Elephant Trekking!

**Disclaimer..I had this blog all typed up and ready to push publish last night and with one quick slip of the finger on this tiny little micro keyboard and POOF! Gone was all my photo work, witty quips, and so on. So forgive me if this post is a little lackluster....As Nate would say: blogging isn't a novelty act.**

We set out on a full day excursion away from the hustle and bustle of Chiang Mai into the mountainous region and the Mae Tang River for elephant Trekking and Whitewater Rafting. We got a SWEET video from the agency that did the adventures since we couldn't take our cameras rafting, so I'll post that video when we get back to the states (Ekern fam--think Dominican Republic....).

The day couldn't have been better. It was a perfect location and setting, perfect guide to get us (most specifically me) through our apprehension of rafting for the first time, and seriously cute elephants.

 

  

When we originally looked for elephant adventures, Katie and I were both concerned about finding a place that the elephants were well cared for. For the most part, this one fit the bill (minus our guides occasional swat of the bamboo swatch). We thought that maybe they enjoyed getting to take people because then the elephants got to go across the river and cool off (?). Maybe...who's with us?

 

Ok..so if you aren't buying the river as a bonus for hauling our butts around, how about the fact that half way through the trek there just 'happened' to be a little hut with a tiny little man selling bananas that we could feed to the elephants. 

Here was our elephant asking really nicely for a banana:

"PLEASE!"

"THANK YOU!"

 

This was my personal favorite part...right up until I started getting slobbered on from how fast the elephant whipped his trunk up and down.

After the trek, we headed further up the mountain for our rafting adventure. I am happy to say we all survived, we didn't tip, and none of us came away with any weird bacteria, rashes, etc.