Jungle Camp Day 1: Meeting the Elephants and Canoe Safari

On our fourth morning in Thailand, we left our hotel in Bangkok at around 5 am and took a transfer over to the airport, where we caught a plane heading south to Phuket. We flew with Bangkok Airways, and the 90-minute flight was the first flight I've actually enjoyed in a long time, with surprisingly roomy seats and even a full meal. Flying into Phuket, we had great views of the beaches, and even passed right over one as we came in to land!

After picking up our suitcases, we got into a minibus for the two or three hour journey to Elephant Hills Rainforest Camp in Khao Sok National Park. On the journey, we passed by the picturesque beaches of Phuket, before crossing over the bridge to mainland Thailand and entering deeper into the jungle. Unfortunately for Claudio, he slept for most of the journey, but I was lucky to see some Thai cows (which look so different to the cows we're familiar with in the UK) and even a couple of elephants!

We arrived at Elephant Hills at around one or two o'clock, and I have to say that our arrival was pretty chaotic (though things only got better from that point on). A lot of people were arriving at the same time, and we were all told to leave our luggage in a big pile at the entrance, before being given forms to fill out. Afterwards we had 20 minutes to grab a bit of lunch from the buffet, search through our suitcases for a change of clothes, and get changed in the toilets, before going off for our first activity. To be fair, the lunch I had of stir-fried noodles and sweet & sour vegetables was really good, but I would have liked to have been able to have more of it!

We then got into a truck and drove the 5 or 10 minutes to the elephant sanctuary. 

The moment we arrived, it was as if the day thus far, with the early wake up, all the hours of travel, and time spent in airports, just melted away. The elephants were just so majestic and the surrounding scenery was amazing.

After a few photos, we went into a wooden hut, where we watched a short documentary about elephants. We learned about the differences between African and Asian elephants (Asian elephants are generally smaller, with smaller ears and more toenails) and also about the history of how Asian elephants previously were used in conflict and in the logging industry. Nowadays, there are much fewer elephants in Thailand than there were in the past, but generally they have happier lives, living in places like Elephant Hills.

Then we got to meet the elephants up close and even touch them! All of them were female and ranged in age from 19 to 81, if I remember correctly. They were so noble and beautiful, and it was such a special experience to be so close to them. Their trunks feel like leather and are surprisingly hairy!

We also got to prepare a snack for them, which consisted of pineapples, bananas, sugar canes and protein balls wrapped in banana leaves. It was so fun to put the food in their trunks and then watch them putting it into their mouths!

We also loved watching them bathing in their pond - they looked so cute and it was clear they were having a great time!

Back in the hut, we were given some unusual bookmarks...that were made out of elephant dung! It turns out that they're processed in a way which makes them completely hygienic. We had fun decorating ours, and were happy to leave with a nice little souvenir from this wonderful experience (though unfortunately, the one I made for Claudio did not survive the journey home very well!).

We then moved on to the second activity of the day, which was the canoe safari. This was a very relaxing, hour-long ride down the Sok river with a local guide. Here we saw some incredible mountains, as well as amazing wildlife, including snakes and monkeys!

Back at the camp, there was a programme of optional evening activities before dinner, starting with a short documentary, followed by a Thai dance performance and a cooking demonstration. It had been a very long day, so we decided to give these a miss and get settled into our tent.

The tent was actually like a small hotel room with a proper bathroom and shower. It was really cool to have the experience of camping in the middle of the jungle but in relative luxury!

We also took some time to explore the rest of the camp, which is such a beautiful and enchanting place. All of the décor is so well thought out.

One fun thing to do was to put a pin on the camp's map. I couldn't add one, as there wasn't any space left to put one on the UK (the vast majority of guests at the camp were British), but Claudio had more luck, and got to put the first ever pin on Chile!

We finished off our evening with a quick dip in the pool, before enjoying a delicious buffet dinner and drinks from the bar.

It was quite surreal to have started our day travelling through the city streets of Bangkok at 5 am and to end the day drinking a piña colada in the middle of the rainforest in southern Thailand. This was one of the busiest days of our honeymoon, but also one of the most memorable. It felt magical to be in the jungle camp, and meeting the incredible elephants was an experience we'll remember forever.

We still had another day and a half left in this beautiful place, and our second day would see us exploring more of Khao Sok National Park, spending the day at Cheow Lan Lake. A blog post all about it will be here shortly!

Arraial do Cabo

It's taken me a while to write up all my posts about our trip to Brazil - it's been a really busy month - but now I've finally arrived at our last full day! Claudio and I spent this day outside of the city, sailing and snorkelling around paradise beaches.

We had known that we wanted to do a day trip like this during our holiday, but initially it was difficult to decide where to go! Arraial do Cabo, Búzios and Ilha Grande were the options we were debating between, but eventually we decided on Arraial, because not only is it the most convenient one to get to, but also because the photos online look absolutely incredible. We were really hoping that we'd have a day of sunshine, and that the beaches would look just as amazing in real life as they did in pictures. Fortunately, that was exactly what happened!

We booked a full-day tour which included transportation, a boat trip and a buffet lunch, and came to something like 80 pounds for the two of us, which was pretty great value! The minibus came to pick us up at our hotel at around 7am, and once everyone was on board, it was time to make our way over to Arraial, which is about 3 hours to the east of the city of Rio de Janeiro, but which is still located in the state of Rio de Janeiro. We made a stop about halfway through the journey at a motorway service station that was very similar to the ones we have in the UK. (It was surprising to me, as in Chile motorway service stations are not a thing, and we just have to stop at petrol stations!)

The minibus was quite cramped and stuffy, and I felt pretty sick by the time we finally arrived. But I was happy to discover that the weather was sunny and hot. At last!

We made our way to the port and were taken to the boat where we would spend the next 4 hours or so. 

I was really excited for the trip, but as soon as we set off, the motion sickness that I already had from the minibus journey got 10 times worse. Other people on the boat were drinking and partying, whereas I was staring at the horizon and trying not to throw up!

After what felt like a long time, we reached our first stop, Praia do Farol (Lighthouse Beach), which is located on an island. Here we had to ride on little motorised dinghies in order to get to the beach, which was quite fun!

We had rented snorkels on the boat, but we didn't see much underwater at this particular stop. That didn't matter though, because the beach was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. The ocean was turquoise and a perfect temperature, and the sand was white. We only had 20 minutes there, but we could have easily spent hours swimming and sunbathing, given the chance!

One of the best things about this stop was that the swim in the ocean completely cleared my head, and I could enjoy the rest of the boat trip afterwards without feeling sick.

Our next stop was Praia do Pontal do Atalaia back on the mainland. Here we had our first snorkelling success, seeing some white, yellow, and stripy black and white fish of various sizes! There's also a grotto here (Gruta do Amor - Grotto of Love), which we swam to. We had 40 minutes at this beach, but they went by in a flash, and again, we felt like we could have spent much longer there! This was really turning out to be the trip of a lifetime!

But it was our third and final stop that turned out to be the most memorable. This time we didn't take a dinghy to a beach; the boat stopped at a spot some distance from Praia do Forno (Oven's Beach) and we could jump straight out into the water, which was about 15 metres deep!

Claudio and I had a truly amazing experience snorkelling here. Even though we didn't see turtles as we'd hoped (Arraial is well known for its turtles), we still saw some incredible wildlife. There were more fish here than there had been at the previous stop, and what made it even better was that there was a beautiful coral reef of many colours, which we explored together. I've always dreamed of visiting Australia and seeing the Great Barrier Reef, and I'd never expected to experience something similar in a completely different part of the world!

We had just 15 minutes at this particular stop, but those 15 minutes were definitely one of those times that we'll remember forever.

Then the time came to head back to port.

After a late buffet lunch in the town centre, we headed back to Rio, arriving at around 8 or 9pm. It had been an amazing day, but we didn't want it to end yet!

So after dumping our stuff in the hotel, we went to Copacabana Beach for one last paddle in the sea and a caipirinha. While we were there, we had the fun surprise of seeing the "Holidays are coming" Coca-Cola truck pass by, driven by Father Christmas of course! (I hadn't known it really existed outside of the adverts!) It was a nice end to a really special trip.

Both of us were a little sad to leave Rio (especially because there was finally sun in the city on the day we left!), but I'm sure we'll be back at some point in the future. I think it would be really nice to spend at least a month there (preferably a dryer month than December!), visit places like Ilha Grande, Búzios, Paraty and Petrópolis, and try to get fluent in Portuguese. That would be a dream!

Since we got back, a lot has gone on - Christmas, New Year, and even some more travelling! But first I want to write my round-up of the year, which has become a tradition for me on this blog. So that will be coming next, followed by a couple of posts about our recent travels within Chile. 

See you soon!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day One here!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day Two here!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day Three here!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day Four here!

Rio de Janeiro: Day Four

Our fourth day in Rio de Janeiro was unfortunately a lot less exciting than the first three days. This was mainly because the weather forecast lied to us! Despite this, we still managed to have some good moments.

The previous day had been very rainy, as expected, but according to the weather forecast, this day was meant to be dry, apart from a little bit of rain in the morning. So we decided to start the day at the beach!

When we left the hotel, it seemed like the sun was trying to come out, which was a positive sign. But as we got closer to Leme Beach, it started raining. We hoped the rain would go away soon...

One of the interesting places we saw on our way to the beach was the iconic hotel, Copacabana Palace. We'd watched a video about it on YouTube before our trip, and seen just how luxurious it is on the inside. On the outside, it's absolutely huge and really does look like a palace. If you have an unlimited budget, it's surely the best place to stay in Rio!

Leme Beach is actually located along the same stretch of sand as Copacabana, but it is much quieter, and was recommended to me as the best beach in Rio by one of my Brazilian students. It's a beautiful setting, but unfortunately we didn't get to see it at its best, because it really started to pelt it down with rain when we were there.

Eventually, the rain got so bad that we had to put on our raincoats and make our way back to the hotel. This was the real low point of the entire holiday. The walk back seemed to take at least an hour, and to make matters worse, one of my flip-flops fell apart! (Claudio very kindly swapped his with mine.) By the time we got back to the hotel, we were soaking wet and more than a little fed-up. This was meant to be our dream summer holiday in Brazil, but it felt more like being at the seaside in Britain!

After showering and getting changed, I took the opportunity to go down to the lobby and do a bit of work I needed to do, and then we went out to find some lunch and decide what to do next, given that any outdoor activities were impossible. We initially wanted to go to Museu do Amanhã, a science museum, but it closes at 5pm, and we realised that by the time we would get there, we'd have very little time to actually see anything.

In the end, we went to Shopping Leblon, a very upmarket shopping mall. I wanted to find a new outfit, given that some of my clothes were wet from the morning and the previous days, but everything there was too expensive! But one of the great things about the mall were the views from the roof - from there you can see the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, which is absolutely huge, and the Jardim de Alah (Garden of Allah) canal, which flows down to the sea and is what separates Ipanema from Leblon.

By this point, the rain had eased off quite a bit, so we decided to leave the mall and go out and have a wander around the area. But of course, almost as soon as we stepped outside, the rain started up again!

So instead, we decided to go back inside and look for a café to try a Brazilian coffee - definitely an important item on the travel list for a trip to Brazil! We found a nice place called Café Zinn, where the coffee was great, and I think I appreciated it even more because of the rainy day. 

Overall, it was disappointing that we couldn't spend the day doing the things we wanted to, but these things happen. 

The next day was the last full day of our trip, and luckily it was a lot more memorable than Day Four! We took a trip out of the city in order to visit some of the most beautiful beaches in the country... I can't wait to write about our amazing experience there!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day One here!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day Two here!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day Three here!

Read about Arraial do Cabo here!