A truly memorable day - cerulean skies, scorching sun beating down on our backs .. we set out with no expectations and the day unfolded into something truly magical. Ah...truly experiencing days of heaven on earth when one was with the extended family, experiencing surprising adventures and overcoming fears to create unforgettable core memories filled with laughter and cheers!
Took Mr Tee's vans to go to the elephant sanctuary. This vast river greeted us...ah.. the gentle giants lounging in the river waiting for us!
Entering the sanctuary
Child labour
the cutest coolie
First up, we got to feed the elephants. They gave us two pails of food each. Erm the bananas had black patches and looked rotten so we were concerned about touching the rotting fruit and wondered if it was all right for the elephants to eat those...
The little ones did not fancy feeding the elephants who were truly excited to see us approaching
Mei told us to feed the tiniest elephant
There were two elephants who were really fast at snatching the food away from our hands and gobbling them up fast, so one poor elephant who was sandwiched between them hardly got any treats. Ha...so Papa made sure he fed that pitiful elephant
Tong looked like a Mexican in this yellow tunic top and straw hat
Mama did not want to touch the rotting bananas so I let them have their pick from the pail
Ah the brave Aden... The smaller kids and Jun did not want to try
Yanjie finally mustered the courage to try
Family photo with the gentle giant
Eryi Zhang getting a warm embrace from the elephant
Jun and the little ones were not too keen to be near the elephant
Orrr San Yi Zhang hugged the elephant too
Jie even got a wet kiss!
It was fun feeding the elephants!
It said bye and bowed to us. What a sweet creature.
Now, lecturing time...oh the guide handed dried elephant poop to Mama...EWWW
the silly Papa and Jie pretended to be eating SHIT
Checking out the elephant poop paper...hmmm...no smell...
She went through the process with us
She got some of them to have a try at making elephant poop paper and gave a specific instruction to just lift the frame up after dipping it in once...eh...none of the others followed the instruction, except for Jie, ha.... the guide said that if one dipped the frame in the solution multiple times, the paper would be too thick. Ah...so San Yi and San Yi Zahng said Jie was the ace student not only in school, but in everything else too. LOL
Knowledge gaining time! So the Asian elephant has two humps on its head and smaller ears compared to the African elephant...did you know that its gestation period is almost 2 years? The guide tried to point out the pregnant elephant to us and San Yi Zhang said his belly was swollen too. The guide joked that he was pregnant with twins.
San Yi and San Yi Zhang sat next to Jie as they wanted to be very serious students and answer questions correctly later..
Making special treats for the elephants. We had to split the banana into half, put some tamarind, salt and rice husks...
Ah only the adults were working
and Jie
Feeding the food we lovingly prepared to the elephants
They had fun making the loofah for the elephants...they had to put this slab of bark into a pulp
Mei looked soooo cute
It was really interesting. The smashed up bark would actually produce soap water when we swirled it around in the water vigorously! Natural soap!
We took the raft to the other side of the river
Series of photos from our guide Mr Tee
The mud was really slippery and squishy...I guessed it was mostly made up of elephant POOP
San Yi Zhang wanted to give San Yi a piggy back ride and both of them almost fell into the dirty water. LOL
The little ones had no taste for rough-it-out jungle adventures
Feeding the elephants who were relaxing on the other side of the river
Seeking shade from the merciless sun...it was always sunny in the day and rainy at night
The little ones stayed on the raft while some of us went into the river to bathe the elephants!
They were having a mud bath before going into the river
Er Yi Zhang did not want to risk getting his tee shirt wet so he went in without his shirt. We teased him saying that it was his first day at work as an elephant massage boy.
And we talked about how we would need to go for our 4-hand massage at night after this very strenuous day out in the sun
RIVER RAFTING
We had to take the pick-up to go to the launching point... little did we know what we were getting ourselves into...we thought it would be a safe, tame ride in a sturdy rubber boat down the river...and we would probably not get very wet...
We took the pick-up which had no seats so we had to stand throughout the journey. We asked Eryi to take this photo for us and Jun said we were aura farming (some youngster lingo for acting cooooolll)
We pretended we were playing a game and had to duck overhanging branches...it was most silly.
Three rubber rafts...all ready for the treacherous waters...
Bye, first raft to go off. We had a really cheerful and sunny captain who spoke good English
We thought it would be a smooth ride...but we did not expect the tricky rapids...
Imagine our shock when the icy water mercilessly splashed onto us when our raft was tossed around in the water like a rag doll
There was a part where we had to paddle together to get over some branches which were blocking the flow...Eryi's boat got stuck on the branches..hahaha
Then there was a part where we had to all tuck ourselves really low in the raft and we were thrown around by the tumultuous waters and it felt like one of those water rides we had at theme parks ha
The last stretch was a really calm and lulling one, so gently that Jie almost fell asleep!
I must say, it was one of the highlights of the trip. Mei was so bold and how lucky she was to experience this at the tender age of 6! Mum was only trying this for my very first time at 44!
BUATONG WATER FALL, also affectionately known as the sticky waterfall
So we had to take this steep flight of stairs down. Poor Waigong, it would be too taxing on him and Waipo stayed at the top of the waterfall with him
Mei was such an intrepid adventurer! Well, she was not supposed to be allowed up the falls...a sign stated that children aged 0-7 should not go up the waterfalls...but we took a risk..and Mei rose up admirably...
We went up the very first time so rapidly...WOAH...we were really scaling the waterfall like Spiderman...there were some parts which were slippery because of the moss that had grown on the rocks...but otherwise...the climb was really fun - strong gushing waters...what a welcome relief after being in the scorching sun for the entire day
Amazing photos...all thanks to Er Yi, our official photographer for the day. She brought a waterproof HP pouch along so her phone was safely kept in it for the entire day and she took these wonderful photos! Always our excellent staffer
San Yi had never liked such outdoors activities but she gamely joined everything today! Achievements unlocked : ) I guessed...Surrounded by love, we could find the courage to try new things, take bold steps, and create moments that would stay with us forever.
We did not consider how steep or dangerous it was, one careless step or a tiny miscalculation might land someone in serious injury...
Pumped with adrenaline, we were just intent on reaching the top...ha
well...these photos really gave me the shivers...gosh...the waterfall was STEEP
No regrets making the arduous long journey to this special place
Xiao Yi asked why we had not sent any photos in the group chat. I explained that Er Yi took a lot of photos and would need to return to the airbnb to use the wifi to spam us with the photos..heh...
We sent photos of Mei and Tong to her instead
And Er Yi sent this photo to her too
We ordered Macs for the children and went to the night market with Waipo to have dinner. Then Er Yi and Er Yi Zhang went with us for their very first 4-hand massage... well in a 4-hand massage, two therapists would synchronize their movements to massage the guest and it felt heavenly, as if one was sitting in a very comfortable massage chair...no...even way more awesome than that...
Well, Er Yi and Er Yi Zhang thoroughly enjoyed the massages and said it would be so boring to go back to the usual oil massage from now on...and they would always be looking out to see if the salon offered 4-hand massage on its menu hahaha....
The mango sticky rice was such a nice finishing touch to the really divine day. Would be a relaxing and slow-paced day tomorrow...we were halfway into our Chiang Mai trip...
There was something deeply special about having a close-knit family. We hoped that Xiaoyi and Uncle Cavan would be able to join us on the next trip to Xian in June 2026!
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