Thailand-Elephant day!!!

I'm so so so excited! Today we get to see elephants. 

I did try to sleep in as I was up until 3am with my Colson cohort meeting. Leisurely breakfast and off to get leg massage as we don't get picked up until 1:15pm. John again chooses the smallest,  most humble business he could find and ends up going them $40 American. The lady looked up as if a mistake was make. John said for her to keep it and she got so excited, you'd think she just won the lottery! 

We stopped by our favorite street restaurant for some lunch and I started with mahi sticky rice. My new favorite!

Back to the hotel, we wait for our ride to pick us up for the elephant tour. He shows up in the most blinged out can I've ever seen! 

He is wearing cool boots and huge rings with big natural stones. Very fashionable! There is a couple already in the van. They are a young couple from England. Super nice. John starts talking cars with the guy and shows amazing restraint as he painfully withholds the fact that he owns an amazing car that they were just talking about. It caused him great strain! 

We agreed that he shouldn't be telling others in a foreign country about his awesomeness. I don't want to get kidnapped!

We pick up two one other family on our way. A couple from Germany that have two kids that talk a LOT! They are rather cute though...until the one just started making loud noises with no reason- without reprimand. 🤨 

The elephant sanctuary is promising. The cleanest bathrooms in Thailand so far. Very nice facility! 

I can see if in the distance, they are bringing the elephants to an area and they seem very happy. Their tails are wagging and their ears are flapping happily. I quick Google about elephant behavior and am satisfied that this is a good sign! 🐘

First, we go as a small group to feed the elephants sugar cane and bananas. They love this and keep asking for more. I get to pet their trunks and the side of their body. John takes a lot of pictures! 

Next, we walk gingerly into a huge mud bog and rub mud (filled with elephant poo) onto them. 

John had no interest in this part of the process. We then moved to a pond to throw buckets of water on them to wash off the mud. A guy was on the other side of the elephant getting a little too enthusiastic. He ended up missing the top of the elephant altogether and drenching me with muddy/poopy water. John was pissed and wanted to "teach him a lesson". I was able to calm him enough to keep him out of trouble. Next we headed to the giant elephant sized car wash!  The water was warm and I was able to get the mud rinsed off, which was nice!

The elephants seemed to enjoy it as they were lazily eating snacks while getting their backs scratched.

They were nice enough to offer showers that allowed us to get cleaned up before lunch and a long drive back to our hotel. 

The lunch was amazing! The spring rolls reminded John of the ones that Lek ( Lauren's step grandmother- I hope that's a close description of the relationship?) used to make. 

The rest of the evening is spent getting foot massages (with crazy tips), picking up laundry and dropping by Friendly bar for an evening drink!