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Published: February 19th 2007
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It was finally time to leave my favorite little town of Luang Prabang. I've indulged too much, toured the sights, gotten a 1/2 hour head massage & haircut, spent an hour hemming pants with my guesthouse mom, learned even more Laos from a local tour boat operator as I helped him translate documents into English & ate even more Indian food from one of the many restaurants named Nazim or Nisha (...does anyone know the significance of that??? Apparently in Laos all Indian restaurants carry one of those names!) So, off to the 1st Annual Elephant Festival I go!
Our boat trip up the Mekong river to Hongsa was some of the most spectacular scenery I've seen in all of Laos. A few net fishermen along the river banks, rock sandbars as we cruised through bubbling rapids, karst formations lining the banks and even small waterfalls. (Okay, so the water is a lovely muddy brown color, but who's checking?) Anyway, the banks are rather close to the river on this stretch so I definitely got a great shot at all the vegetation--liana vines, lush jungle-like thickets combined with what looks a bit like deciduous forest. Quiet nice. It took us
8 hours to cruise up river and after about a 1/2 hour of very confused negotiating with the Laos police over passports & tuk-tuk tickets and trying to suppress the urge to layout about 10 pushy rude wazungus, we hoped in a tuk-tuk bound for the festival. Seriously the most awesome road trip I've taken in SE Asia & by far the dirtiest. The sun was setting as we wound thru the mountain terrain pushing through the loose dirt with every twist & turn yet another breathtaking view unfolded. It was incredibly peaceful knowing we were so isolated on a tiny dirt road in the far west of Laos. We finally arrived covered in dust & greeted by a tall, shaved head white guy with a bright yellow staff shirt. No sleeping under the stars for us, the little town of Viengkeo had organized homestays for all the visiting orphans. Six of us decided to shack up together, a couple of Aussies (Caddie & Brendan), Will of Manchester & Janine of New York. Grandma & Grandpa welcomed us into their home, gave us the house rules--curfew at 10 PM--& sent us off to bed.
The next morning the town
was buzzing with festival activities. I took an early morning stroll to check out my surroundings and as the sun was beginning to rise, I stumbled upon a blur of activity as shopkeepers were setting up, food stores were bringing out their goods & the coolest part, mahout trainers were readying their elephants all throughout town. Neighbor after neighbor was out feeding, brushing up on last minute commands & adorning their elephants with paint, jewels & scarves. UP next at 10 AM was the big parade! Enter what I think represented the various tribal groups in the Hongsa Province in the form of boys & girls dressed in what looked like different traditional attire. Then came the grand spectacle...the parade of elephants! Guided by their mahout trainers, 50 elephants adorned in elegant fanfare walked through the mainstreet of town through crowds of Laos people. A few elephants were ushered to the front & Will & Janine & I followed suite rubbing elbows with the press. Why not? The Laos police didn't seem to mind. I think they were as impressed with the display as we were. About 7 elephants stood at attention as everyone was welcomed to the festival. I
was absolutely amazed at the turnout. Not only had quite a few tourist made the long, out-there journey, but more importantly, 1,000s of Laos people were in attendance. I later learned from my guesthouse family that the town they went to this weekend for a wedding was nearly deserted b/c everyone had gone to the festival. How great! The fab 7 elephants were apparently the big guns & representatives for Elephant of the Year. A traditional blessing was bestowed by the local monks & each elephant dropped to its forelegs for a shower of sacred water. Quite a sight to see.
I got great photos as I walked among the elephants & trainers & we even got to feed them sugarcane. And let me tell you, the big guys aren't shy! It was mesmerizing to watch the trainers move the elephants. Only males are used to work by the villagers & b/c they live so long, the mahout stays with the same elephant for a lifetime. The next born baby male will be bequeathed to the mahout's son. The elephants are officially retired around 50/60 I think. The afternoon we watched a few more demonstrations of elephants at work.
They moved logs, stacked them & even pulled a mahout as he "surfed" on a log. Will & I, once again, had a grand time snapping photos & staring in awe at the buzz of activity!
Our homestay family was just as delightful as the elephants, but communication was definitely a struggle. Armed with a phrase book, Will & I thought we would get our grandmas to let us help dinner. Many giggles & laughter from Grandma & the granddaughters & an ernest attempt at help from the grandson, we thought we had succeeded! Grandma ushered us back to the kitchen as Will & I basked in our accomplishments. HOWEVER...our success was short-lived. Apparently, Grandma already had dinner cooked...no wonder everyone was laughing & she just wanted us to eat. Oh well! We tried & I had a great time doing it.
That morning Will, Janine, Jesse & I said goodbye to our homestay family & headed back down the dirt road to the boat dock. There our seafaring vessel (hardly) sat in all its grandeur. Little did we know we were in for quite a treat. Three hours later finally left the dock aboard a packed the
rim boat in for the longest boatride of our lifes sitting on benches the width of a meterstick & enough leg room for a two year old. Um, and you all know I am certainly not the size of a two year old in any part of my anatomy!!! Thank goodness for Kim, the Brit, who had a copy of Interview with a Vampire & she glady let me partake--fascinating book I might add. Totally engrossed in the book I managed to pass at least a few hours & chatted with Jesse & Will the rest of the time. I even got to speak a little Swahili as I met a woman who had been doing development programs in Tanzania for the past few years. (Labda & Eti, you'd be pleased to know that I remembered just about the equilvalent of NOTHING 😉 It was fun nonetheless! About 7 hours later, back to our super duper guesthouse & a huge travel reward of a big ol' cheeseburger & fries! And spaghetti and salad and beer. A little excessive, I know, but we figured why not cap off an amazing weekend with an amazing feast!
So, now, off to Bangkok
to meet Adam & his friend Andrew. (Hope you boys are ready for the effervescent American...isn't that what you call me, Adam?😉 I am, however, really sad to leave Luang Prabang. I went for a run this morning just to take in the town one more time & to finally get a little exercise. The town looks absolutely stunning in the glow of the early morning sunshine and as I ran I saw the monks collecting their alms, flashes of orange & yellow lined the streets. A memory that I will always hold dear. I even got to share my photos & video of the elephant festival with the entire Kodak shop & they copied quite a bit of the footage onto their computer. So funny! Jesse, on the other hand, took off for Vang Vieng early, but we are going to try & rendezvous for a kayaking adventure in Thailand later in March so we'll see how the wind blows. It was finally time to say goodbye to my guesthouse, so I sat having quite a nice little conversation with our family before I took off to the airport. What a friendly place, nothing like a little home away
from home in far off Laos. I have a feeling I'll be back someday.
Miss you all back home very, very much & wish you were here to share in the experience!
Love you!
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Will
non-member comment
It's all about the prehensile
I think the elephant in the last photo likes you! He's got a great jaw structure too! ;)