So Chiang Mai was very interesting! The first afternoon we got there we borrowed bikes from the hotel and rode around the old city. It was very very warm. We ended up at some Carolinian restaurant named duke's, yes the owner is a duke fan.
The next day We got picked up early Saturday morning and took an hour drive up into the mountains. There we signed our lives away, as we did on the safari, and then were told to never feed the elephants only 1 banana, always bunches! haha. We were given proper elephant attire, which is made my the wives of the elephant farmers. We talked to for about 30 min. about how this elephant farm was just to breed and take care of elephants, not for show and we would be their 'trainer' for the day and it was our job to clean them, feed them, and take care of them. Then, we were each allocated our own elephant and trainer for the day. I was given Teep (trainer) and elephant (LoKoSun). I had the little brother of burr's elephant who I cannot remember the name of. aren't his tusks big and scary - he is only 6!
First we did the "health inspection" and they literally wanted me to count how many times the elephant went to the bathroom - this is me, watching my trainer count saying um...I'm not so sure about that....the rest of the group is watching.
Then we had to feed the elephants a basket of bananas. When I say feed, I mean stick your ENTIRE hand in the elephant's mouth and it licks you!!! yes you put the banana on the tongue of the elephants! then you pat it on the head and say "DD" - which means good boy/good girl. 
Burr's elephant was a little grumpy to say the least....haha....the trainer was yelling at it all day! 
Riding the elephants was really fun, but we are super sore! We rode them for at least 2 hours up and down and mountain. Getting up on them was the best part, I got up via the trunk - so fun! I need to upload more pics.
Us eating lunch. I had some interesting fruit which tasted like grapefruit but looked like a wood ball the size of a ping pong, I know I wish I knew the name too! hahaha. There was fried chicken, which Burr said tasted like Frances' and since I'm allergic to peanuts, I stayed away from the chicken. There was also a TON of different rice dishes. Rice with cocoa, Rice with coconut, Rice with banana, plain rice, Rice pilaf, etc. etc. I sat next to this little boy named Reese, who I think liked burr more than me...just like little Eleanor! 
Burr feeding his elephant.see his hand all the way in! yikes.It was an amazing experience to see the.....we are very glad we did it. We also went swimming with them and I will add those pics too.
We are now in laos. Its so quiet and amazing here. This morning we woke up at 4;55am to see the monks! We watched all the people feed them as they walked to temple. Can you believe the monks had already chanted and meditated for an hour before we arrived.
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