Elephants have hair?? Who knew?

Oh the things I learned today....
#1. Elephants are really hairy. I rode one (more about that later) and they have so much hair!
#2. Elephants are ridiculously smart. They can do so much stuff. Including paint a wonderful picture. Probably better at painting than me too.
#3. I learned the definition of lazy river.
#4. Thai hats are a must when "poleing a bamboo raft down a river".
#5. Verizon Wireless needs to take a lesson from the Thai cell phone companies. They helped about 20 of us get cell phones and set them up and put minutes on them all in about 15 min. And there was only 2 workers... America, it is time to switch to "CitiPhone".
#6. Always always bring toilet paper.

Wow... it's been an intense day. And it's only 5 o'clock at night!
First let me start with my trip over here. Our first flight was delayed out of JFK. Don't know why, but it was. We sat on the plane for like an hour and a half. Just sitting. And China Airlines boarding process is quite hilarious. They first started with first class, then moved on to rows 47 and higher. They did that for quite a while, and then all the sudden they say "everyone else can board". Talk about a mad rush for the gate. It was insane. All the sudden people just started rushing at the ticket guy. This was huge plane to. 3, then 4, then 3 again. I was next to two other people on this trip. So that was nice. And then I basically slept the entire way to Thailand. It was a nice LONG nap. We met up with the rest of the group in Taipei. Boarded in the same strange way. 47 and higher, and then EVERYONE! Another large plane. We went through customs in Bangkok and got on yet another LARGE plane. I thought it would be small since it was only a 55 min flight, but it was 2, 4 then 2 again. The seats were all multi-color. I slept again on that flight. We made it to Chiang Mai finally and were greeted with leis of jasper and some "Thai Buddies". They are the CMU students that will help us and show us around. We went to the Sinthana Resort and checked in. Then we were given a calender for the entire 4 months that we will be here and an envelop filled with 1000 baht (that's the Thai money). Later we went to a Western Buffet for dinner. Though we all wanted Thai food. We had french fries (still very weird to me that like everywhere we go they have french fries), beef, chicken or pork, lettace and veggies and fruit. We were all exhausted though and I went to bed at the wonderful hour of 8:00pm!

Now onto today... We ate breakfast (which the Thai people don't really have breakfast food, so it was rice, warm pasta salad, spicey soup and fruits) at 6:00am. It was an early morning, but I had been asleep for a long time. I woke up several times in the night because I had no idea what time it really was. I actually woke up at 9:30pm and thought it should be morning. Anyway... after breakfast we get in "sedka" (which is a pickup truck with seats in the back...see dropshots for pics) and rode up to the mountians to the Elephant Camp. We walked across this crazy rope bridge and then had our first experiences in a Thai bathroom (aside from the hotel). No toilet paper... just a water sprayer to spray yourself off. I don't see how that could possibly help... it just makes you more wet. Luckily (since I still have a bit of a cold) I had tissues... but shhh... no one knew that. Haha.
Then we boarded the elephants. They walked up to this platform we were on and we just got on. Two people per elephant. We rode them for about an hour. Which was insane. I couldn't even get over the fact that I was sitting on top of an elephant. We rode them through the water. It was just so cool. Probably one of the coolest things I've ever done. And when we got off, I bought some bananas to feed to them. It was crazy. It just sucked them right out of my hand. There's a video of that too. Then they put on a show for us and they did all kinds of cool tricks. And one of the most exciting parts was when the baby elephants help onto each others tails. I have always wanted to see that in real life. So cool.
Then we rode the bamboo rafts down a river. We were given awesome hats to wear. And I even got to try "poleing" the raft. Very cool. It was extremely tranquil and peaceful. We did that for about an hour too.
We went to lunch at the Orchid Garden. So beautiful. A lot of westerners there too. Lunch was buffet style with traditional Thai food, and of course, French Fries. We were able to look around the Orchid Gardens for a little while to.
We then came back to the resort and got our Sim Cards so we could go buy cell phones. (Quick story about the Sim Card. When we arrived in Chiang Mai we were greeted by this lady who had a "free gift from Chiang Mai government". We didn't know what that was, but it was a Sim card so we could put it in a phone and call phone. It's basically our cell phone number and some free minutes. We all thought there were strings attached, but there weren't. It was simply happy new year from Chiang Mai). We went to the mall with our Thai Buddies. The mall was awesome. Definitely a place that will feed my shoe shopping addiction. Such cheap deals and so many stores. I'll have to go back there sometime. We all got the exact same phone for 750 baht. Which is about 25 dollars. Good deal. And then I bought 250 minutes for it. So I paid 1000 baht for it. But it's a good deal. And they will buy it back from me at the end of the trip.
Now I'm back at the hotel and we are going to dinner and uniform shopping this evening at the "front gate". Not sure what that is, but I'll learn soon. I'm uploading pics to dropshots.com/mkinthailand so check that!