Luang Prabang - hunting for coffee, avoiding the alms circus, and learning to drive an elephant...

Asia » Laos » West » Luang Prabang
January 9th 2013

Published: January 24th 2013

Edit Blog Post

Sadieandoyvind

The elephants

Our visit to Elephant Village was one to remember

The trip from Vientiane was a long bus ride up route 13, the trip taking a total of about 12 hours. We had read so many reviews about the road being treacherous at best, so windy and in bad condition that boarding the bus was like flipping a coin on whether or not we would live to see another day. We had also read that the scenery for the second two thirds of the trip was some of the most beautiful in the country. We were almost set on renting a car to do it ourselves until we found out the total price for one day of driving would end up being almost 400 dollars. So we took the bus. Whoever said the roads were terrifying has never been to Norway, or Vietnam, for that matter. They are in good condition, and they ar enot in a hurry and at no point did it feel dangerous. The scenery is breathtaking, though, not only the karst mountains but also the fact that Route 13 winds through endless hilltribes (which is odd for both the passengers and the hilltribes, I'm sure), providing an unusual levergae point from which to get glimpses of daily

Real coffee

Finally we managed to find some real Lao coffee and not some tasteless french excuse. Boiling from 5 am - noon, wood fire, thick as tar and oh so yummy

rural life.

Luang Prabang is not rural, however. It is a town overrun by tourism, though it attracts a generally older crowd and this keeps it relaxed, quiet and classy, albeit rather expensive. Touristy for Laos is still very nice compared to anywhere similar in say, Cambodia or Veitnam.

We relaxed the first day and caught up on ourselves a bit, wandered around the town aimlessly and spent many hours booking the next leg of our trip, with all its trains and planes and dates and endless combinations to make it as cheap as possible. The route is set, Vientiane to Singapore by train, 4 days in Singapore, 12 days in the Philippines, and then it's Australia time!

Since the elephant tour we wanted to book was full, we got a bonus day in Luang Prabang while we waited for it to be available. We cycled around and visited Wat Xien Thong, and around the peninsula and around all the different neighborhoods, cycling past women selling hundreds of banana leaf offerings, munks being transported by tuk-tuk, and endless chic shops selling overpriced items, as well as strings of restaurants and cafes. We walked over the bamboo bridge

Electrics

have you checked how much electricity you have used lately? Here everyone can check your consumpiton

to the adjacent island, and met a lovely young woman making beautiful jewelery who spoke impeccable English and with whom we chatted about our lives and their differences and similarities. Spoiled by Vietnam, we tried in vain to find some thick coffee, but the towns endless stream of Western toruists has obviously convinced the locals that all the falangs (foreigners) like watered-down coffee, even when they beg for it to be strong. We found one lady in the middle of the drink stalls opposite the handicraft market who agreed to make us really strong lao coffee, and whilst it was not enough to stop our search, it kept us going for the rest of the day.

The next morning before our elephant adventure, having done some research, wwe woke up early and headed to the morning market looking for a stall with good local coffee. We saw a woman buying some bats (one inspects them by shaking them around a bit, apparently), and a plethora of fried animals of every sort (as well as stalls selling spices labeld in English...) but no coffee. Oh well, nothing could sadden us when we knew the day was going to include bathing

I will remember you

our very own elephant!

We chose Elephant Village because all their elephants have been rescued from either poachers or the logging industry, they never use bullhooks to train the elephants and they invest in local communities, as well as being very transparent about where their money goes. Our guide, Phoun, was the only female guide working at the village, and was very bubbly. There were 8 of us in the group, the other 6 a nice family with grown-up kids from Wisconsin. Phoun and I chatted the whole way to the village, about life, and men and relationships. It will never cease to amaze me how it is always the underlying human issues that bring us together. It is always when we can relate on a basic personal level that we end up connecting the most with people, accross bariers of language, culture and social or economic background...

Our elephant experience was amazing. I must first say that these are Asian elephants, their skin is not as rough and they are not as big as the African elephants from the zoos and circuses of the Europe of our youths (or indeed from my previous riding experience as a

Having fun

there arent to many playgrounds in Luang Prabang, but that doesnt matter when you have a cart like this

4-year old in Spain with itchy thighs). First, and right off the bat, they taught us the basic commands the elephant would listen to (in Lao), and then, less than 30 minutes after we had first arrived, we each got a turn riding on the neck of the elephant, trying to get it to go where we wanted (Øyvind less successfully so, his elephant was really interested in eating some leaves in a corner). We had a little break, and could relax watching the beautiful river scenery, and then we got to ride the elephant, first in the houda, and then we each took turns riding on his neck, up and down steep slopes and in and out of the water. They are such elegant, languid animals, patient and of course, always slightly unpredictable. We had the mahout (the trainer) with us at all times, helping us and telling us about him and the elephant. We knew elephants spend up to 18/20 hours a day eating (they eat around 250 kg every day), but it's not until we were riding one and then feeding them that we really understood how much that is. They are insatiable, a slow constant crunching

Mind you

a local sales woman climbing over knives, machetes and other sharp objects on one of the markets in Luang Prabang

locomotive, munching their way through the jungle at a slow, steady pace. After lunch came the part we were most looking forward to, we each got to bathe our own elephant. Riding on the neck down the steep path into the water, our mahouts got them to get under, and lift their trunks to spray themselves. It was refreshing, and fun, and an intimate experience. As an added bonus we took a boat up the river to go see the Tad Sae waterfalls, which had beautiful clear water in endless shelves down a hillside, though in the dry season it was not very spectacular. Keeping true to our Norwegian provenance, we took a dip in the icy water while others watched in dismay.

It was a wonderful day, one we will always remember, with the perfect combination of excitement and relaxation and fun. It is days like that that make us really appreciate what we are doing, and feel how fortunate we are to be able to experience the things we do...

We had dinner at a traditional sat dee place, where there is a coal fire in the middle of the table and you make all the

BBQ Lao style

Lao BBQ is hectic but oh so tasty, and nice and warming on a chilly evening as the charcoal is right on the table

food yourself, grilling the meats at the top of the metal pan and boiling the vegetables in the broth surrounding it. It was a delicious dinner, though the hot fire and constant turnover of food (as well as trying to decide what to get while running back and forth to the buffet brimming with delicacies) makes it a bit stressful and doesn't allow for much conversation. The next table over was actually occupied by some Swedish guys, one of them, holding a Swedish-Lao baby, was living with his wife in Muang Ngoi (our next destination) and assured us we would be able to negotiate the trip there in one day, without having to stop in Nong Khiew on the way up the Nam Ou river (which seemed worth is since Muang Ngoi seemed a lot nicer).

The next morning we got up extra early. Phoun, our guide the day before, had pointed out a place for good local coffee. We headed there first, a street corner with a tin roof, under which were some makeshit tables, and a lady serving up sour rice soup and standing over a steaming stove, atop which stood two pots of coffee, forever brewing

Small adjustments

when the bus is fixed with tape before departure, is it allowed to be a bit sceptical?

and reducing into the thick oil-like drink we so longed for. We ordered, and chatted to a nice Thai man sitting next to us, who assured us we had indeed found the best coffee in Luang Prabang. On the table were also puffy chewy pastries to eat with the coffee, and we were served Lao tea as well. You know it's a good sign when they give you lots of things to mitigate the strong coffee.

We bought a bagfull of grilled meats to take on the 8-hour boat trip, went for breakfast and headed down to the boat landing to meet up with Monica, Mike and Meagan (whom we had seen around town and decided to go trekking with in Luang Nam Tha) and start our trip together...

- why we don't mention the alms ritual: tourists wake up early and line the streets in order to watch people give food to the monks and receive their blessings. Many tour companies and fancy hotels also provide mats and clothes for their customers to participate in the ceremony, making a mockery of the whole thing. Local vendors walk around selling sticky rice to "feed the monks"

Tourist madness

when tourists follow the monks doing their religious rite on bicycles, throwing cameras in their faces, and getting in their way, its just sad

and torusits chase the monks down the street. We even saw a man on a bicycle riding along the parade and shoving his camera in the monks' faces. The whole spectacle is sad and disappointing. We decided to just walk away. Please be respectful if you go there, adn remember to dress modestly. If we see one more girl is cutoff short and strapless top I think we might cry... or just through a towel on her or something.

Additional photos below

Photos: 39, Displayed: 28