so the internet in Laos just ain't great. therefore there has been absolutely no time in the last two weeks when i could have possibly published a blog. i've written a few entries into my old fashioned journal but i'll type them up another time. for now i'll just tell you about my two days learning to be a mahout.
well, travelling solo has it's ups and downs. it's great being able to make your own plans without anyone else to consider. but it's a pain not having anyone to discuss your plans with. it's great being able to do whatever you want to do but it's a pain having to pay extra because you're alone or worse still, as i found out, being somewhere during low season where they won't accept just one person to do a trek. it's also fantastic meeting new people, it sucks when you can't shake them off too though, as i've learned just once so far! but then there's the whole "well at least it's someone to talk to thing..."
anyway, after saying a rather quick and unexpected goodbye to my now ill soundboard, i wandered the streets of Luang Prabang hoping the rest of the people i encountered wouldn't be quite so boring...oh to be lacking such basic comforts as a decent conversation!
i had planned to go to the jungle in the far north west of Laos in bokeo province to do the gibbon experience tour, a three day trekking and ziplining adventure where i was unlikely to actually see any gibbons but i'd heard about how much fun it was from quite a few other travellers. after booking it and paying for it, it turned out i'd booked the wrong month (travelling seems to have reduced me to being unable to tell time or date...) and the program is closed for september due to heavy rains. so defnilly defnilly no gibbons for ead.
so i took myself into the fair trek booking office to see if i could find me some elephant friends instead. and lo and behold, there at the counter was another solo lady interested in the same thing but being told she couldn't go unless at least one other person signed up. i piped in to let them know i was interested too and it all took off from there. sandi and i booked ourselves into a two day mahout and kayaking tour, a shared room and unknown adventure and then introduced ourselves! how etiquette and common practice disappear in strange countries!
turned out sandi wasn't nearly as boring as her predecessor and we had a great few days. we were joined on the trip by a new yorker called adam and we made a great team.
the tour started with a very brief introduction to the elephants and their lifestyles before we took off on a one hour ride on the elephant bench.
we then fed the elephants some bananas and took off for our own lunch. after a very tasty meal we headed back to our ellies and found them unsaddled with chains around their necks. it was time to take them off out to jungle for the night. what a fun ride. what a fun time trying to get up on the elephant in the first place!
it was scary at first, there's nothing to hold on to! but it was also just mesmerising. being elevated to that height in the jungle and plodding along with the elephant, feeling her shoulders move and the earth move beneath her. it took a little while to get used to it but i soon found myself moving in time with 'me ton khong' and feeling more and more comfortable on her back. her driver was sitting a little further up on her back and provided a beautiful Lao soundtrack to our 30minute journey.
then it was back to the lodge to get our gear and head to the Tad Se waterfall. i didn't take my camera with me but there was a lady with us who took a few excellent photos of us jumping off the waterfall, hopefully she'll mail them on soon. it's a beautiful waterfall with tumbling ledges that are great fun to climb. we went all the way up to the top, how very adventurous of us! adam had already jumped off the main waterfall a couple of times when he asked us if we wanted to. both sandi and i said no at first but then i thought, hey, why not, i'm only here once yada yada yada. so up we went. getting up there in the first place was difficult enough, the water cascades so fiercely that you can't keep your eyes open during the climb up.
so up to the top with us. and off the edge with adam. so now he and sandi are over by the far edge of the pool waiting for me to jump. waiting. waiting. waiting...
soon enough our guides have cottoned on to the fact that i've been standing up there for a good five minutes. then the rest of the, thankfully small, crowd do too. ah jaysis... now, if i'm fairly sure i'm going to be good at something i have no problems giving it a go. however, if i have any doubt in my mind, well that's just another thing altogether. i started thinking, didn't i... what if i don't jump far enough, i'm not very good at this sort of thing...
anyway, the power of the people, i couldn't disappoint the crowd so i eventually jumped! it was fantastic! adam did mention that i didn't look like i'd jumped very far so at least i was right about my doubts! but then i got the feel for it and all three of us headed up for one last jump before we went. this time i did a tandem with sandi so i wouldn't hold the whole show up again! (just in case!)
that took us to the end of day one and after a delicious meal and the last of my scotch that doreen had left me in june, we all headed to bed. up at 7 to go and pick the ellies up in the jungle to take them down for a wash. so we had another 30mins saunter back down to the river. when i say saunter, me ton khong must have been in fine form that morning because she was lamping it down the track. as i might have mentioned earlier, there's nothing to hold on to! but i felt safe and the guide said that no one has fallen off yet so...
little did i know what was yet to come though, the incline down into the river must have been about 45degrees. yikes. i felt so sure i was going to go toppling over my ellies head as she squelched down the mud trail. deep breaths, deep breaths. is everyone else still intact on their charges? yes, ok, lets keep going here. i concentrated on how the elephant's skin felt against my own bare feet, even though her head and face are very bristly and her skin is so thick, it felt soft and warm and safe.
and then into the water. it was all fine until she was told to sit down. no offence to me ton knong but she's a big girl, whump! down into the water, i felt as if she'd just left me sitting in mid air! but down i went too and we commenced the morning ritual of scrubbing. it was so much fun, both sandi and one of the real mahouts fell into the water. we all got thoroughly wet, the elephants got clean and we all emerged from the water dirtier than we had been going in!
after saying goodbye and goodluck to our elephants and their mahouts we went back for a well deserved breakfast before kayaking back up to Luang Prabang. it was a four hour trip, lackadaisical as it was, through beautiful landscape and the most timid of rapids with lunch enroute at the site of Henri Mohout's grave (french explorer, all round great guy apparently).
so there you have it, i'm not quite a mahout but it was fun learning to be one all the same!
i'll update you on the rest of my journey another day.
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