Luang Prabang - Day 2

Laos is the land of a million elephants. And currently there are only 800 in Laos and apparently losing 40 per year. Tragic.

Shelf that for a minute. Hired a driver to this crazy cascading waterfall that must have had 25 levels of cascading pools at least. Hiked to the top and bottom and jumped around in some of the pools. There was also a sun bear conservation on the premises to rehab bears. Could have stayed all day but i had other plans and this was a really fun way to kill a few hours.

Had a tour with elephants and i did a fair amount of research to make sure it was as humanitarian as possible because there's a lot of bad ones (sanctuaries, not elephants). The one I chose is the only one i found that doesn't allow riding them and they don't use physical force on elephants, just positive reinforcement. Riding elephants hurts them apparently. Hard on their spine and neck. All these elephants were rescued from logging operations and they teach them how to be elephants again and eventually release back into wild.

This place is 20 hectares on the side of a mountain, with no fences but the elephants dont leave because they get fed and love. Day started by me and others in my group preparing some elephant snacks which were rolling sticky rice balls into rock salt and putting salt into some split bananas. Also brought some sugar cane and banana tree branches. Then we boated across a river to where the elephants were and fed them.

At first i was putting food right into its mouth, and after some mixed levels of success the elephant wanted me to place food on its trunk end so it could put in its mouth itself. Then we walked with the elephants up the jungle mountain side a bit so they could find some bamboo trees to eat and some trees to rub against. Pretty surreal experience.

Hours later, back in luang prabang i ran into some dutch guys i met on the bus ride from nong khiaw who recommended an awesome restaurant across the river that was all cushions on the floor with low tables. Not only was this the most comfortable restaurant ever, but the food was unbelievable. As per the waiter's suggestion i got sausage for an app and whole fish for my main. Best I've ever had for either and i brought some of my feast to nearby tables to share the experience with. They all fully agreed on how delicious it was. Met my first Canadian from this trip at one of those tables.

Finished the night at the same pub as night prior to cap my luang prabang experience with some friendly faces. Off to Cambodia tomorrow.Read more