We were in Patong Beach. Unsurprisingly, there are not a lot of things you can do there, if you are not into sunbathing or hookers.

So we went on a day trip to Khao Lak, an area north of Phuket Island. A minivan picked us up, along with a family from South Africa. The first stop was for elephant trekking. When we booked the tour, we looked forward to this. But as soon as we saw the row of chained elephants, waiting to be ridden, something changed. While we were being carried up a hill, gently swayed left and right, we could only feel the guilt for supporting this sort of tourism. The only part we enjoyed was feeding the elephant some bananas afterwards.

The tour continued with lunch, served in an open air restaurant, surrounded by lotus lakes and rice fields.

We gon an intro into how rubber is being made.

For the final part of the trip, I had to leave my camera behind. We trekked through a bamboo forest, up to a waterfall. The area looked remote and untouched by humans, even though we got there after 10 minutes of walking. The small group size added to this sensation.

The waterfall had 3 or 4 levels. Somewhere between the middle levels, there was a (relatively) flat area that was appropriate for swimming. We played there for a while – we had no watches of phones to check the time.

When we had enough, we climbed down to the base of the waterfall. Our guides were waiting for us, along with water tubes.They gave us helmets and life vests. They also gave us instructions on how to “operate” the tubes. All I remember after the training session was that, if I get stuck, I should try and bounce off. Didn’t figure out how to do that yet. Luckily, there was no need for complicated maneuvers.

So we finished the day tubing down a secluded river, through a bamboo forest, somewhere in South East Asia… What a cliche… What a great experience…