From limestone walled lagoons to bathing elephants

Last Day in Phuket:
The sun was finally shining and I (Emily) took a wonderful swim in the Indian Ocean and then walked along the gorgeous beach looking at tide pools filled with interesting fish and crabs.

At noon, our ride picked us up to go to Phang Na Bay for our sea kayaking trip into the limestone caves. As we approached our destination by boat we saw beautiful shadows of islands that seemed to come up out of no where. Apparently there are more than 150 of these islands in this part of Thailand.

Our guides educated us about the limestone and told us how we would canoe through low ceiling-ed caves to enter in to lagoons that are in the center of many of these cylindrical islands. Sadly our camera battery died and the pictures below are the last few that our camera let us take. The cliffs were seemingly vertical and they had areas at the bottom that had been hollowed out by the tides. You could kayak under these areas and look at the amazing stallagtites hanging down. Then our guide would take us to a cave where we had to lie flat down in the kayak and he would push us in to a clearing. The ceiling of the caves were often filled with sharp oyster shells and the ceiling was just inches from our face. It was a bit claustrophobic in there.


Once through the cramped caves, the world opened up in to a private lagoon shielded by huge cliffs all around. Trees clung to the sides of the cliffs and grew wherever there was a horizontal piece of land. One lagoon had mangroves growing in it's private world. We headed back to the boat for a sunset dinner and the food was fabulous. After sunset, we prepared Katong's which are composed of banana trunks and leaves, orchids, candles, and incense. It is a tradition that the Thai borrowed from the Hindus in India. We canoed again in to a lagoon where we all released our Katongs in the peaceful night. Then we stirred up the water to see the tiny sparkler-like algae that glows in the night - bioluminesence. It was a perfect day. We did make friends with a South African couple and a French couple and are hoping that they will share their photos with us.

First full day in Chiang Mai:
We arrived mid day on Monday and did a bit of exploring, but our big adventure came Tuesday when we went to the elephant rescue park about an hour north of the city. A woman started this project years ago when her disgust with the street elephants that are abused pushed her in to it. She adopts elephants that are orphaned or have been broken by working for the Thais and the tourists and can no longer do their job. She now has 36 elephants each with their own tragic and inspiring tale.
After hearing about a few of the elephants and how to safe around them, we arrived at the camp set on a plateau with a river running through it. It was gorgeous. The itinerary for the day was to:
1. Feed the elephants. They get a huge basket of fresh fruits several times a day. The food comes from local communities.

2. After watching the elephants and feeding them, it's time for a bath. It was pretty fantastic to be in the water with them and play as they rolled over and enjoyed the water.

3. Get a kiss from one of the elephants that was orphaned at 1 week of age that is now 6 years old and very friendly.

All in all it was a wonderful day. There were no hooks or beatings. They only give elephants love and food to control them. You should come here if you ever get the chance.