Ok, time to wrap this blog up...
We packed our trunks and said goodbye to the beach at Ban Krut by taking the 09:00 train up to Ban Pong and then the local bus on to our final destination of Kanchanaburi.
The reason for heading here was twofold, one to see the bridge over the River Kwai, the war museums and the cemetery and secondly, a highlight.....we had a hot overnight date with some big old nellies....!
The aptly named 'Good Times' resort looked after us in luxury, nestled on the banks of the famous river. From here were collected and taken by minivan the 10km out to Elephants World.
Elephants World had been started by a Thai veterinarian a few years ago as a sanctuary for old nellies that had been rescued from all over Thailand. Most of them are very old and have unfortunately had really tough lives, having been used for many years logging forests, trekking or lately being used to earn money from strapping clueless fat westerners to massive chairs and parading them around Pattaya or Phuket.
The 22 now have a great retirement home, being looked after responsibly and be able to be fed and treated with dignity.
On arrival their own personal Burmese mahouts had brought them to a large open raised feeding platform where we hand fed baskets of watermelons, yam nuts, papaya, pumpkins, banana and corn before they wandered off for the day towards the river. Here we all got going with brushes and bowls and gave them a scrub down in the cool water, one of a number of opportunities to spend time in the cool water with them. They seemed to love it and all the scrubbers had a fantastic time helping them out.
Later, while they ambled about like old women, going where they wanted, we spent the afternoon making sticky rice and pumpkin balls for the older lassies that had no teeth or were
blind and needed some extra TLC. It was great to see a few of
them enjoying the mud bath but the organisation kept us busy preparing more food and planting crop under the direction of the long term volunteers. After their evening meal it was time
to walk with the mahouts to take them back into the quieter
forest area where they would spend the nights. We, on the other hand, had a nice comfy lodge by the river to stay in and to reflect on the first day.
blind and needed some extra TLC. It was great to see a few of
them enjoying the mud bath but the organisation kept us busy preparing more food and planting crop under the direction of the long term volunteers. After their evening meal it was time
to walk with the mahouts to take them back into the quieter
forest area where they would spend the nights. We, on the other hand, had a nice comfy lodge by the river to stay in and to reflect on the first day.
Up early again in the morning to go and walk them back for breakfast where more baskets of fruits were devoured, one at a time and very slowly. Our free time in the afternoon gave us an opportunity to be taken by songtauw about 5km up stream and
dropped off to float back down with the current in the cool clear
water, another great experience!
dropped off to float back down with the current in the cool clear
water, another great experience!
All in all we had 2 fabulous days to be close and personal and get to know some of the characters of these big gentle creatures....a great privilege!
All that is left is to get on a plane home...
Elephants World at Kanchanaburi is a responsible sanctuary and should not be confused with any other organisation that uses elephants for tourism of which unfortunately Thailand has many!
Until the next adventure you might want to keep an eye on
Andromedaonthelancastercanal.blogspot.co.uk
Last song by the Toy Dolls
Last song by the Toy Dolls
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