Thai Water Festival
Trip Start
Mar 17, 2011
1
8
11
Trip End
Apr 20, 2011
Where I stayed
Kaew Kong Mansion - Patong Beach
What I did
Celebrating Songkran - The Thai New Year
Patong Beach Phuket , Phuket, Thailand
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
The next morning we met in the lobby and went to purchase our weapons. If you are walking down the streets unarmed during the height of Songkan, you will definitely pay as we soon found out. Not soon enough we found a vendor selling the large caliber water guns. Off we marched towards the beach and than back up through the main strip. All I can say is it was sheer craziness, H2O coming from all directions, some of it ice cold being shot directly in your face by much higher caliber guns than what we were armed with. Even the bars that lined the street were no home base. The water festival continued throughout the day and well into the night. It was a blast !
The following day I became one with the jungle. I embarked on the Bang Pae Safari which included elephant trekking, the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project, kayaking in the mangrove forests and a visit to the Bang Pae waterfall. While visiting the Gibbon project I learned that Gibbon's are in the ape family, not a great ape like Gorillas, Chimpanzees and Orangutangs. This explains the gibbon I saw at the beach parties in Phi Phi, as it walked upright holding hands with its owner, it seemed much more like a chimpanzee than a monkey as it interacted with people along its way.
The elephant trekking was quite the experience. My tour group consisted of a couple from Mozambique along with a couple girls from England. We were all thrilled when we were finally able to sit atop these gentle giants. I could instinctively tell they were very intelligent animals as well. Upon a little research I found that after primates, dolphins and some whales, elephants were the next most intelligent species. If you've ever went horseback riding for the first time and feel a bit unstable as the horse is walking on a rocky trail, well multiply that by ten as the great beast is seemingly trying to find his footing as he lumbers down a steep embankment towards the rivers edge. Initially the trainers seated us in a basket but allowed whoever was willing to sit on the neck of the elephant which really added to the adventure.
After the elephant trekking, they brought us kayaking down the Khao Sok River. We spotted a large monitor lizard making his way through the tangled mangrove roots along the banks of the river, several crab and these prehistoric looking walking fish, their ancestors were probably the first creatures to have climbed out of the sea on their way to becoming terrestrial animals. After our incredible safari, we all got together to enjoy a delicious Thai feast.
