Day 5 - Pangna Province

Today was a full day of adventures. It started with us being an hour early for our tour, which made it possible for us to have a coffee and relax a bit before the adventures started. We were picked up at the hotel by a minibus. Our group was the four of us plus 5 young japaneese girls. We drove across the bridge to the mainland and arrived in Phangna after about an hour. We had the worst guide - we probably didn't even understand half of what he was saying. Usually the guides speak very good English, but not this guy. He was actually quite annoying!

Our first challenge was elephant trekking through the jungle and a water stream. I was delighted to see that the elephant Gunilla and I got to ride was "Jampee" the very same elephant Kim and I rode last time we were here (2010)! It is an elephant with a mind of her own. She does not walk exactly where the other elephants walk but chooses her own routes and appears to love to pose for pictures. She does that by wrapping her trunk around a tree and none of the other elephants do this! It is actually quite a challenge to hang on because the terraine is quite steep and it gives your arms a really good workout. I opted not to ride on the elephant itself because of my legs but Gunilla got to sit where the mahut usually sits and he was instead walking alongside taking pictures. After the ride we bought bananas for the elephants. Jumpee got 8 baskets full of bananas and she was quite insistent on getting every last one. When all the baskets were empty she did not beg anymore.

Next on the program was white water rafting. Unfortunately I cannot post a picture from this as it was impossible to bring a camera. Instead they did have a crew of photographers strategically posted along the way and they took our pictures. When I get home I can scan and include it in my album. This was also a workout, I had to use all my strength just to hold on. Forget the paddling! We had 2 young Thai men to do most of the work and we had waterfights with other tourist groups! Lots of screams and laughter! The rapids are about 3 miles long and man made, but quite challenging for tourists not used to this type of activity. We got a ride back to the base camp where we were served lunch.

The last challenge was swimming at a waterfall. We had to walk maybe 10 - 15 minutes up a hill to reach the falls. I did not go into the water as the rocks are very slippery and I would break, should I fall! The others went in and the water is quite cold.

The minibus took us back to the hotel by 4 pm. At 6 pm there was an owners cocktail party by one of the pools. Free drinks and some little snacks. The party only lasted for an hour so then we walked to Turtle Village and went to an Irish pub for dinner.