Lanterns, Zip Lines and Elephants - Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Where I stayed
Liberty Guesthouse
What I did
Kuang Si Falls Luang Prabang
Elephant Conservation Center
Chiang Mai is a massive cultural oasis located in northern Thailand, overflowing with delicious local food, temples, Buddhist monks, elephant rescue centers and loads of outdoor activities. We chose to come to this particular area of Thailand for two coinciding festivals: Loy Krathong and Yi Peng. Loy Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar and signifies offering blessings or goodwill in the form of lighted decorations down the river. Yi Peng is perhaps the most visually appealing of the two: where paper lanterns are sent into the sky as an act of clearing out the bad and bringing in the good. As the days passed and the festivals were upon us, we tried to narrow down the best place to be for partaking in the festiveness. We began down by the river and watched as many banana-leafed bouquets' lit with a single candle quietly drifted down the calm water. The sky was illuminated with subtle specks of light as lanterns were settling into the darkness. We made our way through the hustle and bustle of the busy streets, dodging firecrackers and fire from lanterns gone wrong to find ourselves standing in the most serene and enchanting place I’d ever been. Every square inch of Wat Phan Tao was illuminated by candle light and the soft hum of chanting monks filled the quiet and peaceful night air. Lingering there for quite some time, our thoughts and minds seemed lost in the tranquility and beauty surrounding us. David and I both did not want the night to end, but as the lights flickered out and the crowd slowly withdrew, as did we. After all, 5 AM would come early and we had a bus to catch and a border to cross in the morning. Our six hour bus ride to Chiang Khong, the most northern tip of Thailand, is where we’d face border patrol and enter into Laos. How exciting!? Well, in theory. Crossing into Laos literally meant getting into a small paddle boat and drifting along the Mekong River for five minutes until poof you’re in a whole new country. We settled into our hostel and made our way to the Gibbon Experience office across the street. This was the portion of the trip David and I have been looking forward to since we started planning our South East Asia excursion. Three days and two nights zip lining, trekking and camping over night in tree houses all throughout the Bokeo jungle. Yes, please! We were greeted by friendly Lao people and fellow Gibbon experiencers. We’d leave the next day bright and early. Since there wasn’t much to do in Huay Xai, we called the night early after enjoying local Lao food: Laap. Tofu marinated in lime juice, fresh mint and basil, red onion and sliced cucumber served with sticky rice to soak up the goodness. Delicious. The next day we hopped into the back of a pickup truck and made our way to the jungle. Our group consisted of about 14 people who would be split up evenly into groups of 7. It had rained the days leading up to our trip, but today was bright and beautiful. We began our trek by crossing the river and headed up, up, up, and more up. David and I had read that the hike was for "fit" people, but as we were sucking wind fifteen minutes into it we clearly misread the fine print. By fit, they meant Olympic athlete. The rainfall that had occurred beforehand really did not help with the steep incline. The dirt became a slippery mud bath to which all of us in the group ate it at least once or twice. Not to mention, with mud, comes leeches. Our shoes and legs were covered with tiny little squirmy leeches looking to latch onto your skin and dine on your blood for twenty minutes before you could look down and notice the red gushing from your leg. After a few hours of trekking we finally made it to our first zip. Exhilarating! Zipping over the plush jungle tree canopy and looking over your shoulder to vast mountain skyline was quite the sight. A handful more and we’d zip into our hotel for the night: a rustic tree house 150 feet up overlooking the mountainous view. Our beds consisted of thin mattresses with a mosquito netting to wrap around creating a small room. The bathroom held the best view and for showers we used accumulated rain water. For dinner, our guide would zip us thermoses of veggies and rice and prepare fresh coffee and tea. The next day we embarked on another tough hike and filled our day with even more zip lining. Living in tree houses is like every little kid’s fantasy and we got to fulfill it as adults for a couple of days. We were sad to make our final descent back to the pickup truck that had dropped us off just three days before. Heading back to Huay Xai we had few leech scars, but many new friends. We decided it’d be best to figure out how we were getting to our next destination: Luang Prabang, a city located seven hours north of our location. Many of our new friends were taking a sleeper bus, others a slow boat along the Mekong River. We had our fill of buses for now, so we opted for the slow boat. The next morning we arrived to the agency who had booked our tickets to find that the slow boat was sold out so they changed our ticket to take the fast boat. It will get you there so quickly, the agency lady says. Okay, sure, let’s do it. Arriving to the dock, we looked around for our boat. You know, a normal sized vessel screaming safety and a good decision? No no, we are standing before a glorified kayak with a high powered motor watching passengers strap helmets and life jackets on. For six straight hours we sat crammed inside this death trap going 75 miles per hour with our knees crushed into our chest flying down the Mekong River. On a side note: Mom, I need you to intercept this blog before Dad even sees it. Thanks! We finally arrived to our destination and could barely walk. We literally crawled up the riverbank and felt like Tim Robbins at the end of Shawshank Redemption. We had little time to nurse our wounded bladders and gelatin- like legs as we hopped onto a tuk-tuk and headed for town. The next day we were on the road again to the Elephant Conservation Center located about three hours south of Luang Prabang. We boarded an old, rickety school bus time warped to us from the 1950’s. No A/C, windows down, dust flying all over every inch of us while winding up and down unpaved mountainous terrain. How could you care when in just moments you’d be face-to-face with a real elephant in its natural habitat. We were picked up around 8 AM sharp and soon cruising by boat to reach the center. Our local guide for the day, Mr. Sak, was an elephant genius. After coffee, we discussed, in detail, the situation with elephants in Laos and how the country got its name by the meaning land of a million elephants. Because so many of these animals are being killed by poachers and in logging accidents, the population has dwindled severely and they were able to rescue around seven adult elephants and two babies. The elephants at the conservation center spend the majority of their day eating in the jungle and the other time is spent soaking in the lake. The mahouts, or human trainers, attached to each elephant are like an extension of the family and care for these animals in the most profound way. Elephants can remember up to fifty command words and can remember everything that has ever occurred in their life for up to nine years. These are truly remarkable animals. We got to feed, ride, and watch these animals in their natural habitat for an entire day. Our only regret is that we didn’t have enough time to stay and volunteer. David and I will be back in Laos one day and the Elephant Conservation Center is the first place on our stop. The rescued baby captured our hearts and we’re happy to sponsor him. His name is Noy, meaning “small” in Lao and he appeared at the center with a younger sibling. Both were completely malnourished and without a mother. The sibling died, but Noy keeps getting stronger by the day. Baby elephants learn from the mother and continue to stay with her well into their teens. See the similarity to American teens? Without a mother, Noy is completely lost. He is being introduced to another elephant at the center that recently lost her baby. We think about him every day and hope the introduction has gone smoothly and hope he has found his new mama. From the Elephant Conservation Center, we headed back to Luang, Prabang and spent a few days chasing waterfalls and dining on the amazing vegetarian buffet at the night market. Next we headed to party town, Vang Vieng, to tube down the Nam Song River. We met amazing people and had ourselves a blast. The next leg of the trip begins in Hanoi, Vietnam. A vibrant city loaded with massive amounts of culture, food, people and motorbikes. Vietnamese cuisine happens to be our favorite and we’re ready for some spring rolls and pho!