Ok....elephant training camp. Awesome just plain Awesome. It turned out our roommates, John, from Miami and Marlena, from Connecticut signed up for the same thing so it was nice to have some familiar company with us. The rest of the crew were from China and spoke no English. They pick us up in their van at our hostel at what should have been 8:30. They showed up at 9:30 (Thais are notoriously late to everything). Not too much communication was done to prepare for the day either. We had an idea of what we were doing but it had no order.
   We first stopped by a butterfly and orchid farm which was pretty weak. If I wasn't in a butterfly farm I would have thought they were moths. There was no bright beautiful colors just brown and grey butterflies flying around. Some I even wondered how they are flying cause parts of their wings were destroyed. The orchids were pretty but this stop was just to kill some time before we got to the elephant camp. We then took another long drive to the banks of a river and on the other side of the river the elephants were hanging around. But we had to fill some more time and took a bamboo raft ride down the river. Another touristy, uneventful little journey. We jumped off the raft and got back in the van and our driver took up back up the river to where the elephants were. We then got some good news. The crew from China only signed up for elephant rides and we signed up for the training. So it was just the four of us, our two trainers and the three elephants, 2 adults and a little 2 years old that followed his mother around. He was so cute.
    The trainers taught us a few commands and threw us right into the deep end. These elephants sat down, on command and they told us to hop on. It was very intimidating. We had to use their leg as step to get on their back. We were riding these things bareback. Nothing to hold on to but the top of his head. In my head I thought an elephants skin would similar to a soft leather or something along those lines. Nope. Rough skin and scattered hairs that felt like little plastic wires on a grooming brush.
     The elephant stood up and we just got up and started walking around. The elephant didn't listen to a thing I had to say and he just walked around on his own free will. I was on the back of the mother so the little one followed us around.
     We just kind of walked around a small area to get used to the feeling and see if the elephants  would warm up to our commands (they didn't but the real trainers were there so it wasn't a big deal).
     So our little expedition was about to begin. Annie was the driver first which meant she sat on the neck (the more stable area when your riding bareback) and gave the commands. I sat behind Annie unsure of how to sit on the shoulders of the beast. The terrain made it difficult to keep your balance on the elephant. Some of the paths were very narrow and if you lost your balance you could end up falling down a small cliff into the river. But Annie guided us well through it all and mother and her 2 year old son stopped for a drink by a small creek. I knew what was coming next. It was very hot and the I'm sure the animal wanted to cool off and she did. She filled her trunk and sprayed water over body to help cool down while we were sitting on top. The little one had some fun with too spraying us every once in a while. Annie and I switched spots and I did my best to guide us to the river. after many commands and close calls we finally made it to the river and while we were on her back she dove in. I never would have thought I would experience something so free with a creature of this size. We played in the water with the 3 elephants for about a half hour and the baby elephant was soo much fun. He would hose us down, push us over and occasionally grab you with his trunk. Our trainer was nuts. He was this little Thai guy that had no fear and acted like a little kid. As the larger elephant was in the water, he would stand on his back and then run to the front and jump off the elephants head and into the water. It didn't seem to bother the elephant. He seemed unfazed and it probably helped that the trainer was probably 115 lbs soaking wet.
   It was then time to say goodbye and we fed them some bananas and headed to a beautiful waterfall up the road. It was nice to sit at the bottom of the waterfall and let the water rush over your back and shoulders. I finally got a good Thai massage:)
   To close out the day we visited a Hill Tribe Village and I'm not too sure why. There was no one around and it was like a poverty ridden community. They choose to live this way so its not quite true but it sure looks like it.
  That's all for now and I hope to post another blog soon. See you guys later.