Laos pt 4 - Elephant Village near Luang Prabang

We arrived back in Luang Prabang and booked a Mahout course at the Elephant Village, which is a sanctuary for ex-logging elephants. The elephants that they have rescued have a great life, are very well fed and there is a vet on site at all times. Also, some of the money they make goes to supporting the local villagers.

There was only 5 of us on the Mahout course and we got on really well. The village is in a stunning location and has great facilities (both for ellies and humans).


First we learnt some Mahout (elephant driver) words i.e. stop, go, left, right etc. and then we learnt how to get on an elephant and ride on it's neck. I got on the ellie with quite a lot of assistance i.e. our guide pushing me up with both hands on my buttocks (we have video evidence!).


Later on we rode an elephant in a Howdah . This was relaxing and fun and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and watching the villagers.



One of the Mahouts looking particularly relaxed:


After our ride we swam in the beautiful swimming pool to cool down:


Next we met up with the ellies again and rode on their necks into the jungle, which is where they spend the night. I ended up with the biggest and oldest one.


Some cute local kids:

After saying good night to our ellies we went on a boat to see some waterfalls and we also had an opportunity to bathe with a young ellie. The ellie in question was 11 and totally adorable. She kept spraying water onto the spectators and we had a great time together.


We then went back to our lovely hotel room to shower and then we had a much needed dinner with our fellow trainee Mahouts.

We were up very early the following day and we walked into the jungle to collect our ellies. We rode on their necks and they took us back to the river for their morning bath. My ellie decided to run down the slopes even though the Mahout was shouting instructions to stop. Trust me to get the stroppy, independent one! Luckily the Mahout was behind me and he clung on to me to stop me from falling off. It was a bit scary but also fun!

Here's my enormous ellie lying down so that I could get on her:

We and the ellies enjoyed our morning bath. We also had a go at climbing onto our ellies' head and jumping off into the river.


Our ellies then went off to have breakast and we went back to the hotel, packed and also had breakfast. We then sadly had to say goodbyes to the gorgeous ellies, our Mahouts, the other trainee Mahouts and our guide.

Our elephant experience was one of the highlights of our mega trip. It was such a privilege to spend time with one of the most beautiful, intelligent, powerful yet gentle, creatures on earth.

This is a model of Mosha the elephant. In 2007, when she was only 7 months old she was rescued and fitted with an prosthetic leg (in Lampang, Thailand), after losing a limb when she stepped on a landmine. She's since been fitted with 2 replacement artificial legs. What an amazing story.

Laos pt 3 - Luang Prabang, Muang Ngoi Neua and Nong Khiaw

After another 7 hour mini bus journey over mountains we arrived in Luang Prabang, where we stayed for 4 nights. The town centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site due to the beautifully kept French colonial buildings. LP has the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers running through it and it's a very pleasant place to wander about in and people watch.

We visited a few wats, including Wat Xieng Thong, which was built in 1560. This is the golden royal funeral chapel and it looked stunning in the late afternoon sun.



Many of the temples are decorated, inside and out, with these pretty mosaics:


Good to see the monks working hard:


Before sunset we walked to the top of Phu Si (hill) and were greeted with great views. Unfortunately we were also greeted by too many tourists so we didn't hang around to watch the sunset.


On the way down we enjoyed looking at the strange images, including this fat, cross-eyed Buddha image:


Whilst in LP we went to see a performance given by the Royal ballet:



On our last day in LP we visited the nearby Kuang Si waterfalls. which are very beautiful but the water was a bit too cold for Nic and me. Plenty of other mad people were diving in and swimming though.






There is a sanctuary at the waterfalls for Sun and Asiatic bears and it was fun watching them forage for food and relax in their favourite spots:





We then made our way by mini-bus and boat to Muang Ngoi Neua, which has no cars or motorbikes but far too many cockerels, which cock-a-doodle-doo at all hours of the day and night. We stayed 4 nights in a basic bungalow, with cold water shower (eek!), with great views of the river and the mountains.




In between eating and relaxing we managed a walk to a nearby village and met this sad mother-less monkey that would cling on to whoever it could. Very sad.

A part from the monkey, it was a nice place to visit and meet the villagers.


This man is sat on a bomb having a shower. There are bombs and bomb bits all over Laos and many are used as day to day items. Scary or what?





River weed is a popular food in Laos. They collect it, beat it and dry it out in the sun. They often add sliced toms and onion and/or sesame seeds. It's quite a nice snack!


On the way back to LP we spent 3 nights in Nong Khiaw, which has spectacular views and less tourists that MNN. We loved it here. We visited some nearby caves, which people lived in for 6 years during the war. The area around the caves was pitted with huge craters, the result of US bombs.


You see lots of dogs and puppies in Laos and fortunately most of them look quite healthy:



In Nong Khiaw you can get a 'smiling breakfast'!


Next we headed back to Luang Probang; 4 hours on a tuk tuk. It was quite dusty but more comfortable than you'd expect!

Laos Part 2; Vientiane, Vang Vieng and Phonsavan

We ended up spending 3 weeks in Vientiane whilst I had my incredible painful physio sessions. We joined the Hash House Harriers on 5 of their runs and really enjoyed meeting new people and seeing new places. We spent Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve with them and had a blast. The hangovers were pretty bad!!!


This is the 'circle', which is carried out after every run. The ice (on the piccie below) is sat on with naked bottoms by those who have committed some offence.


During our stay we visited the COPE centre, an organisation dedicated to supporting victims of UXO (unexploded ordinance). Since the end of the war over 12,000 people have fallen prey to UXO. Around 260 million 'bombies' were dropped on Laos between 1964 and 1973 and 78 million failed to explode. COPE is an amazing organisation and the visitor's centre was really informative and not as depressing as you'd think due to all the amazing work that they are doing and all the lives that they've improved.



Here's the replica Arc de Triomphe which was built in 1969 and commemorates the Lao who died in pre-revolutionery wars. It was built with cement donated by the USA for a new airport; hence the expats call it "the vertical runway".

This is Nic sitting on the ice for some forgotten reason at another hash:


We were invited to join the dancing at an engagement party whilst on our last hash. I was totally sober and had a great time.


After being told by the physio that I could eventually leave, we headed to Vang Vieng. VV is famous among a certain type of backpacker for drugs, including opium, alcohol and wild partying. Two young male Aussies died there in the past 2 weeks. We did not participate in such activities but had a lovely time none the less.

We got a cheap room with this amazing view of the river and the mountains:

We went on a 7km walk to the Blue Lagoon and then enjoyed swimming in the crystal clear water:


Nic also took a walk up to the cave:


When we got back to our hotel Mother Nature gave us this amazing sunset:



The following day we went on a full day kayaking trip which was great fun. We enjoyed the mountain views and survived the rapids without capsizing. Here's our guide:

Nice bridge:



After VV we went on a 7 hour mini bus ride to Phosnavan. The road climbs and twists around the mountains and we saw lots of accidents, including this truck in the ditch:


Phonsavan is 1500 metres above sea level and is freezing at night. We only spent 2 nights there and went on a guided day trip to see the surrounding sights, the most famous of which is the Plain of Jars. There are hundreds of jars at dozens of separate sites. The jars are over 2000 years old and they think they were used as burial vessels. We went to 3 different sites to see the jars and some of them are massive:


Xieng Khuang province was one of Laos' worst hit during the 9 year US air assault and it's full of craters and dead ground because of agent orange. Sadly, many of the jars were destroyed or damaged.

As part of the trip we also saw this lady making rice noodles:


We also went to a village where the children were really shy of westerners. These cute kids took about 10 minutes to get close to us and when Nic went to shake hands, one of them fell over backwards! It was interesting seeing a Lao child with blond hair.


More jars:

This is the shop where we booked our trip:


Whilst in Phonsavan we visited MAG (Mines Advisory Group). This organisation started clearance work of UXO in 1994 but only a tiny percentage of the quarter of a million pieces have been removed. At the current rate it may take over 100 years to make the country safe. The people here live in poverty and fear because of the UXO.