Driving an elephant

I have to say, it has been another few spectacular days in Loas. At the end of my last blog entry I was just about to head out for an elephant ride...

The Lao call their land the land of a million elephants. Sadly, there are only about 2000 elephants left in the country, but the image of the elephant is still central here so it seemed fitting to participate. Also, many of the elephant trekking companies use funds to help with elephant rescue and rehabilitation projects. We started off riding two passengers to a bench strapped to the elephants back with a guide doing the directing from the cockpit (tucked behind the ears riding astride the elephants neck). It would not be an exaggeration to say that I was extremely disappointed with this arrangement. But, to my delight, after a few minutes we were allowed to do the driving! So cool. To operate one of these gentle giants you tap them gently behind the ears; both to go forward, either side to go left or right. When this doesn't get the desired results (which it rarely does) you rub her head or shoulder and say "Bai, Bai" (or go). Finally, you resort to rubbing her ears and pleading with the giant beast to leave the yummy jungle snacks alone and head down the path.

After an hour and a half of strolling (and snacking) our way through the jungle it was time for the bath part. For this we each had our own elephant and a mahout to keep things under control (really they were there to make sure we got as wet as possible). I was lucky enough to get the jokster of the group and we spent the whole time splashing everyone and everything. "Bun, bun!" is the elephant equivalent of "canon ball!" and signals the elephant to use his trunk to splash anything and everything. I am sure he was enjoying this as much as we were and I even got a nuzzle when I climbed down at the end.

In the evening I climbed the 238 steps to the temple at the top of Mount Phousi (pronounced pussy, no kidding) to view the sunset...it was spectacular. Mary and I watched the sky and Mekong river below turn fire red while eating mangosteens from the market (delicious by the way).

Dinner was a traditional Lao meal at Tamarind, owned by a Lao/New Zealand couple who make it their business to introduce tourists to the local cuisine and how to eat it. We started with a tomato salsa-like dip, an eggplant (green) coriander dip, a chili paste, and a chili and buffalo skin dip. These we ate with seaweed crackers and sticky rice. The main course was lemongrass stuffed whole fish steamed in palm leaves. Fresh fruit juice cocktails accompanied the meal. Need I bother describing how delicious it was? Oh yeah, Ben and I were the only two adventurous enough to eat the fish eyes right from the heads...yum! Seriously, very very tasty.

The next morning was our last in Luang Prabang before catching a short flight south to the capital. I woke up at 4am to the sound of the monks drum (used to rouse them from their beds). I actually got out of bed at 5:30am to be in place to witness the giving of alms, or as we have affectionately started referring to it, the "feeding of the monks." To boil it down to the absolute basics, monks walk through the village each morning at sunrise collecting sticky rice from the locals. Sticky rice is the foundatoin of the diet here and the monks depend on the charity of the villagers to provide this staple. Their job is to then offer prayers on the behalf of the people. Quite simply it was both moving and beautiful to watch the long lines of monks walk through the streets recieving the gift of a pinch of sticky rice from the people they selflessly serve. Their vibrant orange robes were in contrast to the gray start of the morning and it was moving to see such an old tradition still in practice. At the suggestion of a more seasoned traveler, I "stalked a monk" in order to witness the practice being observed in a less touristy location. I watched what appeared to be a daughter, mother, grandmother and two aunts offer sticky rice to to monks from several temples.

A quick plane ride later and we arrived in Vientienne, the capital of Laos.