What Just Happened.

Stop.  Hold the presses.

Quinn and I rode elephants.

Really, that's is all I should say because who cares about the rest.  We rode elephants all day.

All day.

We were in Laos Saturday night until this morning (Monday) and on Sunday (Easter) we got to ride an elephant.  (Did I mention this already?)

Luang Prabang is a beautiful charming town.  We did get to visit the night market, see the monks this morning at 6am make their way to the temple and receive their food offerings and obviously drove/walked around the town.  We also visited Toubee's (our guide, soft spoken and gentle) wife in the silk shop where she works.  But, the main event was the elephant experience.  I wish we could have stayed a little longer there to see more of the city, but there just wasn't enough time before we had to fly out to Cambodia, where I am writing from now.

Quinn woke up Sunday morning with a wide smile on her face.  She was really excited.  So was I.  We drove to the Elephant Park, a preserve that rescues elephants and trains them, and feeds them (apparently, the hardest part is keeping them fed, they eat a lot and cost a lot of money because of it, hence the elephant riding operation).   Laos used to be called the Land of the Million Elephants.  They don't have a million elephants anymore, more like 1,600 and that is all the land and farmers can handle.

We arrived at 9 am and were "trained" to drive elephants around and next thing I knew, Quinn was climbing up on a four ton animal with big ears and a wiggly trunk.  "Pie, pie" means "go," and "how, how" means "stop,"  and that's all I remember.  Quinn took her test drive first and then I followed after.  After the first go, we climbed to a tall platform and boarded a wide bench for our hour long ride.  About ten minutes into the ride, our mahout (the elephant trainer) slid off the neck of the elephant and told Quinn to hop in the driver's seat after we had crossed a wide river.  Then, at another river crossing, he took over again only to direct me to take over.  I "drove" the elephant (lots of "pie, pie!" since my elephant (she) kept looking around for her mahout...but he was running around snapping pictures of the whole thing) for about thirty minutes or so...all in all we ambled into and through a little village and back to camp about an hour later.

the view from up top

We told our new friend, "Kup chai, lai, lai," (thank you very much) and fed her bunches of bananas which she happily grasped with the end of her trunk.  So much fun.

baby

But, the day wasn't over.  We boarded a little boat and sped upriver to another spot and fed more bananas to a baby girl elephant, who pulled on the pockets of her trainer begging for more and more food (they eat a lot).  Along with us were a two couples from Australia, a Dutch woman and a family from Korea, plus our little tour group.  I can say after watching all of these people interact with the baby that elephants are universally charming.  Totally.

After a quick lunch we headed back over and we each got our very own pachyderm and then rode them back down to the river to give them a "bath."  More like we got soaking wet in the river while the mahouts giggled at us.  The mahouts sat on the back of the elephant and dumped water over us and commanded the elephants to spray us and such.  Crazy.

We left around 3pm and called it a day.  The best day ever.

beautiful Luang Prabang, Laos on the Mekong River

I wish we could have seen more of the town, but there really just wasn't time.  It was so pretty in Laos, so clean-ish (even with nearly all dirt roads) compared to the chaos of Vietnam.  Both countries might be equally poor (hard to say, I could look it up, I suppose) and while Vietnam is barreling toward modernity (but at the same time is still developing and quirky), Laos is taking its sweet time.  I liked that about it there. I saw many tourists who also were drawn to the peaceful ambiance of the place.

Toubee and his wife and daughter at the
silk shop where his wife works

night market for tourists in Luang Prabang

There is so much more I should write about, but really there's so much that I would not do justice at all to any of it if I were to try to explain more about what it is like to be in a place so very very different from anything I have experienced before.  I can say this, part of wandering around the world that is the very best thing is meeting people, sharing a smile, and especially hearing their stories.  That's really what I cannot get enough of.  Some pretty horrible things have happened in this part of the world.  What the people here have taught me is a lot about resiliency but mostly about listening.  Their stories matter.  What they have learned matters.  What they can teach us is invaluable.  The world is not a perfect place and hope is a precious gift for those who have found it.

This has been a wonderful realization.

Quinn and I board a plane in twenty four hours and then over twenty-four hours later, we will return home. Tomorrow from the airport, I will try to write about Angkor Wat and Siem Reap...another place I cannot believe we get to visit.

For now, goodnight.

the monks collect rice offerings at 6 am

Leaving Laos

two views of the morning market