Terry and I stayed in Luang Prabang a 1 1/2 years ago and loved it. Here we are again enjoying the laid back ways, great food, and just relaxing. Not to say that we stopped adventuring. We scootered out to Manifa Elephant Sanctuary. The elephants here were rescued from logging camps. They worked long days, at times in the heat...at times in the monsoons, pulling 1000 lb. logs through the mud and jungle. At this particular sanctuary they teach you how to be a "mahout", which is the animals trainer and keeper. We learned to direct the elephant with voice commands ....stop, go, left and right. Our elephant was a female named Boon Mai. We rode her and I ended up in the Mekong for a dunk to wash her down and let her cool off. But all during the ride I had a nagging feeling that what I was doing just wasn't right with the elephant. I won't ride another elephant again on principle. She doesn't need some tourist from the Pacific NW on her back with a silly smile on his face. Just like an elephants long memory, Boon Mai's gentleness, sure footedness and strength is not an experience I will soon forget.
One of the problems with the elephants is Laos, Thailand, Myanmar is those counties have made logging illegal and in particular, they are trying to save the teak trees (which take hundreds of years to grow), as well as save the forests to preserve the jungle and it's inhabitants. That's the good news. Now the bad news: most all logging that's been done has been done with elephants. They are the favored work animal pulling the trees out of the jungle. So if all logging stops, there are generally three paths an elephant takes...not one of which is their choice. They go to sanctuaries generally for the tourist industry, turned loose in the wild (they don't last a long time there after they've been domesticated and/or their "territory" overlaps with humanity), or they are killed for their tusks and hide. Not a pretty picture. So in the end, you get elephant rides as a way of saving them from an industry that has left them behind and a future that is bleak, at best.
Luang Prabang and pretty much anywhere else in Laos and SE Asia, the populous are awakened by the early morning cockle-doodle-do of a rooster, somewhere nearby. In fact, in Laos, there is a chicken, dog, or cat within reach just about anywhere you go. And we were told that many of them end up in the stew pot. I imagine that Thelma and Louise, our two plump Pugs, would fetch a pretty penny here in Laos.
The people of Laos enjoy eating wild or domesticated meat which includes just about anything that has meat on it's bones...we heard that they eat monkey and gibbon, frogs, lizards, snake, water buffalo, goat, every kind of fish or eel....anything that has 4 or more legs, two legs, fins, feathers or it swims or slithers....did I miss anything? One evening we each had water buffalo...Moon swears it was the best steak she's ever eaten. I agree. Frog, on the other hand, tasted like chicken with a hint of seafood....an odd pairing...and dare I say, I jumped at the chance to eat it.....I couldn't help myself.
Life is simple here...which is part of the attraction If you have food, shelter, and a scooter...you're set. All for now. Ed out.
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