Laos-Friday 7th December

A flash of orange catches my eye as I gaze across the river. Below me a trio of Buddhist monks are talking to some fishermen in the boats by the bank. I raise my eyes as they begin to clamber about. A flotilla of small boats ply their trade across the river. My eyes are drawn to the ferry transporting a motorbike across the river. The ferry has been made by laying a raft across two small longboats, quite efficient. There is even a blue gazebo on an expanding metal frame to shade the traveller. A small, wooden, long-tailed boat beats it to the waters edge and a row of ant-like figures move up and down the bank opposite. The hum of a boat engine draws my attention downstream where a simple passenger boat moves rapidly with the current across the path of the returning ferry. The rippling brown surface of the river reflects these daily activities.

We sit, relaxed, on a wooden platform, overlooking the river flowing smoothly below us. A line of ants form a motorway along the tilting, wooden rail by our table. Our table is laden with fresh fruit , fruit shakes, French bread, butter and jam. A steaming mug of tea arrives along with a tin of condensed milk, the only blip in this perfection!!! We eat contentedly to the accompaniment of the tap, tap, tap of a neighbour's hammer. and the occasional whirr of an electric saw. Wood requires a lot of work and there is always something to be mended on the boats and in the homes of the local people.
The next day sees us sitting on the step again at 7.30 waiting for the mini bus to whisk us of on an elephant adventure. The bag had been reduced to essentials and had been put into our back pack in case we had to scramble and needed both hands!

The minibus arrived ten minutes later and whisked us off on our adventure. More scenery and a craft village. The people smile and greet us with ,"Sabadaii", which means Hello. They were just setting up so we left after a short while for the elephant camp. We were to ride the elephants through the jungle, catch a local long-tailed boat to the waterfalls to swim and relax, after lunch.
The majority of roads there were unmade which made for a jolting journey, better than any fairground ride! We were grateful for the unusually comfortable seats and reasonable suspension of the van! We were more shaken than stirred by the time we reached the ,'All Laos Elephant Camp. We walked to the waiting area where four elephants stood munching huge chunks of bamboo. I watched Pushkin, our elephant, deftly strip the outer layer off then stuff the remainder into his mouth and crush it to a pulp like a stick of rhubarb. I suddenly realised that they were already harnessed up. This consisted of a garden bench mounted on an inverted v shaped frame to protect their spine and distribute the weight. This was fixed in place by a flimsy strap which ran under the tummy of the elephant. My stomach lurched in fear as we were called to the mounting steps. I scrambled up these wondering why I had thought that this would be a good thing to do. At the top of the steps I was urged to take one step off the platform to step onto the elephants back then sit on the bench, which now had a cushion on it. I took a breath and stepped . Before I knew it Lee was beside me, a pair of basket hats were placed on our heads, and with the snap of a bar in place our elephant moved off to wait for the others to do the same. The mahout was sitting astride the elephants head and directing him via wiggles of his knee and feet, which lay behind the ears. I could feel the warmth of the elephants skin against my ankles. I was afraid to move my feet in case I accidentally gave a command! It was both exhilarating and terrifying as we moved through the jungle paths as there were sharp bends, steep inclines, declines that seemed like sheer drops at tomes, muddy streams and then the river!! As we tilted this way and that I was, irrationally, concerned that either we would fall out or pull the elephant over! Pushkin was extremely sure-footed and dexterous. He gradually won my trust and I relaxed. Sometimes he would stop and ponder over a juicy bit of foliage but a sharp rebuke from the mahout seemed to bring him to his senses and he plodded on.
I rewarded him with a huge bunch of bananas for his efforts which I fed to him wholesale, in 4's and 5's by placing them in the fold of his trunk. After a coffee, with condensed milk! We headed off for a nearby village where we walked a dusty track to the river and scrambled one by one across a bamboo raft and into a very rickety, and narrow, long-tailed boat to go the the Tad Sae waterfalls. The boat was very unstable to scramble into but we all did it and set off. The sun was shining as we made our way down river holding on to the sides of the boat. I kept one eye on the hole just above the waterline!

We had lunch at the waterfalls and then swam in the pools or under the flows of water themselves. A troupe of elephants paddled through the bottom pool as I was swimming higher up. It made a beautiful image, a lasting memory of a wonderful day.

We returned along a tarmaced road and wove our way through the colourful street market to return weary but elated, to our guesthouse.