Saturday, March 11, 2006



We stopped along the way for a Thai buffet lunch. Nothing special, but I was just excited that it was edible. :) There was also a fan to sit under, which in the heat is always a blessing. They also had “seaters” in the bathroom instead of “squatters” though since you weren’t allowed to flush tissue, but had to put it in the little garbage can, well you get the idea. L They actually supplied the toilet paper too so I guess I can’t complain! After lunch it was off to see the elephants. I was excited to go on our elephant ride. Much of the terrain was rough and since you aren’t strapped in or anything you want to hold on when things getting bumpy or you start heading downhill. When we went into the water, we were grateful we didn’t get sprayed by our thirsty elephant! We eventually gave up using the umbrella to shade ourselves as we found it more favorable to be able to hang on when the going got rough. I don’t imagine it is very fun to fall off of an elephant. This ride was much cooler than the one we passed on yesterday. In Ayutthaya the elephants just went around a 10 minute loop or so on pretty level ground along the road. THIS was an experience. From the elephants we walked down to the river to ride on bamboo rafts. I was surprised that they actually had life vests for us to wear. A motor boat pulled our rafts up the river and then let us float back down with the current, our guide directing the raft as needed. After the rafting trip it was time to return back to Bangkok. The return trip took almost three hours. Traffic is just incredible here. I’m glad we didn’t have to do the driving. After our long day we were too tired to think about finding a place to eat so we just grabbed some food at Burger King to bring back to our hotel. The sad thing is, Burger King seems like quite a treat to us.