Love at first sight - Nellie

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Sen Monorom, Mondulkiri.

Me and Craig decided to travel up to the Mondulkiri province in the North East while our Vietnam visas get sorted.
We'd read about an NGO (ELIE) which runs elephant treks in the jungle, and the idea appealed to us so much we were prepared to travel 9 hours (yes, 9 'gruelling hours'as the guide book put it) on the bus to Sen Monorom, the closest town to the hill tribe villages which have the elephants.

As we enter Mondulkiri and steadily gain altitude along a red dusty road (they're currently building a new road around there), the surrounding scenery becomes more and more lush and wild and jungly, very promising. Just before arriving in Sen Monorom the hill tops look bare, probably as a result of deforestation(what else could it be?). Our hearts sink as we enter Sen Monorom where the main street looks like a dusty building site.

We get lucky with the moto driver, "Tree" who arranges everything - our lodgings (no English spoken, no westerners, just Cambodians and run by a Vietnamese family), to return bus tickets to PP, and the elephant trek. He doesn't seem to know about ELIE, so our trek may not be the one we hoped to do, but we're so short on time, we book it in good faith. We hand over the dollars for the trek and bus tickets, hoping to hell that we'll see him again. This ain't London, we tell our selves.

All is well the next early morning, Tree picks us up and it's an exhilarating moto ride along the red dust track up and down hills with 3 on a bike. For the first time in weeks, I feel a bit cold. The sun's just come up and we're also beginning to see some patches of jungle.

While waiting at the Phnong(I think this is the name for hill tribes people) village we befriend the kids from the family whose member will be bringing the elephants. Cute kids, and a bit rough and very excitable. I make them origami cranes for them, they play with them, wear them in their hair, then destroys them in a matter of minutes and comes back to ask me to re-build them. Maybe i should learn some magic tricks next time i come travelling.

Two elephants arrive - one a massive female - bigger than any I've ever had close contact with - and a smaller male with half sawn-off tusks. Me and Craig immediately fall for the big female as we stroke er huge, slightly awesome trunk, and Tree ensures we get to ride on her back. We call her Nellie, as Tree had already gone by the time we tried to find out her name - the elephant handler speaks no English whatsoever and we communicate in sign. We're joined by 2 Italians, who ride the mae elephant handled by a lady.

The trek was wonderful. The absolte highlight of our time in Cambodia (the floating villages of Kompong Chhnang a close second). We trundled down the valley into the jungle sitting high up on Nellie. It's so peaceful, in fact me and Craig make the most nose as we can't stop giggling and guffawing like idiots, we're so exhilarated by the experience of being on an elephant in such a beautiful place, and relatively alone - until we join another 3 elephants from another village.

So a party of 5 elephants trundle down to the river and waterfall, where the ellies are freed of the baskets and harnesses and taken away to graze, and we have a picnic and a swim in the small pool below the 10ft waterfall. Tae gestured to me and Craig to go for it before food. The water was freezing, and i had to do it in my vest and pants (i didn't know we'd get to swim there), but luckiy it was a hot afternoon and the surrounding rocks made great drying blocks. Tae let us sample the local hooch as well - not bad but i wonder if this is the stuff that could eventually ruin a tribe (we saw some wasted men at the village that morning).

After a while, rested dried and food digested, the handlers bring the elephants back to the river and we get to watch them being washed and scrubbed in the river. The elephants are loving it, and would duck their heads right down under the water on command from their handler and get the tops of their heads rubbed. Tae gives her a good thorough scrub, not frgetting behind her ears. It was a beautiful sight i can't really describe it in words. All us Westie tourists have big gaping smiles on our faces, the kind of face that says we know we're the luckiest people on earth to be here right now.

The journey back to the village is longer due to Nellie's appetite - stopping every few steps to pull up a small tree or two. Our butts are feeling a little tender from the rocking side-to-side (elephant rides aren't smooth, are they?) despite the cushions provided. When we finally get off Nellie it's almost sunset, and we reluctantly admit we're glad to be out of her basket. The bumpy moto ride back to the lodge is just one more test for the posterior, but the pain is no dampner on our spirits after one of the most awesome experiences of our lives.

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