the end of laos...

hello hello,

We apoligize for the lack of posts in the past couple weeks, we have been making our way north by boat through laos with vietnam in our sights. Due to travelling via a river, the towns we have been staying in, while goregous, only have power from 6-10pm and with no internet access in sight. A great feeling for us, but little info for you all back home. I can only assume you have all been on the same trek by the lack of commenting we have now seen but i understand that internet access in homes is few and far between these days...just kidding we love you all and have been filled in on the major happenings via emails that we have caught up on. With that being said, we are currently in Hanoi the capital of Vietnam and have been indulging in the city life that we have missed over the last couple weeks.

Our posts left off with us in luang prabang relaxing on the mekong and enjoying the local treats and tasty beer lao. With the news of maeve's dipoloma arriving back home, we decided to celebrate with an adventure that we would not of normally done, but we are more than glad we did. Laos was once known as "The Land of a Million Elephants" but with only 1600 left, 600 of which work in the logging camps, the name is slowy becoming a thing of the past. With the logging industry declining in Laos, there has been an influx in jobless elephants. I know, the thought of a jobless elephant is a strange one, but they explained that because elephants eat so much food in one day that if let loose they would destroy villages and towns which are inhabited by locals who are no longer used to elephants. I dangeours situation for both sides. With that being said there is a camp whose mission is to rehabilitate these elephants, thus giving them a job and a far better life than what the loggin camps were providing. We signed up with one camp for an overnight stay and off we went.

We knew the itinerary would invlove riding on the elephants aswell as playing with them and eventually giving them a bath the next morning. So with much anticipation we took an hour car ride out of the city into the countryside where the camp was located. Upon arrival we were literally whisked away right onto one of the elephants for athe first ride of our trip. There was a Mahout ( a local lao, who is practically one with the elephant) on their neck while we were on the seat on their back. Before we knew it we were trekking through the jungle on an elephant, down hills, over rocks and yes, right into the river. A little uneasy at first but we enjoyed the ride and that that was the end of them to come...we were wrong. After dismounting from our ride we talked to a couple volunteers to get a better feel of the camp and its purpose. Everyone was very freindly and informative and explained what our stay would consist of. The most surprising of all was that we would next ride the elephant without a seat, simply around the neck with the Mahout behind us. The elephants only "work" about 4 hours a day at the camp, light load compared to the 10-12 hours in the logging camps. So they are lead out every afternoon into the jungle to roam and act as a herd until the next morning.

It was the march back into the jungle that we would be bare-necked if you would. Now while it was far more comfortable than riding in the seat, it was far more exhilarating feeling the power of these beasts right between your legs. They really are incredible animals. The trek took about 45 mins at which point we dismounted and made our way to our rooms to freshen up before dinner. Our room was amazing and we have pictures to do it justice, which you will all have to wait to see. All the meals were included, and dinner was a traditional lao dinner, fried seaweed to start with curried vegetables and ginger beef with rice, and of course a couple of delicious beer laos.

After a little time by the bon fire that night we were anxious to get to bed for the morning bath that awaited us. An bath to an elephant is much like a cup of coffee to most people, they just feel sluggish without one we were told. Many times at the logging camps they were denied their baths and given drugs to increse the work load, so getting to be apart of a morning ritual was very exciting. We walked to where they were placed the night before, and hopped up ontop to ride them down into the river. There we were, all 8 elephants marching right into the river for a nice big scrub down. The Mahouts get them into the middle of the river to where there heads are exposed and we start scrubbing. All over from head to tail. We were still planted on the neck so we mainly did the head, while the mahout was standing and climbing all over the place to ensure a good scrub. The command of "map" was then given and the elephants submerged in the water to give a rinse everyso often, taking us down with them. It felt much like a rollercoaster at points, and boy can they get dirty during the nights, our clothes still have mud on them. After the bath they all head out of the river to a quite steep path, not much to hold onto on the head so you just hold those big ears and hope for the best. It truly was one of the most memorable times on this trip thus far, one we both will never forget.

After a shower and some breakfast we said goodbye to our new grey friends and headed "home", with many a picture and movie in hand, again you'll all just have to wait.

After a night in our guesthouse we made plans to get a move on north via boat which is where the above post takes off.

Lots of love
jay/maeve