We signed up for an elephant excursion Monday afternoon, and it was great! Yizhen had ridden elephants before, in China I think, but he and I both enjoyed this outing.

A van picked us up at the hotel and took us and a few other people to Phunaka Krabi Elephant Trekking, probably a few miles away. It was like a small ranch in the forest. They had a half dozen or so elephants, as well as a fishery and some fields.

We started with the elephants right away, which involved going up a small set of stairs onto a platform the elephant parked next to. It was a bit weird climbing on, but it felt fairly stable.

We went on an elephant riding tour near Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand

The scariest part was probably crossing the river at the start, as the seat rocked pretty far down as the elephant looked for places to stand in the water.

We went on an elephant riding tour near Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand

Then we headed into a forest area with a few other elephants. We all took slightly different paths, but it was clearly a well traveled area since the ranch wasn’t that big. It was still big enough to get a small sense of adventure.

At one point our guide got off the elephant, leaving us to fend for ourselves. Thankfully he took my camera with him and took some pictures for us.

We went on an elephant riding tour near Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand

I loved how Yizhen was so sensitive with the elephant, petting her and being kind. I wasn’t mean to her, but sitting on her head was quite strange and she had some pretty rough and thick hairs all over her head, so it was a bit weird to touch her.

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The guide got back on, and we continued through the forest. He pointed out rubbery sap on some of the trees, and red ants swarming some plants.

Fire ants near Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand

We went on an elephant riding tour near Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand

We went on an elephant riding tour near Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand

Once we got back safely and climbed off our elephant friend, we got to feed her some cucumbers.

We went on an elephant riding tour near Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand

We went on an elephant riding tour near Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand

Then we went to a small hut and had a soda and relaxed a bit. They gave us a tour of the farm, and then they called the driver once we and the other couple there decided we were ready to leave. It was a great little trip!