Elephant Trekking near Chiang Mai: Part 2

Click here to read Part 1 of this post if you haven't already.

"Got any food up there?"

One of the trainers climbed high into the trees to get some leaves for the elephants.

Soon we were riding along a small river.

Possibly the best part of the trek: getting to bathe our elephant.

We also bathed each other.

Taking a group shot after our trek was over.

Saying goodbye to cute little Nuthatson.

Next we went for a walk through the jungles to find a waterfall.

The waterfall had a tiny pool at the bottom.

Bit of a blurry photo but here's me sliding down the waterfall.

Trekking back through the jungle after our refreshing swim.

On the next phase of our trip, we did some white water rafting. Unfortunately I couldn't bring my camera so I didn't get any pictures. It was pretty tame riding for the most part, and our guide ended up doing most of the work as we were so uncoordinated. Actually parts of it were really tranquil, as we passed through little villages with wooden houses on stilts, where people bathed in the river.

At the river, just after our rafting was finished.

For the last part of the trip, we went to a village populated by the Akha people, a hill tribe who originate from Yunnan Province, China.

There are some 80'000 Akha now living in Thailand's northern provinces, some of them still wearing their traditional dress. Like the Karen, they also have their own language, unrelated to Thai.

You can see in the tree some big beehives, which the villagers reach by ladder to collect honey.

Joy shows us some local street food, which includes pig's noses, intestines, ears, and other tasty treats.

After leaving the village, we drove back to the slightly busier roads of Chiang Mai.

By day's end we had ridden elephants, trekked through the jungle, slid down a waterfall, white-water rafted, and visited a hill tribe village. It's crazy how much adventurous stuff you can pack into one day (and we got back before dark!).