Another quick stop in Chiang Mai and a beautiful (and very windey) bus around the hills of northern Thailand to reach the hippie hang out of Pai. Think a less bogan version of Nibin and old Byron Bay-esque with a little bit of Thai thrown in and a lot of health food restaurants and you’ve got Pai. Reunited with my gal pals we ate lunch on swings, I was blown away with the healthy, organic food choices and caught up on the last two weeks worth of stories!

Local eateries and non-English menus serving up the best (and very spicy) khao soi!

Last stop on the jungle adventures we hoped on one of those rafts to the left and floated along the river atop a bamboo structure. Along the way we had elephants bathing themselves just a meter from the raft! It was incredible!!

And yep this cheeky bugger is doing exactly what you think he is…

Morally I didn’t want to ride an elephant. I actually had selected to trek for the second day of my trip but after a nasty fall and painful graze of skin off my knee (as well as the only person who had selected the two day trekking option) I was forced to come along with the rest of the group to the elephant camp. Instead I just sat and watch and fed the free roaming elephants grass.

Since the pet monkey in Cambodia I have not been a fan of monkeys at all (ask Jay!). But this was the most adorable monkey and it was so sad that he was in a cage running around like a maniac!

Bat cave trawling…