Hi folks....still on Luang Prabang! There was just so much atmosphere in this place forgive me for trying my hardest to paint a picture! Sometimes these "journal entries" can be pretty extensive...
I was up at a reasonable 7:45 this morning and prepped for my day with the elephants. The guesthouse didn't offer any breakfast so I picked-up a horrible packet of cheese and onion "Laos" chips and snacked on them before I realised what I was doing! Finally the minibus arrived, checked my ticket and off we went. The guide was quite young but very enthusiastic. He asked where I was from and when I replied that I was Australian he beamed and said there were 8 other Aussies that make up his group today. The drive was so bumpy it was actually quite hilarious to be jumping around in my seat and watching the Spanish girl in front of me trying to sleep! The scenery was so lush and green and the mountains shot up into the blue sky. When we arrived at the Elephant Village it was as though I'd stumbled onto paradise! I can't get over the mix of brown, blue and green that is so striking in Laos. The view was fantastic. I met the rest of the group and my hopes of 8 young Aussies dissipated when I saw 8 oldies rock up!! Still...it reminded me of good old Mum and Dad (sorry oldies!!!) and they were so lovely to talk to and made me feel at ease. It was like being with the Contiki group (sorry that is a strange reference for those of you that don't know my Mum and Dad went on contiki years ago and we still catch-up with their comrades!!). We were given a short talk about the Elephants and the Village and were taught some commands such as Sai=left, Kwa=right, Pie=go etc etc. I was able to memorise them but the older folk actually asked for pen and paper and took notes!! Avid learners! They couldn't believe it when I refused the paper politely. As it turned out the commands were damn useless! We had a test dumbo to have a ride on. One of the men volunteered to go first. He clambered up the leg and awkwardly threw his leg over the neck. It looked really difficult....and we learnt that the Elephant really only responds to the mahouts voice. I had a go and it was so difficult to mount that animal!!! Seing as I had the shortest legs it's no surprise I couldn't get my leg over. With a bit of help I was up, and it was strange! The elephant's skin was very rough and at the young age of 35 it had thick hairs protruding randomly fromt the top of its head!! It was also pretty high up there and as the elephant moved you had to be loose and sway with it, whilst clenching its neck with your legs and bending your knees over its ears. The mahout basically dragged the thing along and my commands were completely ingnored! After everyone had a turn on the test dumbo the other elephants came out, fitted out with seats and the guide asked if I could go on the test elephant, minus a seat as there were too many of us. So I climbed up again and positioned myself ready for the hour long ride. We started off and it was uphill. I had to lean on the elephants head to blance myself. It was pretty early on that the cheeky animal decided to cool itself off with mud. So the mahout and I were sprayed quite casually with mud...the mahout copping the worst of it! It was actually quite funny to hear him growl at the elephant...which was probably thinking well I'm bigger than you so go ahead and try buddy. The mahout out his hands on my waist every now and then to make sure I didn't topple off. Going downhill was particularly hard to balance with the giant steps of the elephant. It was nice of him to offer help but a bit strange all the same! We chatted a bit, he spoke very broken english and I think he was my age. As we climbed up the hills the view that opened up before us was amazing. It was so peaceful just trudging along at an elephants pace...periodically being bombarded with warm, thick mud!
After the very hot ride I had to clean myself of all the mud. I was offered a bucket of water and a scoop. Next it was lunch and they had laid out rice and curries. It was all really yummy, I helped myself to seconds. Of course. After lunch a few of us jumped on the elephants, bareback this time, and they rode them to the river for a cool swim. During lunch I had read that the elephant I rode liked to submerge itself underwater. So I mentally opted out of that experience! When the others came back they were beaming! I couldn't wait to get down to the river....so I chose my elephant and we slowly made our way down to the river. The mud squelched under the elephants feet and then we were waist-deep in water. The mahout grabbed a scoop and started splashing water over the elephant...then me! It was quite nice actually. He gave me a scrubbing brush and I got to work...not really sure how useful I was being but I think it was more about the experience not the outcome of how clean the elephant was. Then they told me to stand on the elephant for a photo op! So I did. The mahout I was with asked my name and if I had a boyfriend...he was an old man and when I told him no boyfriend, "too much work" he winked at the mahout I had ridden with before and he repeated my name to another young mahout and they laughed and teased each other. Awkward. Soooo anyway once we were done in the river we headed back. The guide was taking photos for me the entire time and I'm so stoked he captured the experience- it was so much fun!!!
We jumped on a couple of long boats next, destination: waterfalls (can't remember the name!!). The boat trip was magic. It was so nice cutting throgh the water and watching on as children slid down the muddy banks and into the even muddier river. We made it to the waterfalls and they were so unexpectedly beautiful! Pristine blue water was tumbling over limestone which was smooth by years of carving by the water. We jumped in and it was freezing but refreshing! After our cool-off we headed back to the boat and back to the village. It was such an amazing day. It was really nice to have met the 8 oldies as they were keen to hear about my travels and to tell me about everything they had seen. We said our goodbyes and I jumped in the minivan.
Back at the hotel I had a shower and decided to test out a restaurant that I was keen to do a cooking class at; Tum Tum Cheng. I sat down and ordered...it was still early...then a guy came in and sat himself down too. Eventually he came over and asked if I had been in Vietnam recently as I looked familiar. I replied I had but he said he must've been mistaken. I offered for him to sit down and join me for dinner because like he said, it seemed pretty stupid for two people to sit on opposite ends of the restaurant alone! We got our meals...I had ordered a chicken red curry and rice, and Barry ordered a traditional Lao stew (which was strongly flavoured with lemongrass), as well as some deep-fried dried beef for good measure!! We sat and chatted over dinner and Beer Lao, it was great! We realised we were both there for the same reason- to test the restaurant in liue of booking the cooking class. After a couple more Beer Lao and being treated to some music by the chef himself (!) we booked ourselves in to the cooking class the next day and set off for the Hmong night markets. I had a slight buzz-on from the beer so may have gotten a bit carried away with purchases! But it was all so nice and the people lovely! Said goodbye to Barry and after another round of the markets and spotting some of the ladies from the elephant experience I headed home. Slept reallllly well that night! Dreamt of elephants and the beautiful Laos countryside!!
