Hey all, Well Paul and I are now back in Chiang Mai after an amazing week in the Elephant Nature Park which was about 60km north of Chiang Mai. After getting up early last monday morning we headed to the office to start our week. We met the other 3 people who we would be there with and we all got on well from the start. There were 2 girls called Lucy and Natalie who were from the UK and one dutchman called Peter. After sorting everything we out we piled into the van to go and collect bananas for the elephants lunch and there were absolutely loads just for one feed - i don't think i've ever seen so many bananas in my life! We then headed for the Elephant Nature Park and eventually reached it about an hour and a half later after a rather bumpy ride. It was amazing when we entered the park because we were not only greeted by Michelle our aussie guide for the week but the elephants as well! I somehow think the sensed the bananas. The elephant themselves are just absolutely beautiful and so calm with all of us around, although the 32 dogs weren't quite as calm at times! Needless to say I rather love dogs now. Anyway soon after we arrived we fed the elephants - we were able to go right up to them on the bamboo platform at the main hut and put the bananas right onto their trunks and they then shoved them into their mouths - v.cute. In the elephant Nature park, the elephants have all been saved from the cruelty of trekking companies who work them literally 24 hours a day and from the harsh streets of Bangkok as well as other things by one incredible woman called Lek. And so in the park they are allowed to roam free and just live quietly and happily but with people still looking after them. Anyway after we fed them we had a delicious lunch of ourselves and then went down to the river with the eles to wash and scrub them clean. That was amazing as we were able to go right up to them when they were lying down in the river and give them a good ol' scrub and splash them with water. The two baby elephants - Hope and Jungle Boy - were always so cute as they would splash and play with each other and roll around in the river. After we'd washed the eles I got to ride one of them! She was a beautiful ele called Mae Elu and it was simply incredible to be on top of this majestic creature. And I didn't ride her with any harness or any of the painful tourist seats you see in the trekking camps which actually hurt the elephant, oh no, I got to just simply get up on top of her and sit on her neck. It was very strange to be sitting on her while she was plodding funnily along but cool at the same time especially as I just had beautiful scenery of mountains and lush forests all around me. For the rest of the afternoon we chatted to Michelle who lives at the park and who told us so many amazing stories about lek and the elephants and about the babies that had us gasping and laughing for hours. We then settled into our rather basic rooms - literally some padding between the floor and I and a mosqito net and v.cold showers! Lucy and I shared one and the two guys shared and Natalie had her own. That evening we ate like kings - as we did all week - as there was just so much great thai food. We sat around and chatted and then headed for an early night around 10ish. Just before Lucy and I went to sleep I climbed into bed and as I was about to put my torch down I say the most humoungous spider right by Lucy's head - it was horrible! Needless to say we both had absolutel hysterics and had to call to the boys to get rid of it. Lucy is rather scared of spiders and I think my fear increased as well during the week! It took us rather a long time to get to sleep especially as some of tehe dogs kept running around outside and it was very noisy on the bamboo flooring. Throughout the whole week I got up around 8ish (not wanting to stay in the bug infested room any longer than I had to) and we all lazed around and had breakfast, then fed the 5 gorgeous cats that were also there and went through the same routine at lunchtime of feeding the elephants and then washing them in the river. I have some great pictures which I'll put up as soon as I can. On the third day in we all went up to 'haven' which is a fantastic place for the elephants. It is basically a massive 2000 acre site of jungle and lush forest where the elephants are allowed to roam entirely free (as they are tied up at night in the main camp so their mahouts (their keepers) can look after them and keep an eye on them) and they jst munch all night and when we found them in the morning they all had very fat bellies! It was wonderful to walk with the elephants up to haven and to be so close to them. At the base there was a river and it was great to see all the elephants playing and cooling themselves down. It was a bit of a rocky trek up to where our small basic camp was in haven but nice and slow cos of the elephants, especally as us girls were behind Jokia who is blind and so she went v.slowly with the help of her friend Mae Perm - they were so cute as they would constatly make noises at each other and 'speak' so as to let the other know where it was. That night we ate well (again!) and sat around the camp fire and chatted to Pom (a lovely thai lady who works alongside Lek) who had some great stories to tell but who kept catching bugs with her hands to apparently eat or sell in the market! After a very light sleep that night, we found out that what Pom was saying was true as she cooked up her bagful of bugs for breakfast! We then had to find the elephants with the mahouts which wasn't too hard and yes the eles were still munching away. Then while the guys dug a trench for a waterpipe (Paul got 10 blisters on one hand cos of it!) us girls decided to clear all the rubbish from around the small camp and thanks to the mahouts (who seem not to care about the environmnet) there was loads. Around lunchtime we headed back down the hill with the elephants and back to the main camp jsut in tmie for lunch and then a trip to mango factory to collect mangos for the eles. I so badly wanted a shower but was glad that I didn't have one when we got back because when we unloaded the mangos from the truck they were rather squishy and went all over us, especially when we had a bit of a mango fight! Soo soo good to have a shower after that though and to feel clean again even though my clothes were getting progressively dirtier as the week went on. Unfortunately for the later part of the week it rained rather a lot as Thailand is now getting into its monsoon season but we still helped out with the elephants and a few days I helped a bit in the kitchen preparing dinner and even did some gardening one day! It was much more relaxing than I thought it would be there as I thought we would be workign loads but it was still great to just watch the elephants and see how they lived. My favourite were the babies, Jokia, and Max who was very big and apparently the biggest elephant in Thailand. Some nights we would sit up and play cards or talk to the other people who had come for a few days instead of a week and other nights we would head for bed early. On our last night we had dinner and then watched a video taken of the baby elephants when they were very small - v.cute - and then we headed for bed. However as we walked towards the sleeping huts we found that Natalie had accidentally left her light on and when we got up to her room saw that it was infested with bugs. Although not only was it infested with bugs but with 3 big cockroaches as well. And not only cockroaches but FLYING, yes flying cockroaches. I don't think I've seen anything so disgusting in all of my life. It was literally 5 inches long and a width across and at one point decided to fly at us. Not surprisignly us girls had absolutel hysterics, so much so that apparently they heard us at the other end of the elephant park! The boys ended up killnig 3 more and we made sure that Natalie slept in Lucy and I's room. Although we didn't get to sleep for a loooonnggg while. I think Lucy and I especially were pretty glad that we were going back to Chiang Mai after that. However our last day, on the sunday, was pretty sad and rather cut short cos we needed to get back for Peter to catch his train to bangkok and we wouldn't all have fitted in the truck in the evening. So we all filled in the guestbook and exchanged email address and then after our last scrummy lunch and washing the elephants we said goodbye. Being back in Chiang Mai I rather miss all the eles and the dogs and would seriously recommended anyone going there cos it was such an amazing experience to be so close to the elephants and to be able to be constantly around them, as well as being able to help the amazing things that Lek is trying to do. I have absolutely loved my week there. Lots of love Sam xxx