For a few days we’ve hired a couple of jeeps to explore the island. Yesterday we drove up the hills in the middle of the island – despite the absence of proper roads, which made it much more interesting! The children loved it all – especially the bumpiest bits, where we were getting the jeeps to clamber over rocks right in the middle of the track. Sadly, I didn’t take any photos to show you, as my hands didn’t leave the wheel. Nor did I record the various screams of excitement from the back seat. We then had lunch at the Laem Set Inn, on the south of the island, where lunch-goers get to use the swimming pool and lounge around the beach of this boutique-style hotel.

And today we headed to the woods, to ride elephants. Rather than sitting in the proper seat, Charlotte got to sit on the neck, holding on to the driver. But then Sarah dropped her water bottle, and the driver jumped down the collect it – which left Charlotte in the driving seat for the rest of the half-hour! Apparently, all you need to do to drive an elephant is to rest your hands on its head, and it will do the rest. I’m not sure how useful that information will be when Charlotte gets home, but its got to go down as one of the key memories of our trip.

Then it was time for all of the children to feed the elephants with bananas. Elephants always look big in photos, but they seem even bigger when they are right in front of your. And even bigger still when their trunk is trying to reach over to grab a banana from behind your back!