I mentioned Part I of my Tours with Tong experience with the Tiger Temple, but part II was also pretty epic. 

The elephant splashes you with water - which felt amazing because it was so hot!

She really loved being in the water and was so gentle in posing for photos with me!

I think she wants to be a super model

Seriously amazing!

I was struggling with food poisoning from earlier in the week so I opted not to ride her back to the camp, but I was able to feed her lots of bananas instead!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was concerned with making responsible travel choices. I initially attempted to volunteer with an elephant sanctuary but the 3 I looked into were about 8 hours away and the reservation process was not something I was comfortable with. I cancelled other tours that included elephants performing tricks and rides with the benches on the backs. After hearing reports from people that did take those tours, it was the exact thing I was concerned about. Babies were in distress and separated from others. I was disappointed at this spot to see that the elephants were chained while they ate, but was told they had free reign at the end of the day and I felt like the tourist aspect was a lot more natural than other options. So ultimately, not as I would have hoped but still not  as bad as it could have been. The moral of the story is to research the best you can and make informed decisions. The experience did give me a greater appreciation for these intelligent and magnificent creatures.