1st, we went to visit a butterfly and orchid garden. the flowers were absolutely breathtaking! orchids are one of my favorite flowers (after 1. red tulips, my absolute favorite and 2. light pink peonies). I could not stop taking pictures of them. I could have spent hours in there looking around. the butterfly garden was okay. there weren't many in there, but still beautiful nonetheless.
beautiful orchids
*love the lighting and colors on these photos
me in the orchid garden (& something going wacky with my tank top. thanks backpack :)
one of the few butterflies i saw
after there we went on to the mountain where we were going to trek. we started walking in the heat for quite awhile and were able to visit a hill tribe. it was kinda interesting.... i couldn't quite believe they were a legit tribe due to the satellite dish on top of the hut. hmmm...
but at least the monkey was cute :)
after the hill tribe visit we walked quite a ways through some beautiful hills, trees and small rivers. the scenery was just gorgeous. i was missing my good nature pals trey and AJ! i was thinking of them the whole time i did this adventure (you'd be happy to know, boys :) we got see a cabbage field where some villagers were working (after walking basically a straight up incline, rough!).
next, (yes, the trekking list continues, and this is all before lunch time!) we were able to go on an elephant ride (AGAIN!). this time though, we did not have to guide the elephant and we sat on a big metal seat. it was just a relaxing time to see the scenery. we were at the same elephant camp we were at the day before so we felt like pros :)
after the elephant ride we got in van and traveled to the river for our white water rafting and bamboo adventure! there are no pictures of this because i obviously didn't want to get my camera wet by chance. i have been white water rafting before in tennessee a couple times but thailand was just awesome! i would say the rapids were about the same, but, hello! i'm in thailand doing it! that just upped the value quite a bit. i can't knock the mountain view in TN though, it's beautiful as well. after the rafting, we transferred to a bamboo raft. for some odd reason, which im still super confused about, the guide made me get on a bamboo without my group mates (jacqueline and the other people in our tour group)! he also made me steer it and lead the raft down river. so, picture this. I am standing on the front of this HUGE bamboo raft in about 2 feet of water with 3 asian girls, 1 huge German guy, oh ... and Jacq was able to get on last minute. i felt like an amazon woman and the asian girls kept saying "oh, you're our hero!!! so brave!!" it was the best! it was really fun. I even had to get off the raft and get us unstuck. i was seriously the guide.
still, no clue why i was chosen. haha
after the rafting adventure, it was a long ride back on a crowded song tow (open air truck type van-ish taxi :) i was going in and out of sleep. it was an exhausting but great day!
oh and we visited a small waterfall.
ALL IN ONE DAY!
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