Today was the day of our elephant trip which we were both very excited about. We we're picked up from our guesthouse by a minibus and on board were 8 other people, 2 Australians, 2 Americans and 4 Brits. It was nice to meet other travellers and we gained a few tips from them about Thailand and the other country's we are visiting.

When we arrived at the elephant camp we were greeted by around 40 elephants! We were given traditional mahout uniforms to wear for the day and once we were dressed we were given a basket of sugar cane and bananas to feed the elephants with. It was very surreal walking up to such a large animal and just handing it a piece of sugar cane which would then grab it with it's trunk! Richard was even given a kiss on the neck by one of them :) had a nice hickey for the rest of the day.

After feeding we learnt how to get onto the elephants back and also the commands for getting it to move forward, sideways and most importantly stop! It was a bit of a daunting prospect climbing onto an elephant which was nearly double my height! After a couple of try's we had got the hang of it and took a break for a home cooked Thai meal which was lovely.

After lunch it was time for us to climb aboard our elephant and go for a jungle trek. Me and rich shared an elephant and rich was at the front of the elephant to begin with and I was at the back. Although an amazing experience sitting at the back was very painful as she had a very bony spine and lots of prickly hair! Halfway through the trek we stopped and swapped places and I think Richard finally realised what I was talking about! The elephant who's name was Mattakah meaning Mother of Gold would often spurt water at us as a way of cooking down ha!

After trekking through the jungle we took them down to the water to cool them down and bathe them although we got very wet as well.

We had an amazing day with the elephants, an experience we will never forget.