Riding Elephants and Uncle Ho

Our long-in-the-making plans to finally see elephants came true today. We woke up at an ungodly hour on our last day here in Luang Prabang to meet the driver who would be bringing us out to the Elephant Rescue Center. It was about a 40-minute “hold-onto-your-vomit-bag” drive outside the city.

This rescue camp cares for 6 adult females ranging in age from 24 to 37. The elephants all seem to have specific relationships with their mahouts (trainers), who care for the animals, bathe them, and prepare them for interaction with the tourists. This particular camp also offers the opportunity for those who would like the opportunity to stay overnight for longer courses at their “Elephant Lodge.” Have to say, though, that the Lao Spirit Resort is right next door and that place looked much, much nicer…adding that one to our list of places to stay at some point in the future.

We took a ride across the river to meet the elephants in a motorized canoe that was literally about 4 inches deep…this all made for a rather amusing Ringling Brothers-esque balancing act between the four of us. Luckily, we made it across to the other side in time to watch the elephants arrive for their morning bath. Their mahouts rode them into the river and gave them a good scrub-down, at which point we followed them back up to their base camp where they were prepped for our riding.

Mark and Chris got the slow girl (slow and steady is always a good thing when you’re stuck 30 feet up in the air strapped to an elephant by a few ropes and a rickety wooden bench.) The real nirvana, and an experience never to be forgotten truly came when we were offered the opportunity to switch places with the mahouts—Billy and Chris jumped at the opportunity and commandeered the elephants for the remainder of the trip. It was truly one of the most amazing experiences of Billy’s life (and we’re sure Chris’s too)…you have no idea how speechless it can leave you to be perched atop as massive a force as an elephant and be steering this beauty along rivers and through a jungle in Southeast Asia.

After our ride, we bid adieu to our new friends and headed back to our motorized wood plank for a quick ride further up the river to the Tad Sae waterfalls…another multi-tiered set of falls. While not as jaw-dropping as the falls from yesterday, it’s still one of the prettiest things we’ve ever seen.

Upon leaving the camp, we were given the opportunity to see the “baby” elephant (who is currently separated from the rest of the pack)…a sweet 3 year-old boy, who took a real shine to David. He kept reaching his trunk out to David’s hand—he probably was looking for food, but it sure looked like he was trying to give him a smooch!

We then headed back to our hotel, grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the aiport to catch our flight to Hanoi. We didn’t really notice when we came in (maybe just cuz of the sheer excitement of having arrived in Laos) but the airport really is stuck in a time warp. You feel like you’re in one of those old, vintage TWA postcards…with the gangplanks being wheeled out to the planes and plastic 50s era seats lining every wall of the boarding area. The plane, of course, also could have been from 1950, but to Billy’s moderate relief, at least this one had jet engines and not rubberbands holding the propellers together.

We had a very quick 40 minute flight to Hanoi and we’re finally in Vietnam! Good god, it’s so surreal to be here! Communist flags everywhere and, although it may have rebuilt since the war, you can still picture that horrific part of history as something not too long ago and something very real here. It's moving, it's heartbreaking and it's fascinating all at the same time.

Our hotel, the Metropole, is one of the most historic and famous great hotels of the world. It served as a foreign correspondents center during the war and, before that such folks as Charlie Chaplin and Graham Greene stayed here for extended periods of time. The French influence is everywhere here (and thankfully we’re not talking about French people)…you can almost trick yourself into thinking you’re in Paris. Everything is opulent and the service is unreal—they really know how to make you feel like royalty. We’re definitely getting spoiled on this trip. We may have to check into a few Motel 6’s back home…y’know, just to keep it real. Uh, scratch that, actually.

Stayed tuned…more to come from Vietnam!

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