...and damn good looking too.
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We continued through the mountains, a few miles from the crazy Burmese...
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...until we reached the elephant village!
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The locals take care of a small herd of working elephants...
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...who can't WAIT for the westerners to come ride them!
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You can see the raw excitement in his eyes. (And chain on his foot)
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The naughty baby elephant got quite grabby...
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...but was too cute to get mad at!
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But when he started charging me...
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...Kristoffer distracted him with more bananas.
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After bananas it was their favorite part - carrying our white asses around!
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I was still rocking my stylin' jungle hat...
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...and even the baby came along for the fun!
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We followed a stream down a narrow path...
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...crossed it and continued on the other site...
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...up another stream (notice how chair is attached! Poor chap!)
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This uphill portion was scarily thin - but they're incredibly nimble!
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The rider would sometimes sit on his head.
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Again, the steepness is hard to see! But it was rugged!
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Ultimately fun, but not really necessary. We could have easily walked.
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My intrepid explorer face BIGTIME beats Kris's. Any day.
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Over the hills and past farms...
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...to the village where they made our bamboo rafts!
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We sit by the river near the failed attempts.
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VIP digs 2. The jacuzzI and minibar is only my left.
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Anders examines the walls for holes. Seems airtight.
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The bridge to the adjoining village...
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...a curious looking albino fellow.
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Roosters - they never shut up. Even 3am. Stupid animals.
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The next days rice is de-husked by a young girl.
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Food for the entire village is cooked together. Hope you like green mango.
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The local soccer pitch, grass was but a dream of the wet season.
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The neighbor looks dangerous and horny. The worst combination.
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I now understand the expression "Cock of the walk". Idiots.
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Massage time by the locals - I give them 4/10 on the DMS.
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But the candlelight factor bumped it up to 5 (Doug's Massage Scale)
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I found Martine's story AMAZING!
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After a FRIGID night we futilely warm by the breakfast embers.
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Thai sorts out a fresh cut before the rafting trip :(
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6 hours, many capsizes and many blisters later we made it to the end!
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(Thanks to Bin Laden who steered us quite well)
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We finally reached the river side village, bruised and battered.
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The boats were about 25 feet long and 3 feet wide!
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The ride home was excruciatingly cramped - but we survived!
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The Scandanavian Trek Posse.
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