My first day at the volunteer camp I woke up at 6.30am to fetch the elephants from their hiding places in the forest. But after about an hour of waiting in a clearing for the mahouts to come back with their charges it became apparent that one of the elephants had broken free from it's leash in the night and had gone on a walk about.

Three hours later, Nam Phon (the elephant) was found. 3.6 kilometers away. In the middle of a stranger's banana plantation. Joyously munching away at the farmer's stock.

Elephants, it turns out, love bananas.