We Survived! BARELY!

We have returned from our little mini expedition into the mountains outside Luang Prabang. After a short minibus ride we arrived at the Elephant Camp in the mountains. We put our packs down and were immeditately wisked across the river in the scariest motorboat ever and were right among 7 female elephants. Less than 10 minutes later off we went on their backs. It really is kindof a scary surreal feeling. Almost like a Disney ride with no rule or safety standards! We had two rides the first day; one with both Eric and I on one elephant and the guide on its neck. And one solo ride that afternoon with us on the necks and the guides back on the back. I have to say the real highlight came the morning of the second day tho when we were assigned to bathe the elephants in the river. I think somehow i ended up on the safest elephant in the group as I was allowed to ride with no guide. Just me and the elephant. In a way it's a bit like riding a trail horse where they will go the right way whether I do anything or not(or so I thought). I have to say they have a mind of their own as well. My elephant like to randomly stop and make me nervous while it decided what its next move was going to be. It wasn't the most settling feeling I've ever had for sure. We walked down into the river and were given scrub brushes like the king you clean your carpet with. Thats when the fun began. The guides told the elephants to lay down and we basically were climbing all over their backs rubbing them down. Mine had a nasty habit of spraying me with her trunk like she was helping me rinse....grrr..(women). After that we took a boatride up the river to another village about 12 kilometers away. There we began hiking a trail back. Everything was going well until IT came. IT was high as Everest, steep as a sheer cliff, and hot as the center of the sun. About 3/4 of the way up IT we were both wondering what the h#^%$^ we decided to do this for. Thats when the guide told us the school children make this hike to school everyday Monday-Friday(i wouldn't go!) . Anyway, we survived and arrived at a authentic Laos village to stay the night. I really was great. There were prob. 100 or so children all with too much energy and too few forms of entertainment. We had a very nice night with them and a very nice dinner followed by a night in our spider cages also know as our accomodations. Right as I was about to fall asleep, Eric has a battle royal with what he swears was the fastest spider he's ever seen. I just convinced myself there weren't any on my side of the room. The morning of the third day we hiked back to the original village and kayaked back to town. Even tho that seemed like fun the river was virtually a lake and it took way too much energy to find civiliztion. Oh well.

Anyway, we're not really sure of our plans for the next few days. When we figure it out I'll make sure I'll post some updates. Also, I'm burning a CD to free up a memory card now and when thats done I'll try to post some pics. Hope all is good there. Will talk to you all soon!

Rob