Ban Nakha

Yesterday was a day that we were all looking forward to on this trip. It was the day we were going on an excursion to the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary! We had to leave at 8:15am, so we got up early, hit the breakfast buffet, and went to the lobby to catch our van. The drive to the sanctuary wasn't too long and once we got to their office and checked-in, we hopped in the back of a truck and drove down to the sanctuary.

The sanctuary homes mature elephants that have visual and/or physical disablities due to them being used at logging camps or in shows. Once the logging camps and shows have no use for the elephants, they abandon them, and that is where the sanctuary comes into play. The sanctuary takes in the abandoned elephants and gives them a home that is free of neglect and abuse, and provides them with a large area to roam during the day.

At the sanctuary we were given some rubber boots to change into for when we walk through the area. The sanctuary provided snacks for us while we waited for all the scheduled visitors to arrive for the day, which was nice! The first step of the sanctuary was being able to feed 2 of the elephants there with baskets of fruit and veggies. It was a cool experience as the elephants just grab the food from your hands with their trunks. After that, we went out into the large area where the elephants roam and got to see them up close and learn about their backstories and how they arrived at the sanctuary. After walking around and seeing the elephants for an hour or two, we walked back to where we started for our provided lunch, and then took the van back to the resort after that. It was a really awesome experience and something we all enjoyed and thought was a highlight of the trip so far. If you ever find yourself in Thailand, we highly recommend going to one of these sanctuaries, but make sure that it is an ethical one and not one that mistreats the animals.

Once we arrived back at the resort, it was time to go for a swim and relax by the pool! It was such a nice afternoon cooling off after sweating our butts off at the sanctuary! Once again, we attended the swim-up bar where we enjoyed some cheap happy hour cocktails.

Once the evening rolled around, we took a free shuttle into the city to grab a meal in Patong. The shuttle dropped us off at a mall where we were surprised to see a little slice of back home, a Tim Horton's! We kept adventuring and walked down the main strip of Patong, which was... an experience... since it was mainly tons of people shoving flyers in your face trying to get you to visit whatever restaurant or activity they were advertising.

We got out of there and found a nice restaurant on a less busy street to eat dinner. Sarah was very happy to finally try the pineapple fried rice that she has been eyeing up at every place it's offered. It's presentation is very cool as it's served within the pineapple itself. After dinner, we grabbed some ice cream and took a walk on the beach until we got to a much less busy part of the city where it was less chaotic (and cheaper to get a cab back).

When we got back to the resort, it was pretty much just packing and heading to bed as we had a 5:00 wakeup for our flight to Chiang Mai the next morning.Read more