The Boardman Family Blog

Summer Holidays 2007 – Laos, Luang Prabang, 30-31 July – Elephant Lodge. October 7, 2007

After breakfasting at Le CAFÉ Ban Vat Sene (again) we caught a bumpy tuc-tuc for forty minutes to the Elephant Sanctuary. Once again our accommodation was super. We crossed the river and rode on two elephants – huge beasts that seemed happy to be there and their Mahouts seemed committed and fair. Both elephants had been saved from Thailand logging areas. The kids were delighted to see them do what elephants have to do (toilet humor eh?) We ate back at the lodge with a wonderful view up the valley over the Nam Khan and over to the mountains. After lunch we caught a very narrow boat up the river to the Tat Sae waterfalls for a great afternoon amongst picnicking locals of pool swimming and waterfall jumping.

Late afternoon turned into a games afternoon on our balcony and then an evening meal before an early night.

We got up with the sun. Our guide had expressed concern that we would struggle to cope with the walk he had planned. But as the walk was through the jungle to track a baby elephant we were determined to try. The night before we had asked him what we should wear, he had replied that we would be swimming with the elephant. So obviously we all had swimming stuff on. Luckily as an after thought Andrew offered his swimming shorts to Katharine instead of her skimpy bikini. Good job as she may have turned a few Mahouts’ heads hacking through thick jungle in her pick bikini. Our young Mahout takes his baby elephant deep into the jungle each night as there is not enough food for it near camp. He then has to track it (at pace!) in the morning. After a couple of minutes of tearing through inconceivably thick jungle, our accompanying, young French couple gave up. Ten minutes later and Team Boardman was struggling. It was decided that we should remain where we were (in fact we couldn’t find our way back if we had wanted to), and wait for the Mahout and the elephant’s return. Ellen the intrepid was determined to go on, and she did, badly cutting her toe in the process. But the look on her face when she returned with the baby elephant will stay with us for years.

The next few hours were spent bathing, swimming with and for the girls riding on the elephant – an unforgettable experience and worth every penny (and injury).

In the afternoon we were driven by tuc-tuc to a point on the river half way back to Luang Prabang. The next few hours were as comical and surreal as we had experienced since we have been in South East Asia. Firstly our guide Lah had brought along a friend as he didn’t think we would be able to row back to Luang Prabang on our own. He was right. Secondly, foot-pumping a 10 seater dingy that would have taken an hour to blow up with an electrical one, in the middle of a village which only has one stand pipe for water, bordered on the ridicules. It was clear the locals could see the funny side, though I doubt if any of them would have been laughing had they been asked to join us in the half pumped, slowly deflating dingy. With Rosie in a life-jacket meant for an adult and Andrew sat knee deep in water we paddled for the next two hours. Both Lah and his friend could hardly keep their laughter to themselves. Did I mention the tropical downpour? All three girls ended up curled up in the boat. The final craziness occurred when we passed whole families dredging for stones. The father would literally push the son/daughter under using his feet, where they would fill a bucket with rocks from the bottom and then surface after interminably longtime and pour them into the boat to be sorted and taken ashore. Payment by weight. Our looks of incredulity at this activity were justifiably returned.

Its journeys like this that bond people for life and so it was that we felt like Lah and his willing friend were part of the family by the time we reached Luang Prabang. We ate and shivered in the back of the tuc-tuc and then traveled back to Pac Luc Villas where we said an extremely fond farewell to our fellow ‘dingy-iers’. After a ward(ish) shower we walked up 328 steps to the top of Mount Phousi for some great panoramic views of the city. A hearty meal and Christmas shopping ended a bizarre and memorable day.