Laura, the Elephant Mahout

I must say I got myself a very lovely birthday present: the two day Mahout trip turned out to be just a good as its advertising—not an easy feat in tourist-hyperbole Asia, where the treks promised never quite live up to their billing. But here was the exception—when they said picked up at 9:30am, they were actually waiting for me at 9:20, dinner was promptly at 6:30pm as promised, and we did in fact get to bath the elephants, not just once, but twice!

Overall, it really turned out to be a unique experience that you can’t do just any old time, which is one of my criteria for splurging. Not that it really was such a splurge though. For full disclosure’s sake (as always), the cost of the two day trip including accommodation (a rustic luxury sort reminiscent of the safari lodges in Africa that was a step above my usual, i.e. there were decorative all hangings not just the necessities), meals, transport, lots of elephant time, as well as time on the river tubing and kayaking, set me back $65. Not bad, I’d say.

I had been thinking about booking the two day trip all week, and on Friday I finally committed and paid for my spot, upon hearing that there were four other people signed up—dum dum dum—consisting of two couples. Hello, Bridget Jones’s moment! Ha, I kid, but it was only made worse by the fact that I asked about the aforementioned lovely accommodation, and the young man working at the travel agency replied, “Yes, it’s very nice—good for couples.” I laughed that off and said that that didn’t matter much to me, to which he said something along the lines of “you should go find a boyfriend.” No, I’m not kidding. Ahh, the life of a solo female traveler. Thick skin, I tell you, thick skin! But in reality, it no longer phases me a bit, I mean, if it did, it would really start to get on one’s nerves so it’s best to just get over it. (The older boys at BBM asked me one day, “You’re here alone?—Yes—Really? Yes—Just you? Just me!) That being said, I haven’t done one of these trip that feels more couple-y (the trek in Chiang Mai was much more summer camp roughing it group comraderie), but I decided, hell, even if it’s just me, I deserve treat myself once in a while! And I’m so glad I did, because otherwise I really would have missed out…

After being transported by minivan to a small All Lao Elephant camp bus (due to its UNESCO World Heritage status, no tour buses are allowed in the city center—very refreshing!), we were driven to the Elephant camp about 25 minutes outside of Luang Prabang, and brought promptly to our first elephant ride. It turned out that there were actually only 3 of us signed up for the two-day mahout course (I guess the other couple never existed or dropped out), and it turned out to be a lovely, energetic retired couple from New South Wales, Australia—Sue and John. They were a lot of fun and definitely great company which made the experience even better. First, however, I shared my elephant ride atop a bench (would seem very tame later!) with a nice German fellow, as myself, Sue, and John, along with day-trippers tramped through the jungle for an hour our so, high atop the backs of elephants. Then we emerged from the jungle out onto the muddy banks of the river (there was some intermittent rain, but so what), and after trudging down into the waters the elephants forged across the river and brought us to our lodge for the night—well, the three of us that were lucky enough to be staying there! It really was a lovely spot on a bend in the (albeit muddy) Nam Khan river with the steep Elephant Mountain shrouded in low misty clouds. During a lunch of fried rice, our guide, Vong (pronounced Wong) gave us a running list of elephant (“Xang”) language, that was as follows, spelled phonetically of course, as I have no idea of the correct Lao spelling:

Sabaidee Xang: Hello Elephant!
How: Stop!
B/Pai: Go!
B/Pai Sigh: Go left
B/Pai Quah: Go right
Mabp Loong: Lie down
Look Kuhn: Get up
Toi: Go backwards/Turn around

After lunch and lesson time, Sue and John, and myself moved into our respective bungalows (ah, king-size bed all to myself—take that, travel agent!) and congratulated ourselves on the lovely porch views over the river and the neat outdoor bathroom and shower. We also changed into our nifty dark blue Mahout outfits reminiscent of a leisure suit (I was very excited about these as it meant less laundry upon our return to LP!). Then it was time for out second encounter with the elephants. We returned to the elephant feeding area and saddled up quite promptly. Mabp Loong! Like a huge dog, my elephant, Kampawn (one again, strictly phonetic spelling!) knelt down with one knee positioned for me to climb up on his neck in front of the (true) mahout. I steadied myself by leaning forward with my two palms pressed firmly on the elephant’s forehead, and the mahout holding on at times of a particular muddy hill or elephant wander, and we carried on through the jungle for the second time that day, down to the river. This time we went straight in and gave those elephants a bath, although we were bathing too though I can’t say it was cleansing (some large elephant poo floated right by a few times!). After a good time frolicking and splashing in the water, we said good night to the elephants, were given some rubber tubes (much tamer than my last tubing session!) and brought up river to float gently down as the weather was finally clearing. Then it was time to visit the tomb of Henri Maohut (coincidence in the name—the “discoverer of Angkor,” i.e. the first European discoverer) before returning to our lodge for a much-needed shower. After some porch-reading time, it was already time for dinner—an impressive meal of celery soup, spring rolls, chicken curry, bamboo salad, and pineapple—before a quite night on the river’s edge reading—I think I lasted about 10 minutes before dozing off just before 9pm—I am getting O-L-D. Happy belated birthday to me!

But it was a good thing I did because we had to be up a 6:15 to go fetch the elephants from their jungle slumber, ride them back to the river and do the whole bathing session again! So fun—I tell you, it did not get old the second time, especially when Kampawn smacked his trunk in the water numerous times to give me a good bath! Then it was time to wish our elephants farewell before another much-needed shower, packing up and moving out, and a warm breakfast of fried eggs and baguette, before we set out on a couple hours of kayaking from upstream, stopping along the way for lunch at a papaya farm for some fresh fruit as well.

Overall, I’d say it was a very excellent weekend. Of course the only problem with coming back to my beloved LP is the need to start making plans which I was of course putting off until “post-Mahout camp” time. But I think I may have a plan, though it could change again by tomorrow. Skip southern Laos (oh, the guilt of places unseen!) and head north for a few days for more fantastic mountainous scenery before heading east towards the Vietnamese border and Hanoi (as my Vietnam visa started today!). I’ll keep you posted…