Day 31 - The Jungle Book
Spent the morning with Nihal again this morning, we first had breakfast with Beckie for the last time, said our goodbyes then headed off to millennium elephant orphanage with Nihal, he had brought us some corn on the cobs that his wife had cooked for us, random but nice!
We arrived at the elephant orphanage and I had a very quick whistle stop your around the educational boards about the elephants then were allowed to ride them. I was a little apprehensive, I have always said I would never ride an elephant because I think it is cruel especially after visiting the elephants in Thailand, however the elephants didn't seem that badly treated and the rides were not with the seat which harms the elephant so I did ride one. It was only a short ride, good experience but wasn't particularly worth it I think you can get enough out of just watching the elephants so now feeling a bit guilty! We watched the elephants be bathed and read some more of the information then headed to a spice garden!
The spice garden was really quite interesting, we were first given a small glass of banana hot chocolate made with real red banana syrup which was delicious. We were then taken on a tour around the garden with a guide, he stopped at each tree/plant describing what they use it for and giving us a sample. For example we saw some aloe Vera which they use to make a soothing moisturiser, coconut oil for the hair, jasmine oil, clove paste used for tooth whitening, tumeric paste for hair removal, vanilla essence and many more. We saw trees growing all sorts of fruits, we tried a sour fruit, mango and a rose apple. Then we were taken and each given a neck and shoulder massage and a leg massage, much needed on our calves which are still lacking from the Adam's peak climb! At the end we had a look in their shop for any products we might like to buy. Nihal then took us back to the guesthouse and kindly offered to take us to the bus station tomorrow!
We headed into town in the afternoo grabbed some lunch and an iced coffee at a bakery then walked up to the jungle entrance again which this time was open! We walked around the jungle for about 2.5 hours along the paths, it was beautiful, so luscious and green with incredible plants with twisting roots and many animals, we saw lots of monkeys, butterflies, a woodpecker and a scorpion! No snakes thankfully but lots of mozzies we all got bitten to death!!
Nipped back for a shower but the. Headed back into town for dinner at the bakery restaurant, the food was really good, Catherine, Rach and Jess had Nasi Goreng, Roxie had devilled chicken and I had a Goan fish curry. Despite being suitably stuffed we managed a ice cream for the walk back. A very busy day after 3 very chilled out days!