Luang Prabang~Elephant Trek

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I have a new nickname from Steven-"Ms. Adventure", pronounced misadventure. Also, "crash". A few items to clear up before this story begins. I managed to do something to my knee, probably had something to do with taking 250 stairs at a time, so I emailed my wonderful doctor at Kaiser, Dr. Lee, and he gave me instructions: ace bandange, ibuprofen, and ice. The ice was the hard part to come by as it just melts in a couple of minutes. Gave the international sign at the pharmacy for ace bandage, moving your right hand around your left arm, paid fifty cents, took some motrin and doing ok.

I really, really wanted to ride an elephant so I signed us up for the Elephant Trek tour. The tour was advertised as a mountain bike trek for about an hour, then an elephant ride for an hour and a half through the jungle, and kayak downstream on the Nam Khan River to pick up and back to town.

The mountain bikes were good quality so the riding although difficult for me uphill was fun. We made it to the elephant village and climbed onto a little bench on top of our elephant with the guide riding on the back of her head. Our elephant was old and she really didn't want to walk-but the guide was persuasive and off we went. We had two other people with us-John and Victor from Sweden-recent high school graduates. It was a little daunting at first but then when we were going down the first hill and I realized she knew exactly what she was doing it really started to get fun! Mid way through the trek the guide got off and Steven climbed on to guide her-I got the whole bench to myself. We went through the river and all was well. Steven is a natural elephant rider. Back on the bikes to lunch and onto the kayaking part of the trip.

Our guide gave us quick intructions on the kayak. We had helmets, life jackets, dry bags, and climbed aboard our two-man kayak. We were thinking this is going to be so easy-we won't even need to paddle much since we were traveling downstream. Come to find out Nam Khan River means Lazy River. We had to paddle the entire time-which was three hours. Down, down, down the river slowly, slowly, slowly. Then the guide says "rapids coming up-we will go ahead". Rapids? In this lazy, slow, muddy river? We all paddle around the bend and the current completely changes. The guides go through the trees growing in the rapids and we try to follow them but I am not strong enough. The current takes us sideways, slams the kayak into the tree, and out I go. It was shallow enough to stand up, but the rocks were sharp. Steven rights the kayak and I am struggling against the current to a) stay upright, b) not cut my feet on the rocks, c) thinking this is not what I signed up for. The guide appears out of nowhere in thirty seconds and puts me back in the kayak and he and Steven get us back on track. We come to some calm water and they asked if I was ok. I said, well, I lost my flip flops. They asked me if I wanted to go back and get them. Shaking, mad, and with the language barrier all I could say was no. Then they started laughing and the had them in their kayak. I said how much longer are the rapids. They said thirty minutes. I can't say what I said then. So we made it through the rest of the trip-paddling, wet, and totally not what I signed up for!

Back in the truck on the way back to town the guides said "ok, back on the bikes to town". I let out a few expletives and then everyone laughed. Except me.A little Laotion humor. We arrived at the office of the tour company and they asked me to fill out a questionnaire about the trip. That did it. I gave them a serious talking too. I said they really need to explain in detail what the trip is like-match trips to people's abilities. I said I was exhausted-leaving at 8:30 and back at 4:30 with only a half an hour break was hard for me. They argued! They told me I was strong. I said no, I am not that strong. They said yes you are, because you are thin. I explained that had nothing to do with it and I am 45 years old and they should not offer that trip to women like me! They said I didn't look 45, I looked much younger. I gave up. But I did give my feedback in detail on the questionnaire. They were very sweet and kind but that trip was so much work. Steven is getting a foot massage. I am relaxing now at the guest house.

It took us a few hours to laugh about it but now it is funny. I looked back at the website I had looked at for the trip and they advertise the kayaking as "slow, with funny little rapides." Hmmm...again, lost in translation.

We leave this afternoon for Hanoi. I will miss my elephant, the fruit shakes, and the quiet smiles of the people. As for kayaking, my career is over before it truly began. And Steven still loves me.

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Photos

Biking
The first part of the tour-cycling. Steven was kind to me and didn't take any pictures of me pushing my bike up hills.

Fields of Laos
Scenery on our bike tour.

Elephants
Our first look at our next mode of transportation on the tour.

Our Elephant
Here she is-our elephant.

This is her good side
Nice picture of our girl.

Through the river
I took a picture of the boys that joined us on our tour. They were very good sports.

Our guide
What a job. Get people on the elephant, talk them into doing it themselves, and walk through the jungle, don't lose anybody, give the elephant some food and do it all over again.