Last Day in Ao Nang - Monkey(less) Beach and Elephants
For our last day in Ao Nang, we went on a bit of an excursion to Monkey Beach. We'd heard from a few visitors that at the south end of the main beach, there is a steep cliff where monkeys live and a beach they frequent. So off we set to see some stupid monkeys...
What we didn't know is that much like Ashley, monkeys don't enjoy the full heat of the day and spend the hottest parts of the morning and afternoon way up in the trees. So it turned out to be monkeyless monkey beach after all. Except for two Monkeyus Nerdus found directly on the path.
We decided to take a quick swim before we had to head back and prepare for our elephant trek. Rushing into the water I was very frustrated to find that even 15 metres or so away from shore it didn't cool down. Stupid ocean! You're supposed to be cold, not warm bath temperature! ARGH!
So I bought a frozen coconut juice instead on the way back to our resort.
The Elephant Sanctuary left me with conflicting feelings and considerations. I should have done my research online first and usually I'm pretty diligent when it comes to animal attractions. While none of the animals seemed mistreated, malnourished or unwell, I wasn't comfortable with the chains on some of the larger elephants and the picks used to pull and guide them. Plus, the terrain we "trekked" was very worn and muddy. It did not seem like an easy or enjoyable experience for the elephants schlepping through the mud.
After the short trek, we had the chance to feed our elephant some bananas.
Here's our gal being a total sweetheart and feeding her friend a banana instead of taking it for herself.
Next was the baby elephant show, which we certainly didn't sign up for when we booked. It was the most controversial part to me. The baby elephant was off in the jungle by itself and we learned does this show several times a day. I didn't like watching it forced to do circus tricks, especially as it took quite a bit of prompting and pushing by its trainer.
The part I was actually looking forward to was "and you can bathing it too" as described in our brochure. So into some fetid river water with a big elephant male to give him a scrub and a hug. Of course, I cut my foot wide open on a rock on my way in, because there's no better place than the elephant poop, bug, pesticide, and bacteria filled stagnant water to get an open flesh wound...
And of course stand up on his back.
I have to say, this elephant looked genuinely happy as we scrubbed his ears and splashed around. Look at his sleepy content eye. And he started blowing super fun surprise bubbles that I'm quite certain he kept doing because it made us laugh like toddlers.
Dripping wet, smelly and muddy, we actually ended up waiting about an hour for a ride back to town because our bus left without us and I'm fairly certain the other bus drives took one look at us and said "nope!". I think we ended up in a poor employee's actual car for the ride back. Sorry we dripped all over your seats!
After prolonged showers, we headed out for dinner to a tiny and sketchy looking hole in the wall I had wanted to try for a couple nights. I thought it was by far the best meal we'd had in Thailand! We finally got truly spicy green papaya salad, delicious squiddies, fresh fish, and authentic Pad Thai.
It's time to fly back to Bangkok bright and early tomorrow morning, so it's officially bye to Ao Nang and our beach and ocean adventures.
What we didn't know is that much like Ashley, monkeys don't enjoy the full heat of the day and spend the hottest parts of the morning and afternoon way up in the trees. So it turned out to be monkeyless monkey beach after all. Except for two Monkeyus Nerdus found directly on the path.
We decided to take a quick swim before we had to head back and prepare for our elephant trek. Rushing into the water I was very frustrated to find that even 15 metres or so away from shore it didn't cool down. Stupid ocean! You're supposed to be cold, not warm bath temperature! ARGH!
So I bought a frozen coconut juice instead on the way back to our resort.
The Elephant Sanctuary left me with conflicting feelings and considerations. I should have done my research online first and usually I'm pretty diligent when it comes to animal attractions. While none of the animals seemed mistreated, malnourished or unwell, I wasn't comfortable with the chains on some of the larger elephants and the picks used to pull and guide them. Plus, the terrain we "trekked" was very worn and muddy. It did not seem like an easy or enjoyable experience for the elephants schlepping through the mud.
After the short trek, we had the chance to feed our elephant some bananas.
Here's our gal being a total sweetheart and feeding her friend a banana instead of taking it for herself.
Next was the baby elephant show, which we certainly didn't sign up for when we booked. It was the most controversial part to me. The baby elephant was off in the jungle by itself and we learned does this show several times a day. I didn't like watching it forced to do circus tricks, especially as it took quite a bit of prompting and pushing by its trainer.
 |
| Did not enjoy... |
And of course stand up on his back.
I have to say, this elephant looked genuinely happy as we scrubbed his ears and splashed around. Look at his sleepy content eye. And he started blowing super fun surprise bubbles that I'm quite certain he kept doing because it made us laugh like toddlers.
 |
| Bye bye! |
Dripping wet, smelly and muddy, we actually ended up waiting about an hour for a ride back to town because our bus left without us and I'm fairly certain the other bus drives took one look at us and said "nope!". I think we ended up in a poor employee's actual car for the ride back. Sorry we dripped all over your seats!
After prolonged showers, we headed out for dinner to a tiny and sketchy looking hole in the wall I had wanted to try for a couple nights. I thought it was by far the best meal we'd had in Thailand! We finally got truly spicy green papaya salad, delicious squiddies, fresh fish, and authentic Pad Thai.
It's time to fly back to Bangkok bright and early tomorrow morning, so it's officially bye to Ao Nang and our beach and ocean adventures.
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