After an interesting night at the full moon party, Latanya and I still woke up around our usual time, 8:00am. We got our usual breakfast and were pleased with our little routine. Today we wanted to ride an elephant. It's not everyday that you can wake up and decide to ride an elephant and actually be able to do it, right? Well since we were in Thailand, and they just so happened to have elephants, we decided to take one for a spin.
We arranged an elephant ride through our hotel. They booked a reservation for us at a local animal part. There were a few parks on the island that had elephants so we chose the best one in our mind for what we wanted. Some packages included other sightseeing but we just wanted to do a half hour with an elephant and no other exotic bird shows or unique monkey shows as they put it.
After we were fed and ready for the day we hopped on a Tuk Tuk as usual and it took us straight to the park. When we arrived on site we could see about a half dozen elephants just walking around with people on top. We started to get excited at this point. I mean, once again it's not everyday you can do this. The truck dropped us off and we were directed where to go. We handed a man our receipt and we then walked up some stairs to a rather large hut on tall posts. It was the elephant seating station. Soon enough an elephant came walking up to the hut with two other foreigners on it and a trainer sitting on the elephants neck/head. The foreigners got off and we got on. Strapped to the elephant was a chair and a small rope that held us in. The trainer was very nice and spoke a little English. We took a photo before we departed and then away we went, atop a giant elephant. WOW!!! We road the elephant for a half hour. It was a lot of fun. The elephant even left a little present for us along the path. Out elephant was old but strong. It was a little bumpy at parts, but so much fun. We were actually riding an elephant in Thailand. Sweet!!!
Once we got to the end of our elephant journey the trainer let us off. We then wanted to hike up the mountain side to find the nearby waterfall. It was only about a twenty minute hike or so, not too bad. Latanya was definitely getting a workout. Once we got to the falls it was amazing. The water was so refreshing and crystal clear. We hung out there for a little while and then made our way back to our Tuk Tuk. Before we left the animal park I saw a baby elephant I wanted to take home with me. Unfortunately I was unable to pack him in my backpack so we had to leave elephantless.
Once we got back to the hotel we decided to go to Chaweng once more and took another Tuk Tuk to the beach this time. We both really wanted to get another massage. The previous day I got an oil massage, which was an all over body massage. Today on the other hand I got a back, shoulder and neck massage. I can tell you that I have had knots in my lower back for as long as six years. I have never been able to get them out. I mean we are talking huge knots, the size of Montana huge. The Thai lady I had went to town on me. She worked my lower back like no one has done before. I swear I was bruised for the whole week after. But it was all worth it. She made my back feel so much looser. She got out about 80% of the knots, which is pretty good in my book, especially for a six year build up.
After the massage and just relaxing we hit up the strip of Chaweng for some food. We stumbled upon this Thai place and Latanya and I had the best Lemon Grass Soup in the world. Latanya had been searching for this soup all vacation. Not only searching for it, but looking for the best, and we found it. I too found something equally wonderful. I discovered Phanaeng Curry. I asked our waiter to make it extra extra spicy. He smiled and said sure. When they brought out our dishes he also brought extra peppers and spices to add to make it even hotter. I was in heaven. It was so good. The service was amazing. The food was great. And of course it was so cheap. We were loving Thailand for sure.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel for some late night swimming and then off to the room to relax. The next day was our last full day in Ko Samui, we wanted to make it count. We had one more touristy thing to accomplish on the island before we left.
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