10th
We met the shuttle van at the bus station at 8 AM.  We arrived at Elephant Haven Santuary around 9 AM.  We pulled up to 7 giant elephants waiting for our arrival.  We started the day with feeding the elephants pineapple leaves.  Then we made rice, protein, banana balls to feed them.  After that we cut up watermelons for them to eat.  Then we went for a long walk in the woods with the elephants and watched them eat in the wild.  We went to a mud pit and got very dirty rubbing them down with mud.     We went back for lunch and then came the best part.  We swam with them in the river.  It was super a super awesome experience!  They seemed so small in the water and then so huge when they walked out right next to you.  Some of them were very playful and rolled around spraying water.  Some stayed in the mud pit.  Others just relaxed in the river.  We met two different couples while there.  One couple was from England and one from California.  The couple from California stayed the night at the sanctuary with us as well as two others.  The owners made an event of going to 7-Eleven before dinner.  Then we had dinner and a couple beers with the group.  It was one of the best days of the trip.  The elephants were so nice and gentle.

11th
We woke to the sound of the elephants playing in the river and making their trumpet noises.  That alone was worth the money we spent to stay the night on the sanctuary.  After breakfast the four of us along with Patrick and the driver took us to the Death Railway that was built during WWII by the POW and Asian slave laborers.  It originated in Thailand and cut across Myanmar to aid in the Japanese invasion of India.  Over 100,000 laboreres died in its 16 month construction.  Most died from exhaustion, dysentery, infection and malnutrition.  We walked along the railroad and then stopped in a cave that was once used by the Japanes for storage, but now is a temple for the locals.  Then we went back to the sanctuary to feed the elephants, play in the mud with them, and swim in the river with them.  We got a ride back to the bus station and then took the 2 hour van ride to Bangkok.  We took a taxi to our guesthouse and then went to a famous pad Thai restaurant.  It was the yummiest pad Thai I have ever had.