Half way through our elephant park stay it finally hits the group, that this is our last week of this amazing trip. Our group shifts into a new gear. We work extra hard, learn as much as we can, and take in all the beautiful sights surrounding us. Yolanda loves the food served at elephant nature park, she is quite enthusiastic about Thailand food and bravely tries everything they have. During our last few days at the park we get to play with puppies, they have over 400 of them here! Kevin is a animal fan. He spends his extra time learning all he can about the elephants at this park. And we always catch him playing with the dogs and cats. We enjoy other activities like, tubing down a river, planting trees, giving the elephants baths, and watching our favourite dog “Dee Dee” perform his tricks for us. He has become great pals with Wyatt. We regrettably leave the park and head off to Chiang Mai. For our last day in the city we play a mock game of “the amazing race” our group splits up into two teams, each with objectives to accomplish around the city. Tilly took the lead with her group offering great suggestions, asking directions, and keeping an enthusiastic attitude even when we would get lost a lot! We had a really nice banquet at a Thailand garden style restaurant. Graham is a very outgoing and brave person and immerses himself in the culture.
We leave Chiang Mai early the next morning and head to our final destination:Bangkok. We have to get on a 15 hour night train ride. Isabel and Kristina love this part of our travel because it is so unique and one of those Thailand experiences you just have to dive into to fully appreciate. And they do just that. We reach Bangkok early the next morning and eat a quick lunch then head straight to the Power of Peace House Meditation Center! We try our hand at meditation and have a teacher monk teach us the ways. Alex is a natural, he had a great experience telling us how relaxed, and incredible he felt. We took a group photo with the teacher monk and left for our last hotel.
It has a pool! The group was so happy to find out our hotel has a pool and spent most of their free time swimming. We wake up for our last day in Thailand and spend the day sight seeing. The Royal Palace and Emerald Buddha, reclining Buddha, Wat Arun, markets, etc. Adeline scored a great shot of some really adorable kittens storing away at the Royal Palace. Maybe they were the kings kittens. We had a great time at our Banquet reminiscing about our trip, experiences, and how much we will miss eachother. Its our last night, we are tired and settling down for an early rise in the morning to fly home. Its been a great adventure sure to stick with us in our own unique way. But we will all remember Thailand as a beautiful, magical country that we got to experience with people that we will never forget. |