Its official we’ve been traveling a month! It has flown by but every second has been wonderful! I can’t believe we’re actually in Thailand and that this is the last leg of our Asian trip and that I’ll be saying goodbye to Jess in just over a week.
The alarm went off early today at 7am, but we were so excited for elephant trekking that we didn’t seem to notice. Our first stop of the day was at Khao Lak tropical forest National Park where we went bamboo rafting and elephant trekking. The little river we went down had some small rapids and I didn’t think we’d make it, but we did, we just got a little wet. I now feel very confident that if I am ever stranded on a desert island that I could easily construct one of these boats to save myself! Our tour guide for the rafting portion liked to point everything out to us - frogs, fish, and coconuts- and giant spiders, which scared us a bit.
Our elephant trek through the woods was quicker than I thought but I still enjoyed it! The only thing I didn’t like was how our guide treated the elephants. He had a wooded stick with a small axe on the end and a very sharp nail too and would hit the elephant or stick the nail into its head if it stopped to eat leaves or walked the wrong way. The way they treat animals here is very different and hard to watch. I was disgusted by the way the guide treated the elephant, Jess and I kept squirming and didn’t know what to do, we sure felt bad for him.
After this we went to a Royal Navy Battle Ship site and saw a boat that had been anchored off the coast when the tsunami hit and threw it 2km inland. We saw so many pictures of the tsunami and the damage but they cleaned up and rebuilt fast and if you didn’t know, you would have no idea the whole island had been devastated by a tsunami 5 years ago. I hear that the Phi Phi islands had the most damage done from the tsunami I will be interested to see how quickly they rebuild when we get there.
We had lunch at a Thai seafood restaurant on the beach. We had Shrimp and fish coconut milk soup, cashew chicken and chicken with chili. All so good! We spent a little time at the beach there then went to a turtle farm, where they call clown fish nemos, and then to a cashew factory. It was more of a store where we could sample different types of cashews - honeyed, salted, chocolate covered, sesame brittle - and dried fruit too! They even had cashew soda, which is one of the strangest things I’ve ever had. I was kind of annoyed because I hate when you spend money on a tour and they bring you to shops where you feel pressured to buy things. I think the guide sensed that we were annoyed and gathered the group and we were off.
Rubber trees are everywhere here and we saw a few rubber tree tapings. Our tour guide also told us that in Thailand the people use bio-diesel, which is 5% palm oil (from a palm tree) and this is why gas is so much cheaper here. I found this festinating and such a smart idea! I wish in America we could find some kind of substance that we could add to the gasoline to make it cheaper and last longer!
Tonight we celebrated our 1 month of traveling together and went out for Mexican food and Margaritas. Then we went shopping and walked around for a while. Tomorrow morning we are off to Kho Phi Phi Island for a few days!
Love,
Katie
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