07 April 2008 – 22:24

Rainforest by Elephant 
It was the best night’s sleep so far.  Nearly eight hours sleep, despite it being a warm night.  I guess the lack of sleep had finally caught up with me, and in a comfortable bed I had rested well.  The mosquito nets seemed to have done their work as I hadn’t a single bite despite the animal life in our room – I’d covered myself pretty well in Deet too which must have helped.  Daniel seemed to be more phased by the bugs generally, and he said he’d been bitten during the night.Because of our early start (as per usual) to do the day’s activity I’d woken at 06:45 for a refreshing hose down and breakfast. Daniel had stayed out a little later the previous night, so he’d opted for a few extra minutes in bed, but we all managed to make an appearance at the communal area for breakfast.  The owners had put on a reasonable spread of toast, cooked eggs and frankfurters, and fruit. I just chose a coffee and an egg on toast.  The bread wasn’t particularly good, but considering the Thai don’t really do bread, it was good enough!

Elephant Trek 
By 08:30 we were whisked off in two trucks for about a ½ hour drive into the hills.  Most of us had opted to sit in the open backs of the two trucks, taking in the warm morning sun, and letting the passing breeze keep us feeling fresh if not cool.  It turned out to be a good choice to be in the open back as we passed some great photo opportunities of the rugged limestone and jungle scenery.

We stopped about half way up the hills, for a wonderful view looking down into the rainforest, where we posed for a group shot.

It wasn’t long before we reached the park, where we were to do our day’s main event – our elephant trek.  We climbed up some steps onto the wooden platform, where we could comfortably reach our seating positions. In pairs we were ushered onto the elephants.  Each chair was roped onto the elephants which looked comfortable with the load

As passengers, we were pretty comfortable too, although we had to try and keep our load in the centre of the chair if only to make the position comfortable for the elephants, which was only fair enough!  Slowly but surely we were taken along a stream deeper and deeper into the rainforest, passing what looked like banana and rubber plantations.

As the trail got a little steeper about half an hour later we came to the destination, which was a secluded waterfall with a deep pool, where we took full advantage of and jumped in for a cold and refreshing dip.  

We didn’t have too much time to hang around as other parties both in front and behind were clogging up the spot, so we quickly dried ourselves off and climbed back onto our sure-footed grey 4x4s. 

On the way back we were offered the chance to ride the elephants properly on their necks.

I was buddied up with Catherine, and she took the helm first.  She looked a little uncomfortable and rigid as she clung to the elephant, but soon adjusted her position and moved with the elephants shoulder motion.  However the experience was short lived for Catherine, as she suggested I have a try (where she could retire to the comfort of the seat!).  As we swapped positions I moved forwards onto the shoulder of the elephant, and placed my palms of my hands on the surprisingly spiky hairs on its head.  I could hear Catherine’s laughter from behind me as I clung on to my ride; trying to keep my legs from getting in the way of the elephant’s ears and still holding on, probably looking more rigid than her.  It took me a while to relax and adjust my sitting position so that it was both comfortable for me as I suspected for the elephant.  By now the sun was at its zenith and at full strength.  I didn’t mind risking getting a little sun burnt, as I was really enjoying the ride back through the trail to the base camp where we first started.

Upon our return we bought some bananas from the trail organisers to feed the elephants, who eagerly but carefully took the fruit from our hands.  In the background we saw some of the elephants getting a much appreciated wash in the stream that we had followed all through the morning.All in good spirits after the elephant trek, we returned to tree tops for lunch and a swim in the river located just behind the lodge buildings.  Some chose to sun bathe and others just chilled out. 

The concrete river crossing which we used on returning from our trail the previous day, also acted as a damn or sluice gate, so one side of the river was considerably deeper than the other as it made its way down the hillside.  As a consequence up stream of the structure, the water was suitably deep enough to swim in.  The local children who seemed to use the river as their playground had constructed a rope swing enabling them to swing and jump into the deepest part of the water, which we also took full use of!

Macaques 
At 4pm most of us got together and took the offer of being taken a couple of miles up the road to a monkey temple.  The original temple itself was set into a cave at the foot of one of the limestone hills, but there were some modern buildings of what we assumed to be the living quarters of the monks. 

From the driveway entrance, trees were separated in what looked like a controlled manner – almost like an orchard.  A troop of macaques soon spotted our entrance and made their way either on the ground or via the trees to greet us.  Even before we’d left the van which had taken us to the site, the monkeys had started to congregate round the vehicle (and some on its roof).  Although we never felt threatened, we were aware of reaching arms ready to snatch anything we might have for them. 

As we climbed out of the van we were handed some bananas to feed the troop.  The somewhat inevitable reaction to the faces of the animals reminded us of our evolutionary connection. The similarities to hierarchical structures, the clear and distinct personalities,  as well as their squabbles were soon on show as the fruit was handed out.  Some very gentle accepted and some snatched at the handouts. After feeding the monkeys we walked into the cave, going deeper in behind the effigies and into the darkness hoping to find something special.  We didn’t, but we did spot a bat and a toad.

We lost interest in the cave, and wandered out and up a series of metal and concrete steps that followed the contours of the hill about 50 feet up above the tree line, where we could see the full extent of the local area. Some opted to take a photo or two of the great view.Soon, though, we returned to Tree Tops and got changed for our evening out.  We walked into the town (perhaps that’s a little generous) to a local restaurant for our evening meal, during which we swapped stories and reviewed who had the worst sun burn.  Rob seemingly was out the longest in the sun, and by his own admission perhaps a little too long – but he seemed to brown really easily, much to the disgust of some of us!

By 10:30, after the meal, everyone except me moved on to a bar opposite the restaurant where they stayed for the rest of the evening.  Most danced all evening, fuelled on beer and juice.  MC Daniel took his position behind the decks and seemingly ran the show. Katie displayed her proficiency at flaming poi dancing, and offered several of the party their opportunity to have a go. I chose to leave early in part because I was still tired, and mainly for the next day’s early start, where we were to leave the lodge and travel south to our ferry at Krabi.