Elephants and Bamboo Rafts

Today would have to be the most fun I've had in a long time. It started with a long boat ride on the lake. The lake is huge, it is man made and is as still as glass. As we sped across in our jet long boat (the driver was in competition with another tour group), we saw the old temple which had to be flooded for the lake to form. Its spire still stands.

We travelled for about 20 minutes and arrived at an Elephant camp run by the local Mon people. It was amazing seeing elephants casually wander down the hill to greet us. We bought bananas and sugar cane from a local woman to feed the elephants, and then we took a 2 hr trek through the jungle, crossing the river and farmland. The elephants were so well trained and well tempered and the tall, steep mountains and lush vegetation really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. We were given a simple, but tasty lunch of fried rice and pineapple and then we boarded some simple bamboo rafts to take us down the river. Now the river was slow and gentle, but our raftsmen clearly wanted to have some fun and try and get us in the water. So many times we crashed into rocks and branches, but no one fell in (just fell over on the raft a few times). When we watched the video later and saw their blooper collection from previous trips, we understood why they were getting up to mischief. That and the fact that they were all 20 something males!

We stopped for a swim in the clear river and headed back to the guesthouse for a well earned shower. But it wasn't long before we headed off to see the Thai-Burma border, which was a disappointment. They haven't let anyone cross in a year, and the local people who have a huge tourist market set up don't seem to have many visitors at all.

We then visited some local temples one that was glitzy gold, another that held the body of the guy that started it (he could predict peoples future lives), and another that held a jade buddha. This followed with a walk across the longest wooden bridge in Thailand, where a local boy became our tour guide and told us all about the area, thanks to the translation from Ma'am our guide.

Not bad for one day!