Galloping Elephants and Weight Lifting Monkeys

Anyone who knows me knows that one of my whimsical ideals has been to "go to Thailand and ride an elephant."

I realized that dream. I could die tomorrow and I would be happy.

Of course it was in a controlled environment. I mean, I can be daft at times, but I surely never thought I could go into the Thai jungle with a machete, emulate an elephant call, have one come up to me, grab on to an ear, shimy up his back and go for a trek through Thailand.

So we found a safari run by Thai locals. First we got to feed a baby elephant pineapple. He was adorable. It's a pecular sensation to have a slimy trunk grab some food from your hand and twist his trunk to deliver the pineapple to his mouth, then greedily paw at your hand with the trunk for more food again. As if that weren't cute enough, he picked up a hat off the ground and placed it on the head of a local Thai guy, and he also played the harmonica (I swear he even bent a note, dad). Charming.

We then got to ride mama elephant, led by a Thai man perched on her head. We sat in some sort of bamboo harness and first impressions as I sat down were, "my goodness we're high off the ground." But as she walked away, I looked around at the Thai mountains and forests and pathways, and I forgot all about how high up I was. It was breathtaking. Elephants are so large that the sensation of being on the back was similar to being in a floating row boat in choppy waters. I almost felt motion sickness, but it was such a cool experience that I got over it quite quickly.

Through the forests we went, up ravines and down ravines. Our elephant stopped at her whim to eat brush and whatnot. When we were in a ravine the Thai commander gave a pecular shout and our elephant started galloping up the hill. Not only have I ridden an elephant, I have galloped on an elephant. Like I said, I could die tomorrow happy.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for the day, we stopped at what they call "Monkey School". There were a pile of adorable monkeys again in a controlled environment. PETA would have a heyday with them, as they were tied up. But we also had a heyday with them, for different reasons. They jumped on our laps, demanded bananas, and one greedy little rascal jumped on Lynae and started eating a plastic bag since there were no bananas left. They shook hands with us, kissed us (not only do the crabs like me, so do the monkeys), and one started playing with Lynae's dreadlocks. They are remarkable little creatures and very mischevious. They had us laughing and amused for a long time.

They gave us a little monkey show and we saw them shimy up palm trees and peel coconuts. Then they got a little silly. One monkey lifted a small barbell, did push ups and sit ups. Then he rode a little bicycle with training wheels! So silly, yet so charming. Monkeys are fascinating creatures; even more so up close.

That was only the first half of our day. The second was just as marvelous, but that will have to wait. We only have a few hours left in Phuket, and as much as I love you all, I need another Thai massage on the beach before the long bus ride back to Bangkok.

Less blogging, more suntanning. (Yes, I am a glorious shade of brown. Ok, there's some red blotches mixed in as well where I missed a spot or two with the sunscreen. Lynae says I'm a red neck. Honestly, who thinks to put sunscreen on their neck?)