Elephant riding

Elephants play an important cultural role in many countries in south east Asia. We therefore signed up for a day trip to visit a elephant camp. The treatment of the elephants varies a lot between different countries as well as between different elephant camps. After consulting several guide books we decided to visit a camp that seemed to take the best care of their animals.

Unfortunately we were not able to learn much about the elephants because our guide spoke very little English. We did however have the chance to ride one of these enormous animals for a few hours. After riding through the forest for an hour we reached the river.

Without warning the guide started to play elephant rodeo in the river. After being thrown off twice the fun turned into fear for Erika. She had decided she had enough of elephant riding for the day. After the water games were over Pär rode the elephant back to the camp.

After lunch we went on a bamboo raft down the Pai river. Apart from a near  flip experience two minutes into the rafting, it was a wonderful peaceful afternoon down the Pai river.