Best day we had in Thailand!
We did the elephant riding, floating market and sampran river tour. Our tour guide Ken was amazing! Picked us up from our AirBnB right on time and was very energetic and enthusiastic for our day and even had water for us! While we drove to our first destination which was the elephant riding he gave us an overview of the day and asked us what we expected of the tour and we’re looking forward to the most. He also was great at warning us about some of the pushy vendors at some of these locations and to not feel pressured to buy from them. On our way there he surprised us with a quick stop at a coconut farm to see how coconut sugar, milk and oil are cultivated and made. Ken and the driver were very respectful and let us keep belongings in the car and would lock it up so it’d be safe. The driver would always stay with the vehicle and they were very trustworthy.
Then we got to the elephant camp and Ken was able to get us ahead of the large crowd to be first in line and on time for the rest of our tour. Riding the elephant was fun, they are such huge and majestic creatures and you can buy bananas to feed them as you ride. However some do have chains on their feet to assure they don’t walk too fast and you go through a village of tiny houses where the mahut live in very humble conditions. They try to sell you jewelry made out of elephant teeth during the ride. This might be sad and upsetting for some people so just a fair warning. After the elephant ride you can also pay to have you picture taken with a liger or monkey. Definitely do the liger! Such a scary but cool experience and although he has a chain he was very playful and happy.
Then it was off to the floating market. A cool experience and Ken once again reminded us to not feel pressured to buy things while on the water (the tour guide stays behind). The vendors are very relentless and some even have hooks to pull your canoe towards them to buy. The entire market was full of tourists, although all the vendors are Thai, Thai people no longer come here to shop it seems. So it is quite tourist but still cool to see. After the ride we walked around the other part of the market and Ken was so nice and bought us mango with sticky rice, best I’ve ever had! We also took pictures with a slow loris which was cool! Lots of great souvineers to buy here and Ken made sure we haggled with them and tried to get us a good price.
Last was the sampran river side. It started raining on the way there so when we arrived they were waiting for us with large umbrellas to escort us to the buffet. There truly was something for everyone and very authentic Thai it was delicious! Then we went to the village to walk around and do workshops where we learned about harvesting silk, weaving, Thai boxing, making clay toys, thai dancing, Thai cooking, and more! Then they had a dance presentation which was so cool and fun to watch! This would be great for kids too! Then it was back to our hotel only we asked Ken and the driver and they were so nice to drop us off at Wat Arun (Temple of dawn) so we could keep sight seeing. This tour was amazing and the funnest day we had while in Thailand! We absolutely loved it and would definitely book a tour with them again!
Images of clients
