Haley and I went on a tour to the Khao Yai National forest. Our guide "Shem" was very informative. He took us and a couple from Ireland to a small town's outdoor market. There he let us taste many of the local fruits. One of my favorites was the Mangostene. It looks like a purple golf ball with a pretty green flower stem on top. The meat inside is sweet. Another one we liked looked like a small new potato but it was a sweet fruit. I can't remember it's name.
At the market we saw many interesting meats, fish, live frogs, and even a dried rat for sale. Yum!!
Then we drove into the forest. At night you can see elephants crossing roads. I asked our guide "why do the elephants cross the roads?" but he didn't get my joke. Oh well, another example of miscommunication. Later we went on a long walk through the jungle. Then down 200 steps to the base of a beautiful waterfall. There are at least 3 waterfalls in the park during the rainy season. Oh, and of course what goes down must go up - we had to climb back up the steep 200 steps to get out!
On the drive out of the park we stopped to look at a macaque monkey that was standing on the side of the road. He was so cute! We also saw about 5 deer.
Next we had a Thai lunch at a cute hotel. The food was very good, not too spicy.
Then the elephants were ready for riding. Our elephant was named Cherry - she was 19 years old. The other one was 49 years old. About 5 minutes into the ride, the mahout asked Haley if she wanted to drive the elephant. She hopped up on Cherry's neck. She had to scoot right under her ears because that is the strongest part. Soon we came to a steep hill, but Cherry was sure footed. Then we went into a river - that was fun! The elephants sucked up water and sprayed it in the air. We were about 10 feet off the ground. At the end we fed the elephants bananas. I would definitely recommend this trip to visitors!
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