Hester
Our trek and mahout experiencewas amazing….
We went to the tour office early on the first morning, and from there went by jumbo tuk tuk to the elephant rescue centre, about 45 mins from Luang Prabang, in the middle of the jungle and on the banks of the river. We then went by boat to the start point of our trek, just Bren, our guide and me. The trek in the morning was pretty much all up hill, at quite a high pace, as both Bren and I are competative enough and stubborn enough not let the muscle burn get to us and be seen as weak foreigners!! At one point we went through a tiny village perches on the hillside in amongst the trees, it seemed to only have about 5 houses, and we picked up some bananas from an old guy who lived there with his piglets outside (a highlight for me! J). It was hard work,and with a bit of rain, and ponchos on, ponchos off, we were exhausted by the time we reached the Hmong village where we had lunch. Our guide Noi told us that he was pretty impressed with our speed up thereso we were happy but sweaty. The village was tiny, and the only people there were kids (all the adults work in the fields during the day), except for one woman who was sitting where we had lunch with a little stall of textiles for sale. Bren wasn’t feeling too well so didn’t eat much of his lunch so we gave it to a couple of kids who had come over to make faces sat us and play hide and seek. Our guide let us try some of his lunch, which was our first try of sticky rice and chillipaste. It was delicious!! We wandered round the village for a bit, it was so surreal to think that people lived there. So strange to go from large cities like Saigon to tiny little villages like this with just 8-10 houses.The houses were all made from natural materials, woven leaves and bamboo etc. The children there were not just playing but also working, making rice flour,standing on one end of what looked like a seesaw and letting it drop into a dip in the ground with the rice in it.. One tiny little naked boy was playing next to the older children working and was completely white from the flour!
After leaving there the trek should have been a little easier as it was all down hill. However, because of the rain, the ground had turned into a muddy, wet nightmare; we slipped and slid our way down (not good when you have a busted wobbly knee!!). It was really hard going,and we got covered in mud and a fair amount of cow poo. But still fun, the child in both of us kind of enjoyed losing our feet in a couple of inches of oozy mud. At one point we walked (slid) down a pretty steep mountain, watching a group of people on our left who were planting mountain rice (which makes the sticky rice which we would soon become very familiar with).I have to admit that at this point I was a bit concerned – if my knee had given way then there would have been no way out but on foot, with the nearest hospital being hours away. But we made it down and after that it was pretty much flat, although very very muddy,especially next to rivers, till we reached the Khmu village where we would spend the night.
When we arrived we were shown the “guesthouse” where we would be staying; a hut made from woven bamboo with a raised platform of the same material divided into 4 rooms with a curtain across the front of each and a mosquito net inside. Our guide had been very please to tell us about the fact that this guesthouse had been built, and the fact that it had its own shower.We investigated the bathroom (hut) and discovered a room with a squat toilet and a large concrete container full of water with a plastic bowl in – this was the shower. It was freeeeeeeeezing!!!! And the only light coming in was from the holes in the walls letting the sunlight in, so it was kind of hard to see whether or not all the mud had come off our legs. But, despite everything, it was good to be clean!!!
After this we had a look round the village whilst our guide slept (no stamina!!!). The houses here were different from those in the Hmong village. They were bigger, had two stories and had roofs made of bamboo rather than grasses. The head chief of the village was even having a stone house built. Again we saw mainly children in the village as the adults were out farming. It was such a bizarre thing to be there,to see how people live in a place so different from our own home. After wandering around for a while we went back to the guest house and sat at the table outside. Little faces started peering at us from over the fence. We took out the toys we had bought with us, and gave them to the grandkids of the guy whose guesthouse we were staying in. Word got round and suddenly kids came running from everywhere and surrounded our table. Soon there were children running around with toy cars and clips in their hair, and stupid glasses with big noses and mostaches attached. Unfortunatley we hadn’t realise just how many children there would be so hadn’t bought nearly enough presents. We felt so guilty!!! One of the things we had bought was a little bag with tiny little plastic animals inside – the boy with the funny glasses on started handing these out to the other children – we have a photo of him looking very serious, handing things out, with the ridiculas glasses on his face. Priceless. After this the kids were quite happy playing around us,and let us join in with some of their games, much to Brendon’s delight, as he is such a child person (as in he loves kids, not that he is a big kid. Although…….).
Our guide made our dinner for us and it was a chance to try some real Lao food. Sticky rice again!! It was probably one of the best meals we have had on the trip. Except for when the mother of the guesthouse family came out with a stew for us to try, made after a succesful hunt that day. It was squirrel stew!!!! We dunked out sticky rice into it and it was not too bad.Then she came out with another laddle full and the guide said we should try some of the meat. Apparently it is a real insult not to eat things given to you. Bren still had a bit of a dodgy tummy and didn’t feel up to it. So…. I picked out the bit closest to me bought it up to my mouth and saw the it was the squirrel’s arm and shoulder, with its little paw still attached. I had to nibble on squirrel shoulder!!!!!! And no it does not taste like chicken! L
After dinner the owner of the guesthouse bought out some Lao Lao for us to drink – it’s a kind of home made whisky made from fermenting sticky rice. I think he was trying to get us drunk, giving us shot after shot and laughing all the time. Well,whilst it didn’t make us drunk, when combined with our tired post-trek bodies, it did make us very very tired. So, soon after we went to bed. At about 8.30pm. This sounds pretty lame, but there is no electricity in the village and it goes dark at about 7.30pm, so after this there is actually not much to do but sleep. No wonder they have so many kids here…
The following morning we were up early for some more treking, past the village school on the way out of the village, and back through the mud. This timewas moreflat than the day before, but just as muddy. This time we even had to make our way across a river, which got me ever so slightly wetter than long-legged Brendon.
We arrived back at the elephant park ready and they were waiting for us, for our first ride. Compared with our last trip on an elephant, the seat was like a massive sofa! We trekked for about an hour, most of which we were sat on our sofa, and then we each took turns sitting on the elephants neck where the mahout normally sits. You always feel a bit worried that you are gonna hurt her and so are tentative moving etc, but she is so strong its as though she barely even notices that you are there. This rescue centre has six elephants, who were once used in the logging trade. They were underfed and mistreated (the elephant we rode had had her tail cut off!), but following the ban on logging a few years back, they were bought to live the rest of their lives at the park, where they are looked after properly, and only work (with tourists) a few hours a day.
Following our first ride, we checked into our bungalow. Oh My God!!! I have never ever seen such an amazing room. The tour we booked usually put people into the mahout lodge, but it was fully booked so they had to put us into the bungalow, for the same price. Considering we normally spend about $8 USD a night on hotels, staying in an $85 USD bungalow was unbelievable!!! Especially when you don’t have to pay that price for it J ! We both stood on the veranda outside the door, just peering in and not daring to actually enter. It was built on the side of a hill, overlooking the Mekong, with the most spectacular view on the other side. We were both still covered in mud from our trek so gingerly went in and showered in the outside shower room (there was an inside bathroom too!!). After this we had lunch and then it was back to the elephants to take them out to where they would spend the rest of the day and night. This time the it was bareback riding, no seat, so we had to try and climb onto the elephant from the ground rather than a raised platform. Bren went first. It involved shouting a comand, knocking the elephant’s leg, which it should then bend to let you climb up, holding its ear to balance. He he he, Bren did not look quite as gracefull as the mahouts when they do it. This was just a practice, so once he was up there they said he should come back down. The elephant was supposed to squat down so that he coulddo this,but she didn’twant to so they just told him to slide off. His face was a picture!! I don’t think he was feeling too confident about doing this; elephants are not small. Whilst he was sliding down, I was attempting to go up. Which was really not happening. Every time I tried to stand on the elephant’s knee and pull myself up, I slid off again. Luckily Bren arrived at the point to shove me up by my bottom. So ladylike. Thankfully I didn’t have to get off again, so it was just down to Bren to get back up onto his elephant and we were off. We each had a mahout with us, but we were supposed to be instructing the elephants, with our newly learnt Lao instructions. We were both rubbish at it. But the elephants kind of know where they are going anyway so no worries there. It was really cool, they are such impressive animals to be around, let alone on top of. It was about half an hours trek which went pretty smoothly except forone moment. My elephant was in front of the line of four (the other two we bought up later by a Canadian couple) happily plodding along. Until we reached a fork in the track. She wanted to go one way, but the mahout wanted to go another. What followed was a bit of grumpy trunk swinging, and a fair amount of fearful sqealing from me. I was convinced that she was going to throw me off. My mahout was laughing so I guess that was reassuring. But it reminds you that they are wild animals with a mind of their own and you’d better respect them. Whilst my elephant was having her little moody moment, Bren’s took over front place. I think mine then got too close to her, or tapped her bum or something,so she them shot forward, nearly throwing Bren off!! Following all this excitement it was a fairly uneventfull plod a little further to where we got off and the elephants moved along a little further for their stay overnight. We trekked back the way we came (more mud, churned up by huge elephant feet), waited at the riverside for the canadian couple to arrive, and then were taken to the Tad Sae Waterfall. Unbelievably beautiful, it’s a huge waterfall with loads of horizontal layers of water that you can swim in. There were more elephants here, who we watched being bathed.
After the waterfall it was back to the elephant park, and we had some time to chill to ourselves. Bath time for us!! The surroundings were gorgeous so it was cool so side out on the decking and look out over the river. Until the rain came!! Torential rain, that pretty much blocked out the whole view. But so impressive to see and hear. Later it was dinner in the same riverside restaurant as we had lunch. This included some fried mekong weed covered in sesame seeds, a real Lao dish.
The next morning we were up early to wash the elephants before breakfast. We went with the Canadian couple and our guides, back to where we had left the elephants the day before. This time climbing aboard was a little easier as the elephant’s squatted for us. The Canadians went first the me, then Bren. I turned around to see that Bren was on his elephant Mahout-less! Turns out that his elephant had taken ages to go down, and once he was on top, she was off. I think he found this really exciting, but also pretty scary, especially when she kept running to try and catch up with my elephant, and he had no idea how to control her. We eventaully got to the riveside and went down a really steepriver bank and into the water. Here the elephants squatted again and we had to wash them. Mine looked as though she had been wallowing in mud all afternoon and night, so the cleaner she got, the muddier I was. But it was brilliant!!!!!!! One of the highlights of the trip! Bren’s mahout fell off into the water, so for the second time he was alone on his elephant, only this time in the water! Bren loved the fact that you had to lean over the elephant’s head to clean its face, which resulted in giving it something like a massive hug. Geweldig!!!!
At this point we were chatting loads with Jesse and Will, the Canadian couple, all very excited by the bath. We then went back to our rooms to change out of our muddy clothes, and then we had breakfast together at the restaurant. Such a great couple, we got on really well, so it was ace to think that we would be spending the day kayaking with them. After breakfast we checked out of our Bungalow, then went down to the rivers edge, and climbed into our kayaks. It was a 3 hour kayak back to Luang Prabang, with a stop for lunch on the way. This kayaking trip was much tamer than the last one, much to our dissapointment, there were only a couple of rappid and these were not very big. After going through the biggest rappid, we had to stop to empty out the kayaks – despite filling in the hole in our kayak with a plastic bag, amazingly some water got in(!), so it was a lot easier to paddle after this!! We had good chats with Jesse and Will, although at one point Will called us wankers, which apparently makes him a good guy in Brendon’s book.
We made it back to Luang Prabang and got a tuk tuk back into town. Once we got dropped of we agreed to meet up with Jesse and Will for dinner later that day. Now we had to find a hotel (the one we had stayed in before in Luang Prabang was no go, as it smelled of wee),which took just a few minutes, then it was nap time for me whilst Bren read his book. I think we deserved the chill out time!
We met up with Jesse and Will and again had a really great time with them. Conversation over dinner was really easy, and we enjoyed being able to talk to other people as most of the time it is just us!! Not that that isn’t great but I think by now we both know every story the other has to tell, and can probably make a good guess at what the other is thinking most of the time (you’d think this would mean that we would have nothing to say to each other, somehow we manage!!!). So good to give us some more raw material to talk about!
Next day, following a long long lie in, we went into the town and tried to hire mopeds to go our to some nearby caves. Unfortunately this was not possible, so we booked a tour to another waterfall. Bren saw Jesse in the street and it turned out she and Will were going to, so it was cool to see them again. The waterfall was stunning, some really nice pools to swim in, and then we follwed the path next to it further up hill, and came to the main waterfall which was probably about 40+ metres high. Beautifull!! A couple of pictures and then it was back down to the minibuss.It was at this point that Will discovered a leech stuck to his foot, which one of the locals squirted some lemon on to get it off. Cue all of us frantically checking that we hadn’t been suckered too.
That evening we went to the street market in Luang Prabang, where people from the surrounding villages come to sell all the traditional Lao textiles, wood etc etc. Present time!!! For our families AND us! After this we went to buy some bananas, to give to the monks the next morning.The monks here are not allowed to eat after midday, and they can’t buy their own food, so every morning at about 6am they walk in a line through the streets of Luang Prabang and are given food by the locals (and now the tourists too). So we were up and out in the street with our bananas ready to give them out. It was a strange sight, all these men and boys dressed in orange, with the food bowls, and the men and women of Luang Prabang sat on little stools on the sides of the road ready to give them food. We gave out our bananas, watched for a while, then went back to bed for a few more hours sleep!!
It was chucking it down with rain that day so we just went into town and sat having a drink, did a little more shopping, then lunch, then it was off to the airport, out of Laos and on to Hanoi, Vietnam………
