The first part of our trek included a half hour elephant ride. It was so fun to be on top of such a large animal. We also thought it was funny that the elephant in front of us had a gas problem. It didn’t smell too bad, but there were sure a lot of strange noised coming out of his back end. During our ride Sonja explained to me the strategy for avoiding snakes and leeches during our hike. Some of her Malaysian friends told her that it is best to be in the second or third position when hiking because the first person will find the snakes, and the last people usually get the leeches. As you can see in one of the pictures on the next post, we strategically followed that advice.