Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!

The 4th of March was a great day! It was the day Henk and I were getting up early to attend our first day of a 2 day/1 night mahout course run by All Laos. We would be training on elephants to be mahouts, also known as "elephant drivers." The minivan picked us up just before 9:00 AM and took us out to their elephant park. The van was full with half-day course attendees and 2 girls who were attending the 2 day course with us. We marveled at the scenic drive, then brought our stuff up to camp when we arrived.

Oh! One funny thing Henk wanted me to note. When we were sitting around discussing our plans for the day, one of the Lao guides noticed me putting in my contacts and looked puzzled. Henk explained that contacts were lens for the eyes, like glasses but placed directly on the eyes rather than in front. It was quite amazing to see contacts are still somewhat unknown in these parts of the world! Anyways, we were then brought up to see what we had been waiting for: the elephants.

The first one we spotted was a baby boy. It was a bit sad to see the chains around his ankles, but we understood it was for safety. He wasn't trained yet, and even a baby elephant could trample one of us quite easily. Didn't want that! Our group was led by our guide, Souk, to a large platform where our mahouts would 'drive' their elephants individually up to us and we could jump into the little basket-seat placed on top of them. Henk and I were the first to get in one. We touched the elephant's skin... so warm, thick and rough!







Our guide drove our elephant for a while and we got to just relax and enjoy the ride. But we quickly found out that it was only the beginning. Soon, Henk was asked to take over for our mahout, and he climbed onto the elephant's neck. After our scenic ride, we were shown our room and given our official mahout uniforms. Baggy blue pants and a matching shirt. Not very flattering, but better to wear it then get our clothes dirty. After donning our new uniforms, we headed to lunch. One chicken and rice and chicken sandwich later we were busy practicing our new-found mahout lingo:







Pai Pai - "Go Go"
Pai Xai - "Go Left"
Pai Qoua - "Go Right"
Hao - "Stop"
Toi - "Go Backwards"
Jou - "Bow Head Down"
Ya Ya "Stop Being Naughty"
Map Long - "Lay Down"
Boun Boun - "Spray Water"

We tested our knowledge of the phrases by calling them out to each other and seeing if we could react in the right way. Once we had mastered these we were taken back to the elephants for a test of our skills. This time we each had our own elephant, and we climbed onto the elephant's neck for another ride through the jungle path. I was pretty nervous to ride on the elephant itself rather than in a safe little box on the top of its body... I kept having to press my hands down on its neck to keep my balance, worried I would fall off!











Partway through this ride we rode the elephants into the water for their bath. During our attempts to clean them, they started spraying us with water from their trunks. I got totally soaked! For some reason, Henk's elephant didn't want to spray him -- his elephant wasn't trained enough yet. But his mahout still soaked him with water anyways. As we made our way back with the elephants, we really saw the extent to which Henk's elephant wasn't trained. The two day course girls and I took our elephants and went to the right, but his elephant followed some other elephants going left. The mahout and Henk tried to turn the elephant around but it didn't want to follow their orders. Once it finally did turn, a car happened to come by and the elephant got scared breaking out into a mad dash! Henk told me later that he almost fell off but managed to grab onto the elephant's ears hanging on for dear life screaming "HAO HAO!" ("Stop Stop!)















After that stunt, the elephant had to walk through the jungle off the path to bring Henk back to us. The mahout then indicated to him that the elephant had been bad and was going to be punished. The most shocking thing about the entire experience was realizing just how fast elephants can actually move when they get scared. They had been rumbling along very slowly all day and it was quite a surprise to see such a display.



Next was some time spent tubing down the river at the camp. We were driven by long boat to the tubing spot and then floated our way back down to our cabins. It wasn't a rough ride by any means, but still took well over an hour to make it back. Since we were now soaked with muddy water we went back to our room for a quick shower and some relaxation time before dinner.



And mmmm... dinner was a nice feast! Sweet and sour chicken, rice, noodles, veggie dishes and fruit. After such a long day on elephants we were glad to sit down and enjoy some tasty dishes. During dinner our guide discussed our plans for the next day. We were going to get up early in the morning to get our elephants from the forest and go through their morning routine. After this we had the choice of going for a 3 hour hike to some villages (Kamu and Hmong) or kayaking. The decision was pretty easy -- the villages sounded interesting and the water was too low for good kayaking.



On the 5th we arose to freezing cold weather! Shivering, we put our blue outfits back on and went to get our elephants. This time we had different elephants, which we walked through the jungle back to the bathing spot for a morning bath. Again we got soaked! This time, Henk's elephant managed to get him wet even though it didn't spray him directly. Instead it just banged its head on the water to splash! After bathing the elephants, we took the boat back to our cabins for a shower and breakfast. Next it was off to the hike! It took a while to get out to our hiking spot, but after we made it there we discovered the hiking part wouldn't be too difficult; it was the heat that was dangerous!















Our first stop was about an hour and a half into the hike at the Kamu village. From Sawadee.com:

The Kamu are one of the small tribal groups, living along the Thai-Laotian border of Nan province. At the present there are about 10000 people of this tribe.

They originate from Laos, mainly of Luang Prabang and Xieng Khoung districts. They first migrated as labour and worked either in the teak forests or similarly isolated employment.

They are living now in small villages located on mountain slopes and survive on subsistence agriculture supplemented by hunting, fishing and trading.

The Kamu practice an animistic religion. In their native homeland Kamu shamans are considered to be excellent magico-religious practitioners and often participate in Laotian ceremonies.

We were quite surprised to see a non-tourist oriented village so close to the main city! Souk brought us to visit the children at school and we got quite a lot of attention from them. Their classrooms looked pretty bare, and we wondered how they were able to pay attention to the teacher at all in the heat of an open-air classroom. After visiting with them, we had our packed lunch in the village and walked around a bit more seeing different houses and villagers at work. As we explored, Henk noticed a bunch of 'seed' looking objects drying in the sun. He grabbed one to take to our guide who explained it was hops for BeerLao!











The second part of the hike was much rougher considering the heat. By the time we made it to the Hmong village where we were to be picked up in the minivan, we were quite exhausted. A few pictures of the village and a glass of cold water later, we returned home to rest. Later on that evening Henk went out to grab me some dinner of sublime cheese and chicken sandwich creations and himself a tuna sandwich. He'll now tell you all about the madness of Vang Vieng...







Francesca

The first of the new month, March, was an extremely lazy day. Francesca didn’t feel great, so we decided to stay in. We had a quick look in the Tourist Information Center, which turned out to be rather void of useful information. We only went out to grab a chicken baguette and a tuna baguette for lunch. They’re so big that it filled us up for dinner as well! We also tried to bring a box of excess stuff to the Post Office, finding out the PO closes at rather random hours. We returned to our temporary home and rested up for the remainder of the day.

The 2nd of March I took Francesca to a restaurant I’d read good stuff about: Tamarind. We’d tried to go there before to sample their Lao cuisine, but had found the place closed. Today was our lucky day though, since the doors had opened. We started off with some drinks. The drinks menu was very interesting, with unique mixes such as Iced Jujube Drink, Rosella and Lemongrass and Iced Cinnamon Bael Fruit Tea. Of course, I picked the last one: it sounds the most exotic! Francesca got some water, and we started investigating the menu.

Our choices didn’t take long to be made. We decided to try the Laos tasting platter with 5 local dishes, as well as the Stuffed Lemongrass (Oua Si Khai). The waiter also brought us a sheet with information on Laotian table manners. We learned Lao almost always eat sticky rice with whatever else they’re eating. Using the hands is quite common, as the Lao grab a little bit of sticky rice and knead it into a ball. They then use their thumb to add the other dish to their rice. Without hesitation we dropped our knife and fork and started digging in.

The 5 bites we got to try were:

1) Sai Oua – Luang Prabang sausage, made from pork.
2) Sin Savanh – Made with buffalo meat, ‘Sin Savanh’ means ‘heavenly’ or ‘paradise meat. The buffalo is sweetly marinated, then dried in the sun before it gets cooked. Similar to beef jerky.
3) Jeow Nor Mai Som – Best described as a pickled dish made from bamboo shoots, this has a sour taste that is spicy with ginger.
4) Som Pak Gat – A green leafy vegetable with a pickled taste.
5) Miang – Two kinds of lettuce wraps: one with a paste made from dried sticky rice crackers, peanuts and lemongrass, and one with an eggplant paste with noodles, fresh vegetables and coriander.



Quite the mix! Whilst Francesca and I tried the different dishes our Stuffed Lemongrass was also served. Francesca really only enjoyed the Sai Oua, whilst I thought all of them were pretty good, with the Miang and Sin Savanh as my favorites. Francesca’s definite favorite came off our second plate though. The Stuffed Lemongrass is basically made by wrapping pieces of chicken, kaffir lime and coriander together in the lemongrass plant itself. Once prepared all you have to do is remove the lemongrass and you’re left with a lump of extremely tasty chicken. A peanut dipping sauce made this dish Francesca’s number one.



After our satisfying lunch Francesca and I walked along the river towards Wat Xiengthong, Luang Prabang’s largest temple. For some reason we can’t seem to stop ourselves from checking out every Wat we come across… I must admit, this one did have a little more charm than most of the ones we’d seen so far. The main temple, an old wooden structure, stood proudly in the center of the complex. We walked through the neatly adorned entrance, finding ourselves looking at another golden Buddha statue. The beams and ceiling were all decorated, albeit looking a little under the weather.





My companion and I exited the main temple and headed to a little exhibition hall. Some random artifacts, rows of Buddhas and old mosaic lined the walls, whilst a large decorated urn on a vessel made for an impressive center piece. Once outside we found two smaller temples, and discovered the back of the main temple had some very colorful Bodhi tree images.





Leaving the temple behind us and continuing along the river Francesca and I stumbled upon an interesting scene: some local men were playing petangue. This, along with the baguette stalls, is a French left-over from the colonial times. Petangue is played by 2 or more players, trying to get 3 silver balls as close to a tiny ball as they can. The players can try and knock the other players’ balls away, getting themselves closest to the smaller ball. Whoever ends up with the closest ball after 3 rounds wins that round. Even this many decades after the French left Laos to fend for itself the sport is still a favorite pastime in all of the country.





Around 2:30 PM Francesca and I stumbled across a little path leading down to the river. A sign said we could go to a local village to look at weaving and other arts. When we made it down to the bridge we decided it wouldn’t be worth it, and climbed down a little further to cool our feet down in the agreeably cold water. We stood around for a good 15 minutes before deciding to return to our flip-flops and find our next goal.



The Cultural Heritage House proved to be of little interest to us. Other than only having information in Lao and French, the few useful texts were about other interesting places in town, not about the House itself. In fact, the architecture of the House was the most interesting thing about it. We quickly turned around and found another Wat to explore.

Wat Suvannakhili looked rather unassuming, but had one thing going for it: an exhibition of historic photographs in the ancient library of the temple. The tiny building looked its part, and seemed to have a hard time supporting the attention. The photos showed the faces of important figures of monasteries in Luang Prabang and surroundings over the years. We studied the features for a while and had a peek at the temple itself. It turned out to be another old wooden structure, similar to Wat Xiengthong, just smaller and thus not extremely interesting.

We visited a few more Wats on our way back to the city center, amused by the saffron-robed youngsters/monks goofing around near them. We also watched school kids playing football during recess, before deciding to find Nava Mekong’s office. Nava Mekong had attracted our interest, for they offered a Mekong River cruise, including traditional Lao food and dance, whilst exploring parts of the Mekong during sunset. Since we’re suckers for dinner and a show we decided to book the cruise.







However, it was only 4 PM and the cruise was supposed to start at 5:30 PM. We didn’t want to walk back to the guesthouse through the heat and stayed put on Nava Mekong’s couch. We tried to read some Lao magazines, but quickly got bored of the squiggles. Then one of the employees came to us, telling us we were the only ones that had booked for that night and if we wanted to start a little early to see more of the sunset. Wow! Good news! We smiled and said yes. A little while later they asked us to go down to the river to climb on board.





And there it was: a giant boat, all for us. The crew, all for us. One table, all for us. One sunset, all for us. We sat down for a little while to thank Lady Luck, but soon started walking around on the boat to find the best spots to take pictures of sunset. From the back deck of the boat we looked at the kids playing on the river banks, the mothers washing their clothes in the river and the fishermen working their nets. When the boat turned on the river we walked to the front of the boat to continue our shoot. Looking out over the river standing on the edge of the boat felt a bit ‘Titanic-y.’ We got one of the crew to take some more pictures of us. The sun was slowly making its way down the horizon, and we were on the way to a small village for the cultural performance. We made the most of the remaining rays and finally returned to our table.



















I continued taking pictures of the locals living their lives on both sides of the river, whilst the boat slowly approached its destination. Some snacks were put in front of us: seaweed with sesame seeds, and some peanuts. We thought we’d have to get off to see the show, but they had another little surprise for us: there was a platform set up for the show and all the captain had to do was park his boat besides it. We had front row seats! By 6:30 PM it was all dark outside and the show started. There were 5 little girls, 4 little boys and some parents with instruments present. The girls started with a welcome-to-the-village dance. We also got to see a dance dedicated to the nature around the village. One of the girls did a solo, singing about the ‘Janpa- flower,’ whilst one of the boys sang a song about Laos. Perhaps not all as smoothly orchestrated as the shows we’d seen before, but with a lot more charm. Francesca and I clapped for the 40 minutes the show took, after which we waved goodbye and wished them a good night.





























For us it was now time to feast. All of the many different courses were served at the same time. Here’s a little summary of all the snacks we got: steamed egg rolls with minced pork and vermicelli as well as sautéed chicken in screw pine leaf. As a starter: tasty chicken coconut soup. The main dishes were: traditional Mekong river fish mousse in banana leaf, stir fried pork tenderloin with ginger, onion, mushroom and crispy garlic, sautéed mixed vegetables and of course sticky rice. Francesca loved the sautéed chicken and the mixed vegetables. I really liked the snacks, the soup and the pork.





We enjoyed our sumptuous dinner whilst the boat slowly moved up the river. We could see Mt. Phou Si in the background, all lit up. From a distance Luang Prabang looked stunning. It was getting a little colder, and Francesca and I were done with our food. The boat turned around, heading for the starting point. For dessert we got a platter of papaya and a local Phongsaly green tea. What a ride it had been! We walked back to the guesthouse to walk off some of our Lao calories and went to bed, fully filled and fulfilled.

On the 3rd of March I finally managed to get rid of our box, which is now underway to the Netherlands. Let’s all hold hands and pray it gets there! I also brought back my own lunch creation for Francesca: fresh barbecued chicken on little buns, covered in cream cheese. Perfect little treats for a perfect little girl. She says it’s now almost her favorite meal; close to being better than pizza. Well done to me! We only had one other goal before heading to our elephant course the following day: the Roots & Leaves Restaurant.

Roots & Leaves was one of the restaurants that offered a ‘dinner & a show’ experience. We were not sure what to expect, but sat down near the large pond. We saw some musicians playing their instruments, but could not spot any dancers. Francesca found the stir-fried noodles with chicken and vegetables in sweet and sour sauce to her liking; I opted for the steamed fish fillet with herbs, along with some purple sticky rice. The fish wasn’t fantastic, because it had scales in it… makes for a lot of fishing in the mouth. Whilst we enjoyed our food the dancers showed up and performed several traditional dances. When we were pretty much done they came out one more time, all dressed up in different tribal costumes. Pretty cool! We headed back to our guesthouse and packed our bags for departure the following day.