By Way of Asia

Chiang Mai, Thailand: The Chiang Mai zoo is way better than the zoos at home - they let you get so close to the animals that we almost had a giraffe lick our faces. And they have lots of funny gibbons with ridiculously long arms. And a baby panda too!

Luang Prabang, Laos: Some more up-close-and-personal fun with the elephants…

Luang Prabang, Laos: After exploring the city a bit, we decided to sign up for a two-day “mahout training experience” - mahout’s are the guys who train and take care of the elephants that have been rescued from unfair work conditions or dangerous hunting environments. Unfortunately there are only about 1,000 elephants left in all of Southeast Asia, so making sure they are well taken care of is very important. We decided to go with a group called Elephant Village and signed ourselves up for two days in the jungle with the elephants where we would get to go for a few rides, learn some commands, and - the best part - give the elephants baths in the river. 

Once we got to Elephant Village, about 30 minutes outside of Luang Prabang, our day started off with an hour long ride in a chair on the elephants’ back to get our “sea legs” so to speak. We then got to spend some quality one-on-one time with the little buggers, feeding them bananas (forget about peeling - they put an entire bunch in their mouths at once) and giving them some rubs on their trunk (what animal doesn’t like a good rub?). Next we learned some mahout commands (e.g., stop, go, turn left, turn right…luckily “run” wasn’t in the vocabulary) and took a turn riding “bareback” on the elephants’ neck practicing our newly-learned commands under the watchful eye of the mahout. Now mahout veterans, we then rode our elephants across the river and into the jungle, where they spend the night eating…and eating…and eating…

In the morning, we woke up early and trekked back into the jungle to wake up our sleepy friends. We hopped back on their necks and rode them back to the river where it was…you guessed it…bath time. The elephants seemed very excited as we headed to the water, picking up speed as we went and trying to pass each other. Once we got to the water, they paused to take a few big gulps (you’d be thirsty too if you ate pineapple leaves all night without access to a refreshing beverage), and then in they went - surprisingly gracefully considering they can weigh more than 12,000 pounds. They walked in until they were mostly submerged and then just hung around, letting us scrub their bodies and faces with the biggest scrub-brush you’ve ever seen. When they felt like it (or when the mahout told them), they would all of a sudden dunk themselves completely underwater, leaving us lowly humans flailing around, trying to keep both our balance on their necks and our heads above water. Occasionally, when they were feeling a little playful, they would splash their trunks hard up and down over the water, splashing everything around them. Sound fun? You bet it was. When they were all clean, we rode them back up to the camp and said a (quite sad!) goodbye.

Needless to say, we had a ridiculously good time and it was Ash’s favorite part of the trip so far. 

Sapa, Vietnam: One of the best parts about Sapa has been the adorable kids and plethora (yes, plethora) of animals we’ve gotten to see both on our treks to the villages as well as in Sapa town. On our walks, we ran into buffalo, ducks, wild pigs, really cool shiny beetles, butterflies, horses, dogs, cats, the list goes on. And since the H’mong and Dzay ethnic minorities get married around 13 and begin having children shortly thereafter, there is no shortage of completely lovable little ones either playing around town or strapped to their siblings backs (who themselves can’t be older than 10 - we weren’t even allowed to be left home alone at that age, let alone take care of a newborn!)

Also, on a bit of a side note, today we saw the craziest thing we’ve seen so far on the back of a motorbike. We’ve seen some pretty ridiculous things carted around on two wheels over the past five weeks - families of six, bushels of dead chickens, a giant ladder, a woman breastfeeding - but this one takes the cake………..a dead horse. Yes, scout’s honor, a man was riding a motorbike and attached to the back was a full size, black horse. Oh, and he was riding on a dirt path on the side of a mountain at a 10% gradient. Talk about good balance.