Yeah, the title sort of says it all! The second half of our Phuket adventures started out stellar, like it couldn't possibly be beat and that in fact was true.
We started our day on Friday morning in search of the 'elephant guy'. In Jen's comprehensive research and hours spent looking at adventures to get into, she came across a post about 'some guy' who brings elephants to a beach on some Fridays and you can swim with them. You basically show up to this place and hope for the best that it's your lucky day. There's no telling what time he shows up or how long he stays, but we decided to take a chance. It's always an adventure when we tag along with Jen! The first thing we did was tell the driver what beach we were going to, and then asked if he heard about the elephant guy. He looked at us like we were crazy, but seemed up to the task to helping us find it. :-) We basically followed archaic signs posted along the road that pointed to elephants. Then we came across this road that I'm sure the cab driver had INSTANT REGRET. It was so bumpy and full of holes that it scraped the bottom of his car a few times, but there was really no going back because it was impossible to turn around. It went down at a steep 90 degree angle, but he wasn't giving up. I think we peaked his curiosity. LOL As we came to the bottom of the hill, this was the sight we saw! Wait, what??? OMG, there they are!! We couldn't get down the hill fast enough.
We started our day on Friday morning in search of the 'elephant guy'. In Jen's comprehensive research and hours spent looking at adventures to get into, she came across a post about 'some guy' who brings elephants to a beach on some Fridays and you can swim with them. You basically show up to this place and hope for the best that it's your lucky day. There's no telling what time he shows up or how long he stays, but we decided to take a chance. It's always an adventure when we tag along with Jen! The first thing we did was tell the driver what beach we were going to, and then asked if he heard about the elephant guy. He looked at us like we were crazy, but seemed up to the task to helping us find it. :-) We basically followed archaic signs posted along the road that pointed to elephants. Then we came across this road that I'm sure the cab driver had INSTANT REGRET. It was so bumpy and full of holes that it scraped the bottom of his car a few times, but there was really no going back because it was impossible to turn around. It went down at a steep 90 degree angle, but he wasn't giving up. I think we peaked his curiosity. LOL As we came to the bottom of the hill, this was the sight we saw! Wait, what??? OMG, there they are!! We couldn't get down the hill fast enough.
He asked us if we wanted him to wait, and I looked around and said, well there's no way we are getting out of here without you, so yes, please wait for us! I wasn't sure how long we were going to be, and it apparently didn't matter to him because he was so curious about the elephant himself that he came down to the beach with us and started taking his own pictures. LOL Lilly Bea was the first one to approach the elephants, she didn't even hesitate. She went right up to one of them and was eager to join in on the fun. Bridget was the observer, she was equally as thrilled but not quite as brave as Lilly Bea. She figured she'd let Lilly Bea be the guinea pig and since the elephant didn't trample her, then she went toward the other elephant. It was such a surreal moment, I can't even describe the feeling of seeing both girls just go up to the elephants and love on them. I asked the owner if the girls could swim with them, and before I know it, the little elephant starts swimming out in the ocean and Bridget goes into the water and follows and gets on him!! OMG! My kid is riding on an elephant in the ocean and he's headed out to sea. LOL The trainer had to swim out to get him to come back to the shallow part of the beach. Then Lilly Bea got on her elephant and away they went just swimming, riding and playing with the elephants. Bridget got up on the trunk of her elephant and posed and then wiped out. Lilly Bea got talked into grabbing the top of the elephant's head and before she knew it, he took his trunk, suctioned her butt and lifted her off and over his entire body and down she went into the water. She literally looked like a spider monkey taking a nose dive. She didn't seem too phased by it and everyone had a good laugh. Posted below you will find the YouTube videos that we uploaded showing the entire adventure. I still can't believe this happened. In fact, our intention was to do one of those elephant excursions where you trek through the jungle on top of an elephant in one of those carriers, but after this experience, our trip was literally complete. This was so natural, and playful and loving, and the elephants looked like they were well taken care of. We just couldn't imagine now going on one of those trekking excursions, it seemed almost inhumane.
After the elephant swim, we headed back to the hotel to check out and get our luggage and asked the cab driver if he would take us to our next destination to a place on the other side of the island called Boat Lagoon Resort. He had a confused look on his face and said that there won't be much to do there and wondered why we would stay there? LOL We explained that we needed something a little low key after our stay in Patong. It was so loud and crowded there that we just wanted a change of pace. We also told him that we wanted to check out Bang Pae waterfalls and he said he could take us. So we went to the new hotel, which was GORGEOUS, checked into our rooms, and then off we went to Bang Pae. It was definitely off the beaten path, and again we would definitely not be able to find a cab back, so we asked him to stay and wait for us. He was more than happy to do that. I think not only did he want the $$, but he also wanted to see what adventure we would get into next. It was definitely not his normal cab driving day, and we were not his normal patrons. LOL
After a little hike up the mountain, we came across the falls, so incredibly beautiful and magnificent, and also VERY, very COLD! Man, that mountain water sure is chilly! There was a little rock climbing involved in order to get the falls, but they were really beautiful. The shear force of the water is really incredible as well. In that same area of at the bottom of the falls is an area called the Gibbons Rehabilitation Project which was funded and created to protect the Gibbons monkeys and help them acclimate back in the wild. It was really interesting to talk to the person about the project and what it all meant. There are hundreds of baby gibbons taken when they are young and used as tourist attractions on Phuket because people will pay to have their photo taken with a monkey. Unfortunately this causes a loss of their habitat and are used in the illegal pet market. They say that for each cute baby gibbon you see at a market or at the beach had it's mother shot by poachers. The baby gibbons are often fed soda and chips and scraps and that's what they are being raised on. So this project tries to rescue them and teach them how to live in the wild and be with other gibbons monkeys again and then they are released back into the wild. It was quite interesting to read and hear and definitely made us think about the monkeys we have been seeing around town who look very malnourished, are chained up, etc. :-(
After the waterfalls and the monkey habitat, we headed back down the mountain and the cab driver pointed out the elephant trekking adventure which was at the bottom of the hill. We stopped in to check it out and instantly felt so good about not going on that excursion. It just didn't feel right after our own elephant experience that same morning. I think even our cab driver agreed! LOL We asked him to take a photo of us, and he thought we meant for HIM to take out photo, but we really just wanted a photo with him in it as well, and he was shocked but was smiling. He was a really small guy, not much bigger than Bridget and really funny. He took us back to the hotel afterwards and we enjoyed the rest of the day sitting by the pool and relaxing and getting to know our way around the property. We basically had the place all to ourselves, it was wonderful! It's situated on a beautiful marina, that I'm guessing is for the VERY, VERY wealthy. Some of these boats looked like they were easily millions of dollars. We also noticed that the people who seemingly lived on the property and vacationed there were mainly tourists from the UK and Australia. There were also some private charter boats out of that same marina that we decided we would check out the next day to another of the nearby islands.
Unfortunately as the day turned into night, so did the mood and our plans went down the toilet. Literally. Yes, just after dinner, I started feeling very ill and I was down for the count. I didn't know whether to sit on the toilet or hug it. Not a pretty sight. I couldn't figure out what I could have eaten, but my body definitely decided to reject it and violently I might add. Afterwards, I felt much better and good as knew, unfortunately as the next day arrived, Lilly Bea was next, then just a few hours later Bridget went down for the count. We thought that Jen had managed to avoid it, but just a few hours later it hit her too. Poor thing! It's her birthday today and she basically spent it near or next to the toilet. We haven't quite figured out what the common denominator has been other than possibly the pineapple we all had or the water we have been consuming the past couple of days that is in sealed water bottles. However, I'm thinking the water bottles are filled here in Phuket and the water definitely had an odd taste.
So pretty much the rest of our time here has been spent taking it VERY easy and no more adventures in Phuket. I think we are all looking forward to exploring Singapore now. We head back tomorrow and will start back to school as well as a three week engagement of Annie!! We will for sure be busy, but I know that we will definitely have some adventures in Singapore so stay tuned! We have created a new album just for our Asia adventures so check out the Annie pics page!
After the elephant swim, we headed back to the hotel to check out and get our luggage and asked the cab driver if he would take us to our next destination to a place on the other side of the island called Boat Lagoon Resort. He had a confused look on his face and said that there won't be much to do there and wondered why we would stay there? LOL We explained that we needed something a little low key after our stay in Patong. It was so loud and crowded there that we just wanted a change of pace. We also told him that we wanted to check out Bang Pae waterfalls and he said he could take us. So we went to the new hotel, which was GORGEOUS, checked into our rooms, and then off we went to Bang Pae. It was definitely off the beaten path, and again we would definitely not be able to find a cab back, so we asked him to stay and wait for us. He was more than happy to do that. I think not only did he want the $$, but he also wanted to see what adventure we would get into next. It was definitely not his normal cab driving day, and we were not his normal patrons. LOL
After a little hike up the mountain, we came across the falls, so incredibly beautiful and magnificent, and also VERY, very COLD! Man, that mountain water sure is chilly! There was a little rock climbing involved in order to get the falls, but they were really beautiful. The shear force of the water is really incredible as well. In that same area of at the bottom of the falls is an area called the Gibbons Rehabilitation Project which was funded and created to protect the Gibbons monkeys and help them acclimate back in the wild. It was really interesting to talk to the person about the project and what it all meant. There are hundreds of baby gibbons taken when they are young and used as tourist attractions on Phuket because people will pay to have their photo taken with a monkey. Unfortunately this causes a loss of their habitat and are used in the illegal pet market. They say that for each cute baby gibbon you see at a market or at the beach had it's mother shot by poachers. The baby gibbons are often fed soda and chips and scraps and that's what they are being raised on. So this project tries to rescue them and teach them how to live in the wild and be with other gibbons monkeys again and then they are released back into the wild. It was quite interesting to read and hear and definitely made us think about the monkeys we have been seeing around town who look very malnourished, are chained up, etc. :-(
After the waterfalls and the monkey habitat, we headed back down the mountain and the cab driver pointed out the elephant trekking adventure which was at the bottom of the hill. We stopped in to check it out and instantly felt so good about not going on that excursion. It just didn't feel right after our own elephant experience that same morning. I think even our cab driver agreed! LOL We asked him to take a photo of us, and he thought we meant for HIM to take out photo, but we really just wanted a photo with him in it as well, and he was shocked but was smiling. He was a really small guy, not much bigger than Bridget and really funny. He took us back to the hotel afterwards and we enjoyed the rest of the day sitting by the pool and relaxing and getting to know our way around the property. We basically had the place all to ourselves, it was wonderful! It's situated on a beautiful marina, that I'm guessing is for the VERY, VERY wealthy. Some of these boats looked like they were easily millions of dollars. We also noticed that the people who seemingly lived on the property and vacationed there were mainly tourists from the UK and Australia. There were also some private charter boats out of that same marina that we decided we would check out the next day to another of the nearby islands.
Unfortunately as the day turned into night, so did the mood and our plans went down the toilet. Literally. Yes, just after dinner, I started feeling very ill and I was down for the count. I didn't know whether to sit on the toilet or hug it. Not a pretty sight. I couldn't figure out what I could have eaten, but my body definitely decided to reject it and violently I might add. Afterwards, I felt much better and good as knew, unfortunately as the next day arrived, Lilly Bea was next, then just a few hours later Bridget went down for the count. We thought that Jen had managed to avoid it, but just a few hours later it hit her too. Poor thing! It's her birthday today and she basically spent it near or next to the toilet. We haven't quite figured out what the common denominator has been other than possibly the pineapple we all had or the water we have been consuming the past couple of days that is in sealed water bottles. However, I'm thinking the water bottles are filled here in Phuket and the water definitely had an odd taste.
So pretty much the rest of our time here has been spent taking it VERY easy and no more adventures in Phuket. I think we are all looking forward to exploring Singapore now. We head back tomorrow and will start back to school as well as a three week engagement of Annie!! We will for sure be busy, but I know that we will definitely have some adventures in Singapore so stay tuned! We have created a new album just for our Asia adventures so check out the Annie pics page!
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