Pai is a really special place

• Theo_'s Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Pai

Trip Start Apr 01, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Jun 16, 2008 Next
Entry

  Pai, Thailand
Friday, April 18, 2008

Today we woke up quite early, well 7am, but this was so we could get to the elephant camp in time. this was soo cool! we got there and they had loads of bananas that we could feed them. After everyone else arrived, it was time to get on. and it wasn't your usual climb up some steps then get on, oh no. u put your arms up in the air, so he then sticks his trunk out so i climb up that then he leans his head forward so u climb that, then i was left sitting on his neck, only problem i was facing backwards... bugger. so i had to try really carefully to turn around so i was facing the other way. that was interesting to say the least. sammi tried it but couldn't get on that way. so she climbed its leg to get up, where it l;ifts its knee up to stand on. it was cool but a bit scary being so high up and bare back on an elephant, wih only a piece of rope to hold to, and sammi was infrom of me so i had to reach round her to hold the rope. i dont think i'll be doing it again though, as it was so uncompfy, really sore arse now, coz of their bony backs. anyway we went and climbed this big hill and then went to the river, this is where it got really interesting, as it walked up to the water to get a drink, then it thought it would cool off, so what did it do? completley soak us in water! not just once either! later we rode right into the river, not being a very big one, as we are up in the mountins, its just the start of the river. so its about knee deep, being the dry season at the moment. anyway, they've trained them so when they say a word they chuck us of their backs, so we ended up getting very wet, climbing onto the elephants neck and sitting there then suddenly being a bucking bronto on its back and into the river, but it was on its knees/lying down so we didn't fall far.
when we got back to the elephant camp, they had some hot springs there we could use. and some of them were really hot! we were told we could bring an egg and cook it in them, but we didn't bother. some of the others weren't as hot so we bathed there for a while getting the elephant smell off of us.
we then rode back to town and just chilled for a bit. we'd heard from alot of people around here about bamboo tattoos that they do, which is alot less harsh or painful than the machine tattoos. and sammi has been wanting one for ages so she dicided to go have a look at this place that had been reccomended. and they are all unique tattoos designed by the guy there, so after you get it done, you sign the picture so that nobody else in the world has that design and its yours. its called space were we went. and sammi ended up getting a really nice flower that goes up her ankle. its not very big but i think it looks cool. apparently it was really painful!
another thing thats happened to me here, is my ipod has died, and run out of battery. so i thought i'll try out my solar charger. i put it on out in the sun, and my ipod said it was charging. i had that in the shade tho. came back to it about 30 mins later and it was completly blank! wouldn't even switch on. really annoyed about that. but now at this internet cafe, i managed to plug it in and it says charging so it obviously just got ran down somehow. off to see our friends fern and sharif tonight.should be good. last night in pai as we've booked our slow boat to laos which leaves tomorrow night. looking forward to that :) but sad to leave here :( could stay here for ever.
peace

Share

Previous Entry Next Entry