On the back of a recommendation from Ry and Katie we made reservations to visit an elephant sanctuary about 20km from Luang Prabang.
We took an extended package with a day hiking, a homestay, a bunch of elephant stuff and kayaking.
Here’s how we rolled:
Day 1
We arrived at the sanctuary mid-morning after being picked up from our hotel by our guide in a minibus. It was a slow and bumpy ride up into the hills on a single-track dirt road.
The last round of wine we ordered the night before was seemingly not one of our greatest decisions, especially as we had a 7 hour hike ahead over rough terrain. Hmmm.
The hike didn’t get off to the best of starts as within seconds of getting off the long tail boat across the river from the sanctuary, Lau was in a heap on the floor with blood gushing out of her hand! In some miraculous manuevour I had stepped on one end of a discarded branch with the other end somehow managing to weave it’s way through Lau’s legs and then, quite remarkably, tucking itself down one of her socks. The fall would have been comedy without the blood as it was one of those uncontrollable types where the body flaps around for a second or two before giving up and hitting the deck. The cut on the bottom of her thumb was a deep one, right on the tendon area. Owch.
After dusting herself off, we headed off into the mountains. It was hot and the terrain fairly difficult and within an hour we were both drenched with sweat as if we had just stepped out of the shower.
We stopped for lunch in tiny village of 15 families. The village had once homed 60 families and I doubt any will be left within five years. I performed a little surgery on Lau’s hand, cleaning the wound and laying the flap of skin back over it. We bought a couple of small bags from the villagers before heading out further into the mountains.
After a couple of hours we were thankful when the Sun relented, giving way to a much more useful grey sky. As we reached the peak we could see down the valley for miles on the other side. We could also see the vast sheets of heavy rain moving up the valley. Just as we were all thinking “I hope we don’t get caught in that.”, there was a huge crack of thunder that sounded like a bomb had just gone off. Our guide gave us a plastic bag that lunch had been in to wrap up our valuables. I burried the bag deep in my day pack and then caught up with the guide who had shot off. It always worries me when locals do things like that as it means they know something I don’t!
A few minutes later the rain began to reach us. I was thankful as it was quite refreshing. I was thankful for about 2 minutes as once the rain had stopped flirting with us we got it’s full force and were soaked within seconds. The temperature must have dropped 15 Degrees and hailstones the size of tennis balls started pumelling us.
We were still having fun and at one point we were laughing in each others sopping faces (well, I was laughing in Lau’s face) at the situation as it was quite cool thing to be doing after all. That was until the clay path that wound its way down the other side of the peak turned into an ice ring and our hiking shoes into roller skates. The first time we each hit the deck was quite funny, but Lau then went down hard with the type of fall where your ass hits the ground way before your legs. In cushioning her fall she had whacked her bad hand. A few minutes later she went down again, this time cutting her other hand. I was worried for a minute as bright red blood was gushing out, but the cut turned out to be superficial. I worked out later that the blood pressure in our arms was high because our packs were limiting circulation. We were now officially not having fun and were still a good few hours away from the village we were staying in. Lau had lost her bottle and had gotten herself into a confidence-falling viscous circle. It was very slow moving for the next half hour or so before both the incline and the rain eased. Then, as suddenly as it had disappeared, the Sun came out again and started to dry us off.
We trudged into the village at about 5ish, damp and tired. But the kind of good damp and tired you get after a long day on the slopes. Nothing a full fat Coke and a hearty meal wouldn’t sort out.
The family we were staying with were lovely. At one point Lau was showing three generations an episode of Family Guy on my iPhone! This is a village that has 2 TV’s. The youngest kid got to grips with the iPhone quicker than I did; he was pinching n’ zooming, flicking and rotating inside of 20 seconds.
After we had virtually inhaled our dinner we were treated to a little show from the family’s kids and a few of there friends. They all clapped out a steady beat and they would periodically, almost spontaneously, break out in song that one of them had started to mumble. I like Loas music and to hear little kids sing was very cute.
As the music had carried through the village (along with the prospect of sweets from the tourists) the kids were joined by others, two and three at a time. Ten minutes later the long table we were sat at was filled with about 25 little urchins, all clapping the beat and singing there little hearts out.
*** Link to video ***
Definetely one of the highlights of the trip so far.
Day 2
Day 2 was elephant day. We treked back to the sanctuary and within half an hour we were on the back of one! As we learnt the commands of a Mahout (elephant handler) we progressed from being ridden while sat on a harness to driving the things bare-backed, solo. Very cool. I sustained ‘elephant burn’ during my final dismount of the day! I now sport a friction burn on my left knee, the beast was unscathed. 
At one point, as we were walking the elephants back out to the jungle (where they graze and sleep), I found myself hanging on to the head of an elephant who was ambling steadily down a steep incline down to the river below – a river we were about to cross. I love health and safety out here; it’s how it should be: weigh up the risks yourself and take your chances.
We checked into our hotel mid-afternoon; the room was pretty luxurious, certainly compared to the homestay the previous night. The hotel was a few minutes upstream by longtail and the boat ride home after dinner at the sanctury was stunning as the stars were blazing in the pitch black
Today was another highlight.
Day 3
We were up early to go fetch the elephants from the jungle and take them down for their morning bath at the river. We’d crossed the river on them the day before, but this time the Mahouts had them diving and dunking us in the drink … at one point the only thing above water was my head! We scrubbed them clean with giant bathroom scrubbers as the morning mist gave way to the Sun. At one point as Lau was submersed to her waist, a few elephant dungs were floating her way! After much eeeking her Mahout pushed them aside. As I watched the elephant poo bob down stream I couldn’t help think of Lush and how they would be probably selling them within a year.
After the bathing, we headed back to the sanctuary and fed our elephants bananas and pineapple leaves. It is so mesmorising watching them munch away.
We then fed ourselves on the veranda over looking the river before setting out on the 20km kayak back to Luang Prabang. Sore arms!
