Lolo's Travels

Hi guys! Sorry the last one was so short....I had just arrived in town, and wanted to let you know I was still alive and kicking....but it was too GREAT outside to be in here, typing a letter. This morning, I have a little time before headed to the SPA. Ah, you can take the girl out of Vancouver, but you can't take the Vancouver out of the girl......I need my spa fix! I've been travelling with these 2 great couples...I think I told you about them last time....Liz & Mike, and Kate & James. So today the girls and I are headed to have a massage, body polish, facial, steam bath, etc...for about $20USD you get the works, and it takes about 6 hours...very excited. Then tonight we have tickets for a traditional ballet at the National Palace grounds...a little culture! I met everyone in Pai, when I finally signed up for elephant riding. I'd done so much reading and really wanted to choose an elephant camp where the animals were cared for and not mistreated, and this place fit the bill. Meeting these guys was a huge bonus! We spent about 2 hours on elephant-back...NOT comfortable, esp. with no seat....up and down hills, you can see for miles and miles from up there. I had no real perception of how high up the back of an elephant is, until I was up there. Sitting at the front, right on his neck, was the scariest....you just have to try not to look down! My elephant was 46yrs old, had been with this family since she was a baby, and was really sweet. To climb on her back, you grab hold of her ear and she bends her front leg to form a step, then raises you up ti'l you can clamber on!! Sounds simple, but its amazing. At the end of the walk, we went in the river...SECONDS after watching a snake swim by, the guides gave the instructions to spray us with water, and then for the elephants to kneel down...effectively tumbling us all into this muddy water....as soon as we'd climb back on, they would do it all over again. If you could hold on and NOT fall off, you could dip underwater with the elephant and then come back up with her too. I managed it once....and I kept getting nervous she would roll over ON me. Apparently they are too buoyant for that. Scariest part ~ the elephants were startled by the backfiring of a motorcycle and all gathered in a circle, swinging trunks, shaking heads, and making TRUE jungle elephant noises...ridiculously loud trumpeting. Very scary, although the guides were laughing, it was uneasy laugher for us, sitting up on top!! Anyways, long story short, we ended up going to dinner all together, huddled in a corrugated-metal roofed patio during a rainstorm, and tasting "herbal whiskey" meant to cure all that ails you. Nasty stuff. But great people. Since we were all headed the same way, we made plans to meet up in Chiang Khong, at the Thai-Lao border across the Mekong River. After a FULL day of travelling...11hours by bus! ....we were passing through border control, bording a tiny longboat to ferry us across the river to Laos, and then packed onto the slowboat for the 2 day trip down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. The scenery was amazing....mountains, villages, boats going by....and there was lots of time to read. I finished a couple of books.....everyone was trading them back and forth as they finished them. Relaxing. Our stopover the first night, Pak Beng, is where I had the unfortunate mishap with the lizard. Disgusting room, and dinner that night was our first introduction to Lao food. No more yummy curries...they are far more watery here, and eaten differently. Instead of a plate of rice on the side, they come with a little wicker basket with a lid, filled with sticky rice. You form the rice into a little ball and dip it into the broth to eat it....most of the regional specialties involve meat....so I'm not able to sample it. But god, doesn't the dried spicy buffalo skin sound GREAT!!??? (sometimes its a blessing, being veggie!) Last night I chickened out and had a pizza on french bread....sort of like eating locally, since baguette is pretty standard here! Theres also some decent red wine, french of course...so the girls and I got a bottle yesterday and sat at the guest house, listening to music and drinking, while the guys drank beer by the river. Everyone finds it so odd that I have that Soviet natl. anthem on my iPod....I tell them its michelles fault, haha. Yesterday we chartered a tuktuk...$3USD/head....to drive us out to this gorgeous waterfall, and went swimming. A little cold, but beautiful. Getting me ready for the tropical paradise that will be southern Thailand! The National Palace Museum here is pretty beautiful as well....a palm tree lined promenade leading up to white marble steps, and the most opulent rooms.....all french coloured glass mosaic, and every piece of furniture is carved from wood, then gilded in gold leaf. Exactly how you thought royalty SHOULD live, when you were 7!!! At the end of the tour, in the very last room, there were glass fronted display cases containing all the gifts that the Lao Royal Family had received from other nations.....Mostly very beautiful china, porcelain, silver, carvings....Canada did very well, gifting a silver tea set to the Royal Prince....And then, the States. Nothing against the States, mind you. Its just that...admidst all this opulence...their gifts included a model of a space shuttle, and a key to the city of San Francisco. Odd to say the least. Its so funny here.....my last tuktuk driver in Thailand wanted to know where I was from...when I said Canada, he wondered why I would come to Thailand...since Canada was so beautiful. No amount of effort would convince him that we found Thailand to be beautiful too. Its pretty great to realize how the rest of the world views your country....Makes me definately proud to be Canadian, thats for sure. And on that note, I'm off to meet Liz and Kate for breakfast, and then off to the spa! I would love to hear back from all of you... ANDRE!!! ~ thank you for that email.....made me laugh, and it was dead on!! If I HAD a fridge, it'd be on it, too!!!!!!!!! lots of love to all of you.... xoxoxo Laura