Birthday week!

In the week leading up to my birthday I have been very busy,
I went to the highest mountain of Thailand ( Doi Intanon) which is about 2.5 kilometers high ( for the exact hight feel free to check the pictures, its noted on the board behind me ). It took us quite a while to get up there but the trip was well worth it. That day was the first time since I left the Netherlands that I actually needed the Jacket that I brought with me from home. Since it was so high, the temperature was very low ( it was around 6 degrees, instead of the normal 35). It was very foggy ( or so I thought) which gave me the opportunity to create some beautiful pictures ... It was not until later that I realised that it was not really misty, we were just in the middle of the clouds. When the wind picked up you could actually see the clouds moving around you, which was an incredible sight. I made a picture of a certain temple, almost entirely shrouded in the clouds, and not 10 seconds later, I made a picture from the exact same scenery, at the exact same place, and they are totally different ( see the pictures below) .
To say it was a great experience would be an understatement.
We also went to an elephant camp, I was being told that we would ride the elephants bareback, in a way that would not be harmful to the elephants, but it turned out that this was not the case, unfortunately the line of people was so immense that I was not able to go back again, so I was forced to ride them in a very animal-unfriendly way :-(
Don't get me wrong, I loved riding them, but I did not want to encourage that kind of tourism, since it is very harmful to the animals.
to make up for it ( and just because I really want to ) im going to be visiting another elephant camp where some of the other volunteers work, they are using them in a friendlier way and they actually treat the elephants how they should be treated ( and youre not allowed to ride them there). They also just got a baby elephant, which is adorable, for reference ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rimY60awMiI

We also went Rafting which was amazing, there were some other boats and the competitive side of me got the better of me, and I made sure we were the first to finish :P
There we actually saw some elephants that were "roaming free" even though they did actually belong to someone, they were treated much much better. ( see boat picture, in the background)
After that we visited a beautiful waterfall where I hiked a bit and then we went home.

On my birthday My students sang me happy birthday in a non - traditional way. ( since monks are not allowed to sing). I wrote down the entire song, and every time I pointed at a student, they were supposed to say 1 word. we kept doing it faster and faster which almost made it sound like a song. :p
They loved the experience and were very happy that I found a way that they were still able to sort of sing me happy birthday, and wanted to make some selfies with me after. ( See pictures)

After that, me and the other volunteers had cake ( I made arretjescake, like I always do at home) and then we went out for dinner to a really nice restauraunt called Riverside( see picture)

I had a really busy but fun week, wont be able to show you all of the pictures, since it is just tooo much, but I hope the following pictures will give you an impression.