Magical Day in Thailand

Today was one of the those days that you just are pinching yourself to see if it is dream!  We started the day with a massage in a little spa building way up on the hill.  There were two walls and the rest was open to the nature around us.  (No we did not think to bring the camera)  Two tiny Thai women walked in and I thought it will be a nice light massage. . .very relaxing.  We fill out a form about our preferences and I mark firm pressure. . .thinking that will be okay. . .whoa baby!  I was wrong about that. . .this woman jumped onto the table and she was powerhouse!!  After I got over the shock of how strong she was I settled in for a lovely massage combining thai, reflexology, and a scalp massage!  Heaven!

Our tent from the outside

 We came back to our tent and had the pleasure of relaxing in the tent for an hour or so before showering and going to lunch.  We sat out on the porch and watched some people come back from their elephant trek.

Walking path that runs the length of the resort

 On our way to lunch we happened to see this guy carving something so we went over for a closer look. . .he was carving forks and knives that we had used the day before in our picnic lunches!!  He was working on a fork in this picture.

Making a fork for picnic lunches!

 These pots are everywhere on the grounds and in each one they float a flower arrangement in them.  Each set of pots has a different design. . . I may copy this at home!

Flower arrangements in pots Everywhere!

 We had a great lunch and then it was off to the Elephant Camp to see the baby elephant.  Okay baby anything are adorable but this little guy was so cute you just wanted to squeeze him!  He has the longest black hair on the top of his head and on his back.  He was playing with these tires like it was a rattle!

Baby playing with tires

 Here he is with Jeanna trying to suck her pant leg as she rubbed his head!  His little trunk as very soft but already at 9 months old he is very strong!

Jeanna petting baby

He totally sucked my shirt into his trunk!  I was laughing trying to get my shirt out and as soon as I did he sucked in another part of my shirt!  He was so curious and playful that it just made you smile!

Baby trying to suck in my shirt

As we were leaving the mahout took them to get a bath and give them some water.  The baby ran for the water as soon as the mahout opened the pen!  The mahout squirted the elephants with water and then filled their trunks up with water so they could drink.  The baby grabbed the hose away form him several time!

Bath time

 Both elephants loved the water, I swear that you could hear their joy!  The baby was so happy that it laid down and rolled in the water!

They love the water

After the elephants we went to the Opium Museum.  The King of Thailand has done many initiatives to substitute productive crops in place of the opium fields that use to cover this area known as the Golden Triangle.  The museum was extremely well done, almost disney-like, clearly it is a propaganda device to discourage the use of opium/heroin by the people but still very well done.

Again, we forgot the camera for the most magical dinner ever!!!  We had signed up for this special dinner called "The Elephant Camp Dinner" because of two of our friends who were here in November.  They said it was a "must do"!  I was thinking really how great could it be. . .okay it was the dinner of a lifetime!!!  I was waiting for Jeanna in the Burma Bar and while I was waiting for her I looked over to where the Elephant Camp was and there must have been 100 candles lit around the camp!  I realized that was where we were going to have dinner!  We walked up the lighted pathway and we were greeted by two elephants and we fed them sugar cane!  We said good night to them as they were going out to the jungle for the night.  We looked up and saw a beautifully set table for two surrounded by candle light and columns of fresh flowers.  There was live Thai music off to the side and a welcome champagne toast!  We were treated to a five course meal especially prepared for our picky taste buds. . .it was delicious.  After desert our guide came over and told us we were going to set off fire lanterns (think of the ending in the movie Tangled)!  We released 10 fire lanterns and made wishes on all of them.  We watched them drift way up into the sky filled with a million stars!  It was incredible!

So all in all today was one smile after another. . . a beautiful last day in Thailand.  Tomorrow morning we leave at 5:30am for our trip to Bhutan where more wonders wait for us there!