Charlie paints a picture

And then we have Charlie, the painting elephant. And I bought one of his paintings. For 10$ it was totally worth the experience.

The painting:

 And the experience:

Hugs...

And then... what the heck.

Elephant kisses.

The Phuket Zoo - Elephants

I think the elephants was my favorite part of the zoo. We got our picture taken with the star of the show. I forgot her name. But she was fun and had a very hairy head.

They are such large, strong animals.

 They are also very smart.

The we went to watch the show.

The captive crowd. There were a few groups of students there who were fun to watch as the shows happened.

One of the little shows was racing elephants. They put out 3 bowling pins in a line and they had to retrieve them all back to the beginning and put them in the basket. The one farther away pulls a tricky move though. Watch for it.

To Continue my trip.

I am skipping back a few days. After riding the adult elephants, we went over the babies and watched them perform for us. I say babies, but they are 3 and 5 years old.

They were so cute. Then I got to feed them.

I had so much fun. If I was in love with elephants before, now I am enamored.

They posed for pictures after their little show. Do you like our mini-mart clothes? I actually do love the linen shirts. The dress was a spaghetti trap so I felt more comfortable with the shirt over top.

After the elephant stuff we were shown a few things. Like rubber tree tapping.

 They cut a small rut around the side of the tree and the rubber sap runs down around and into that cup. It is the oddest feeling stuff. It's hard to believe that rubber is a natural occurring substance.

 While watching the presentation about pressing the rubber this cat decided it needed Daniel's full attention and hopped up on his lap.

Then they showed us the plowing of the fields with the water buffalo.

 They use water buffaloes because they can thrive in the mucky moist swamp lands that they use to farm rice in.

 

Then we got to ride in the cart. Daniel just kept hoping the animal wouldn't pass gas.

This was our view:

Cute, huh?

 

Rice in various stages.

We also saw how they work with coconuts, how they shell the rice and we got to taste some coconut pancakes. They were very good.

Then were driven down to Chalong Bay port and ride the boat and eat dinner while cruising the bay.
We rode in an open jeep. It was awesome.

Today was great.

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, here are 5,000 words for you.

 Yes, that's a real elephant.

 My new babies.

 Our new kitty.

Beautiful Sunset.

And my favorite:

Elephant kisses from Charlie.

He painted that painting I bought.

What do you think? Good vacation? I think so.