Doesn't time fly?

It certainly did at ECC. We had a program set up for the morning, it was very grey and mystical when we got up for breakfast…

First we headed up to the breeding area, it is an enclosed space that they use for, ermmm, yes, breeding!  But it is also where the baby wild elephant gets to hang out with his step mom. This is the rather rickety looking observation tower…

Mom and baby seemed very happy together, you often hear stories of elephants creating amazing bonds, you could see it happening with these two.

After observing mama and baby for a while we headed bad to the village. We took a tour of the hospital and they explained about all the work that the vets do. We also went to the museum and Ken talked us through the various areas there, it was very interesting and the museum is open all the time so you can just swing by when you have free time to read or check things out.

 

Then it was time for our final lesson. Yasutoki isn't really trying to ride backwards! He was trying out one of the three was to get on an elephant!



And he's off…

And I am so cool, I have ride single handedly!

Ebi-kun's last ride on 'his' elephant, she will be sorely missed.

Time for a family sot, except we were next to Mae Kham Ohn, who is the one who doesn't like kids so the mahout was trying to keep a distance from her and us!

Ebi-kun was sad to say goodbye to these kids, they were in a different group but we saw them at meal times and down time. They got on really well, idolized Ebi-kun and followed him everywhere, it was really cute. 

Kids playing boules as we waited for the final lunch. The little blond boy is 3 years old and in true three year old style, when he wasn't winning,  he was pouting and demanding it "wasn't fair" in such an over dramatic way, he had us all in stitches.

After lunch, we said our goodbyes and got picked up by the boat, then a tuktuk back to the station and finally the extremely dusty bus back to Luang Prabang. We were filthy by the time we got there, The dust was on the inside and outside of my glasses, I couldn't see through them!

We then took another tuktuk, for about 30 minutes up to the hills of Luang Prabang to stay….

Find out tomorrow!

Let the partying begin…

After we had left the baby and mama elephant, we popped back to the centre to pick up some beer and then it was out on the lake for a sunset cruise.

The centre from the lake…

We had a German couple in our group, the husband was really funny, a complete joker, plus Juliette, the French girl and us. Then we had a guy driving the boat, our party animal guide Ken and another chap plus a couple of girls who appeared from I don't know where. At least the beer was cold…

When we picked up the girls, they bought with them some food, I am not entirely sure what it was, the angry birds stuff looked like kamaboko (a type of Japanese fish cake), I gave that a miss but the meaty stuff was good.

Ken gave us lessons on how to dance Lao style, which was quite amusing!

And Ebi-kun ended up driving the boat…

It was a fun way to finish a fun day, once the sun went down we headed back for dinner and a good nights sleep for our final day…

What is cuter than elephants taking a bath?

Baby elephants of course! There are two babies at ECC, the first is know as wild baby, he was born in the wild but his mother died, possibly shot, but our guide wasn't totally sure what had happened to her. So, baby ended up at the sanctuary, it isn't all sad though. One of the female elephants lost her baby, (well that bit is sad too) so she has become the step mom to wild baby, which is a happy ending after all.

Wild baby is about 10 months old and still needs to be fed milk, 4L at a time...

He also gets cooked rice, and like any baby starting to feed themselves, it is a messy affair with food been thrown everywhere!

But how can you get angry, just look at that little face! He also has a toy to take to bed with him, apparently he totally trashes the toy within a couple of weeks and they have to get him a new one. He spends most of his time in a paddock next to the hospital, so that the vets can keep an eye on him. Plus each day he is taken up to the breeding paddock (it is a secure area) to meet his step mom and they get to hang out.

In Laos, elephants don't get given a name until they are 3. First a shaman visits them to bless their 32 souls and then they are able to start their month long training. Once the training is done the shaman visits again. He write names onto pieces of sugar cane and then the elephant picks on, which ever he picks will be his name!

After we had visited wild baby we went to the nursery by boat to see the other baby and his mom. Mom is very protective so we had to stay in the boat, only the mahout goes near them.

Because they live in the forest and other people go through the forest to gather fruits or work, mama elephant wears a big bell around her neck, this is to warn everyone that it is a mama elephant and her baby. Anyone who hears the bell knows to leave the area immediately. 

They both adore sugar cane so we got to feed them...baby couldn't get enough and so tried to get on the boat! Mama would take a piece, tuck it in her trunk and then take some more, it is quite amazing to watch them close up.

Love this picture of baby and Eb-kun, they both look so happy!

Of course, it all ended up in the bath! Baby doesn't seem to be too keen to go in, it is their winter so he feels cold, the mahout used some sugar cane as a bribe to get baby in... just like human kids really!

So, what did we do after overloading on baby elephants? Let's just say it had something to do with Angry Birds...

The Elephant Conservation Centre, Laos - to the forest

Day two at ECC. I woke up early needing the loo, of course the bungalows are not en suite, so I had to pop down the path, the lake looked kinda eerie first thing…

Breakfast was at 7am, a choice of scrambled, fried eggs or omlette, toast baguette and a big fruit platter - I was seriously loving all the fresh fruit! After breakfast we met Ken and then it was off to the forest to fetch the elephants. We walked up and down for about 30 minutes to find their sleeping place, obviously elephants eat quite a lot so they get moved around each night.

They have to chain the elephants up so that they don't disappear off, never to be seen again, but the chain is 30m long and the elephants are smart enough not to get all tangled up. They were all impressing us, showing how they haul the chain back in using their trunk. Seeing an elephant out in the forest was amazing. 

There were 5 adults in our group and Ebi-kun, so he got to ride back and we had to walk! This time he was with the mahout which was just as well, the terrain was a little bit hairy!

Watching him go up this hill was scary, it was really steep and slippy clay, didn't seem to both the elephants though, nearly gave me heart failure trying to keep up! Ebi-kun said that going up hill was OK but going downhill was scary, I can relate to that, it is the same on a horse, although a horse isn't quite as far to fall.

It was back to the village for our mahout lesson.

Mahout class: This is where we learnt about the 3 different ways to get on an elephant (I would like to add that I had my own free-style technique that I doubt they will be teaching in mahout school anytime soon). We had to study the basic commands and then get on and try them out.

"Toy, Toy" (back, back)

"Pai, Pai" (forward)

"Haow" (Stop)

We all took turns practicing our new found skills and then it was bath time again for the elephants and lunch for us. One of the great things at ECC is that they put the elephants first, they need to eat for 12-15 hours a day and so shouldn't work for more than 6 hours. Unfortunately, elephants used for logging often end up working 10 hours or more, which is just not healthy. The elephants at ECC have an easy life now, no heavy work and plenty of rest and eating! 

What did we do after lunch, you will squeal with cuteness when you find out…

The Elephant Conservation Centre, Laos!

The main highlight of going to Laos was knowing we were booked in to visit the Elephant Conservation Centre, (ECC) I actually booked us in BEFORE we had booked flights and Yasutoki had booked the time off work! As you can imagine, when Ebi-kun got sick we were all gutted that we were going to have to cancel but… the lovely folk at the centre emailed me back and said they could squeeze us in! Hurrah.

Again, we set our alarm clocks to get up early so we could be at the bus station for about 7.30am, the bus isn't scheduled to go until 9am but once it has filled up, it leaves. This is great if you want to get somewhere early, not so much if you want to leave at 9.00am. Anyway, it was true Faulty Towers type comedy to start the day, we managed to get breakfast and leave the hotel at 7am, the tuktuk took us just around the corner then stopped. The driver excused himself and disappeared talking on his phone. Eventually he came back and explained that he had run out of petrol. Aggghhhhh. Then one of the guys from the hotel turned up his motorbike to tell us that another guy was on the way with the petrol. 

We were worried about missing the bus, so Yasutoki got on the back of the motorbike and went to the bus station ahead of us to get the tickets. Ebi-kun and I just had to sit and wait. We finally got to the station and Yasutoki told us that it was no problem, the guy from the hotel had shown him which bus it was an no-one was getting on it.

By 8.30am I was growing suspicious that no-one was getting on the bus, so we double checked with the station staff only to find out that it was completely the wrong bus! Ours was almost full, it was lucky we checked.

It was truly a locals bus with only one other foreigner on there. Old, half the windows wouldn't shut or open properly and everything plus the kitchen sink was been lugged onto the roof, including a motorbike! Seat tickets included a plastic stool in the aisle for those late comers. We set off on a very dusty three and a half hour journey.

We stopped for a toilet break and I am kicking myself for not taking a photo but hoards of women surrounded the bus, selling snacks and drinks, most fruit and drinks but one woman had two rat like creatures, still alive and held by the tail, heaven knows what we were supposed to do with them!

Amusing stories aside, we eventually made it to Sayaboury bus station where we were met by a tuktuk driver from the sanctuary and discovered that the other foreigner was also headed there, the lovely Juliette from France. It took us a 20 minute ride to get to the lake and then we were collected by a boat and taken to the sanctuary. 

Once we got there, we registered and were shown our bungalows, didn't take Ebi-kun very long to make himself at home! The bungalows were basic, had a big bed and a mosquito net inside (not that we needed it) and a nice little porch to hang out on…

There were 10 bungalows and a dormitory which is used for the volunteers. I think many of the staff live in the centre too but over on the other side of the hospital. The view from the bungalow…

At 2pm we had to meet our guide, Ken. He was great, told us about the sanctuary, how the money from our stay was distributed and how the aim of the sanctuary it to help the mahout and their families as much as it is to help the elephants themselves. ECC has the only elephant hospital in Laos and the vets also go out on a regular basis and do check ups on elephants that are used for logging. Their main goal is for the care of the elephants and to increase the population of the Laos Asian elephants.

After all that it was time for our first riding lesson. We were introduced to three of the elephants, this is Mae Dok, she is kind and slow. She was born in 1963 and was used extensively in the logging industry until she came to the centre. Because of her gentle nature, she became "Ebi-kun's Elephant", this is the one he rode each time.

When it came to riding, I was expecting them to have Ebi-kun get on with the mahout but before I knew it, he was on the elephant and headed off for a walk around the village!

One of the important things that were learnt was that the chairs that are used for carry people and luggage on an elephants back (hawdah) really isn't good for them. This is due to the shape of the bones, they had a skeleton in the hospital but you can see here if you are interested. It is more comfortable for the elephant to be ridden without any kind of saddle and sat on their neck. Something i didn't know and we will be sure not to ride with a howdah in the future.

I also got to ride Mae Dok, bit of a nightmare trying to get my short legs up and over, it's not like getting on a horse! We wee all surprised at how hairy the elephant's head it is.

Next was Yasutoki's turn. He got to ride Mae Kham Ohn, she is the oldest of the elephants at 71 or 72 and also the biggest. She has lots of personality including not liking small animals, she had been known to take a swing of her trunk at chickens who come too close and she is not a big fan of small children either.

After we all had a ride, it was bath time. Only the mahouts are allowed in with the elephants, this is because Mae Kham Ohn LOVES her bath time and gets a bit over excited sometimes. The third elephant here is Mae Boun Nam, she is young and luckily for her, never used for logging.

Is there anything cuter than elephants in the bath?

Once the elephant had their bath it was time for them to go to bed, well to be taken into the forest where they sleep. Which meant we got to have a tour of the lake on the boat…

It is actually a reservoir and was built to help with agriculture in the area because ether lacked water for farming. It was extremely peaceful except for the chug-chug of the boat engine.

After the boat we had a little time to hang out before dinner, just watch the sun go down and relax in our surroundings. Dinner was served in the restaurant around a big table, everyone together. It was fun meeting all the others who were visiting, such a diverse selection of people. The food was simple but easy and washed down well with a beer or two.

It was an early night for us, it had been a long day!