along.

All in all, an amazing day. Tomorrow - we learn how to cook.