Elephant Rampage!

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We took breakfast in the morning then set about finding some cheaper accommodation. The first place we asked was again $15. We tried a place in the LP that had been full last night. $5 for a room, great! It had shared bathroom, but with a hot shower. We took a look around the town. We went to the old Royal Palace which had been built in 1904 during the French colonial days. After, we walked round the little back streets and came out on the Nam Khan river where we stopped for a Beerlao overlooking a rickety wooden bridge spanning the river. We climbed up Phu Si, a small mount located centrally in the town to get sunset over the mountains. That night we shopped at the night market and both bought some beerlao T-shirts. The stalls sold some amazing silks and textiles for virtually next to nothing.

The next day we had our elephant trekking tour. First we drove out to the tour companies resort, Tiger Trails, about 15km from town. From here we took a longtail boat to the other side of the river and walked to the elephant camp. There were 11 people in our group and 4 elephants ranging from the youngest at 27 to the oldest at 46. They were all females. First we were introduced to all the elephants and their mahouts (handlers). Each elephant had a saddle on which seated 2 people. Of course there were 11 people and only 4 elephants which meant some people had to sit on the neck. I was asked to sit on the neck of ours with Matt and an American girl sat in the saddle. Our elephant was Mae San, the youngest at 27. She had a sorry history. She had been in the logging industry and had evidence of mistreatment such as knife wounds and harness marks where she had been pulling trucks too heavy for her. She was also blind in her right eye. But dispite all this she was the strongest and fastest elephant because of her age. I didn't feel at all comfortable on the neck at first as there was nothing to hold to stop me losing balance and falling off. It's skin felt leathery and it's hair thick and spikey. I had my legs around it's neck holding my hands flat onto the head for balance. They had solved the problem of how to get on the elephant by erecting an elephant tower where we could climb straight onto her. Sometimes if I felt I was losing my balance she would grab my legs with her ears. We rode for about an hour through the jungle then down to the river. For some reason our elephant would take different routes to the others and go speeding off in front. She was definitely the most lively and spirited elephant, yet also the most naughty. She would frequently stop and eat trees at which point the mahout, Mr Ban, would shout at her. One time she didn't stop eating so he grabbed her trunk and pulled it away which made her spin around wildly and run up the bank. As I thought I was going to fall off while this was happening we ran into the back of another elephant just as it was taking a poo! My bare foot wiped up against the elephants backside. Great! Elephant crap on my foot! We got back to the camp where all the elephants got to eat a treat of a couple bunches of bannanas before we got in a boat and motored down the river for 20 minutes to the Tat Sae waterfall. Here we had our lunch of fried rice with pork and omelet. There wasn't much water in the falls and the pool at the bottom was freezing so we decided against swimming. Instead we walked to a cave before getting the boat back to catch the Land Rover back into town. That night we had an indian curry walked around the night market and used the internet.

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Photos

Nam Khan River
Luang Prabang

Rickety bridge
Luang Prabang

Doi Phu Si
Luang Prabang

Night Market
Luang Prabang

Elephant trekking
On Mae San, our elephant

Look no hands!
On Mae San, our elephant

In command of the beast
On Mae San, our elephant

Me and my girl
Mae San, our elephant