Chaing Mai

Our zoo trip was a lot of fun we saw hippos and

pandas. There were lots of other animals as well. After the zoo we headed to the night market to do a little shopping.... my favorite activity

We got up this morning to go on a day trek. There are heaps of them here but it was hard to find that we could do without feeling like we were being careless tourists. We finally settled on elephant riding, hiking and white water rafting. On the ride to the elephant camp we encountered a school parade, they were excited to see a car full of farang (foreigners)

CJ and I on our elephant

We fed the elephants bananas

and they sucked them up with their trunks and then put them in their mouths, it was really cute

an adorable baby elephant

Our hike was good but there were a number of rather narrow logs to cross

but the waterfall and the swim at the end made it all worth it

Then we went white water rafting and got really wet.

It was super fun and a great way to spend a day. Even though the treks are touristy I am glad we went on one because it meant that we got to see some things we never would of been able to see on our own. We avoided the ones that we felt were exploitive to the animals or to the local people and this one was not to bad. Tomorrow is cooking school and probably more shopping, then Saturday is our last day here and on Sunday we head into Laos. Getting to Luang Prabang will be adventure, I'll keep you posted.