Day 120 Elephants and Longnecks 4 June 2012

Today we went on a true tourist excursion, an elephant safari combined with a visit to a hilltribe village, the Longneck Karen. After arriving at the elephant park we started off on a bamboo raft alongside the local village.

Next on the program was a bit of playing with the elephants and the elephant show, where one elephant truly mesmerized us by painting a perfect self-portrait!

Then we climbed on top of an elephant for an elephant safari that brought us to a little village. An ox cart brought us back again to the camp. Since the driver had some trouble controlling the oxen, we happily offered to take his place and assist him!

After lunch we visited the long neck Karen, a hilltribe from Burma that has no rights in Thailand. The women of the tribe extend their necks or rather lower their body by adding an extra ring to their neck whenever the bottom of their chin does not touch the top ring. They also choose for their daughters to do the neck rings and the process starts at age 4 or 5.

On our way back we made a quick stop at an orchid farm.