Elephant riding on the Island
Ready to go
Having just returned recently from a nice island visit on Koh Chang, as Chang is Thai for the word Elephant we thought it would be nice to go elephant riding there. Koh Chang is located in the Gulf of Thailand, about 300km east of Bangkok in the Trat province, pretty close to the Cambodian border. It's about half a days journey there from the city as you have to take a short 20min ferry from the mainland. The island itself is too hilly to have an airport, it is the 2nd largest island in Thailand, behind Phuket. We spent a week here, mostly relaxing on the beach, and it was time for some adventure so we head into the hills to meet our rides for the day. Half way though the ride the Mahout asked me if I wanted to ride on the Elephants neck, no hesitation, two seconds later I climbed out of the seat and slid right down. This is the best way to ride an elephant, and I have to say, if you have the chance find a place where you ride on the elephant and not on the seat. Way more fun! After the ride we got to hang out a bit for a close encounter and feed our elephants bananas. Having them take them from your hand with their trunk!
Bananas for the elephants
And the best part!
Riding on the neck