What a great way to spend a Wednesday!

I've had yet another amazing day here in Uhmpang. It started in the same way as yesterday, with me and Elise getting up early to go for a walk before breakfast. It was colder today so we found ourselves walking faster than yesterday and ended up walking quite a long way. I've probably said it before, but I just love slaking through the village just as everyone is waking up. I feel like that's an important part of the culture! And outside the town, the view was spectacular! 

We got back just in time to get ready before breakfast. On the menu today was scrambled eggs, which made me very happy since it's just what I want in the morning! 

And then we went off to cut banana trees to feed to the elephants (they eat a lot of banana trees). I'm going to let you in on a secret... banana trees are heavy! And they are so full of water it drips down on you when you carry them haha! They're also pretty difficult to cut. Wel, for me at least – the boys manage just fine, but we're still nowhere near as skilful at the Thai guys! 

Then we went with all the cut banana trees, and went to feed the elephants. When we showed up on the trucks the elephants stretched out their trunks towards us, looking excited – they knew it was feeding time! And they looked so happy and peaceful as they stood there munching on their food. We spent a while cutting up the banana tree trunks into smaller pieces so we could give them to the animals, and then we just chilled and watched as they ate. We also used the time to eat our own lunch. 

When lunch was done – for us and elephants – we cleaned up the "leftovers" and then we got to ride the elephants! Begging up there really made you see how huge these animals are! And they're so clever! However, the riding of the elephants is the one thing I'm not too keen about as it kind of goes against my principals of animals being used for entertainment. Although I remind myself that we are at a wildlife century and that the elephants have been rescued from their old lives, and are now being well taken care of! And so they should be. So the riding made me feel a bit bad, but it was still so cool to have done! Afterwards, we took the elephants into the river so they could have a swim and it was so nice to see hem enjoy themselves! I mean, they were loving it! 

Later in the afternoon we went rafting out some hotsprings. Now this was one of the most spectacular things I have ever done! It was cool to see the jungle from that angle and it was so peaceful to float along on the water. It was a pretty long ride before we got to the hot springs. This is going to sound silly, but they're a lot hotter than I had imagined them haha! I expected them to be warm but not roasting! 

Just after 4 pm we left the hot springs and got back in the rafts for a short trip to the spot where the cars were picking us up. By this time we were all STARVING so it was a great delight that a very yummy dinner was served first thing when we got back! It was the only thing that put a downside to the rafting and hot springs: the fact that I was very hungry and dehydrated so my energy levels were very low. But nothing can ruin an amazing trip such as this – not even hunger, headaches and fatigue!

Since we've been back today I have just gone to the shop to buy some Pepsi Max and snacks, and then I've just been chilling. I am absolutely shattered (today again) so I'm going to bed. Because guess what I'm doing tomorrow again? That's right, getting up early for a morning walk with Elise :) 

I didn't bring my phone when we went rafting so I have no pictures of this little trip. So there pictures are stolen from a couple people in our group: