An elephant never forgets

On our third day in Luang Prabang, we had made reservations with Elephant Village for a 2 day mahout experience. During this time we were able to learn the ropes of "steering" the elephants, ride them, bathe them, and basically just stare in awe at these awesome creatures. And don't forget I still have pink eye. Doesn't matter we were both just too excited for our next couple of days. When we arrived it was everything I was hoping for! Elephants were walking around, eating and carrying visitors. We first took a boat up the river to our cabins. These rooms were gorgeous! After unloading all our gear it was elephant time! We learned how to approach an elephant (always from the right, as some are trained to attack anyone coming from the left). We also learned the commands to go, stop, turn right, left and how to get on an elephant. It is not as graceful as it seems. Your grab their ear firmly (even though you think you hurting them) then you give the command for the elephant to lift and bend her right leg. You then step on the knee and launch yourself up. Once you are up you sit on the neck, with your knees resting on the ears and you are really close to sitting one their head. If you do not sit like this your bounce around on their shoulder blades. It is a much smoother ride on the neck. Now once you are ready you can say, "Pie" which means go. You need to say it loud and more then once since you are not the elephants mahout it is less likely to listen to you the first time. We got to ride around on the elephant for a couple minutes to get the hang of it. After we each got a turn we got to go for an hour long trek in the jungle, the river and back through a small village for the elephants daily exercise. The elephants mahout rode on her neck and we were in seats on the back. About halfway he switched places with Carrie and she got to ride on the neck. After lunch we watched another group give the elephants their afternoon bath before we got to take them into the jungle away from the camp for the night.
The next morning we woke up early to get ready to get our elephants and take them for their morning bath. We walked through the jungle - uphill most of the way of course, sweating and panting for 45 minutes or so. We reached the area where we were to ride the elephants down. Again, mounting these large, ancient animals is no easy task and surprisingly we are no more graceful at it. Once on, you can't imagine a cooler feeling to be doing first thing in the morning. The mahouts are having a great time singing laughing and basically trying to get the elephants to run and pass each other.


At the shore of the river, the elephants stepped in and took long drinks of water. Then they go further in the water with you still on their backs. They like to play and completely submerge in the water, so there is no way you're not getting wet. Not all fun and games though, we had to do our jobs to scrub the elephants neck and backs. Feeling their rough, wrinkled, thick skin under you is so surreal.




As our time with the elephants came to a close, we said goodbye to our new elephant friends and took some last photos. An experience we will definitely not soon be forgetting.

Laos Love - Day 1 and 2 in Luang Prabang

The next stop for us in Laos from Vang Vieng was Luang Prabang. This is such a pretty place to stay. All the buildings are very French inspired and it's so easy to move from place to place. You can pretty much walk to any place you want to be. While in Luang Prabang we vowed not to be such bums as we were in Vang Vieng. Our first night we ate a nice dinner along the main street and went to the night markets. There are great things you can buy as gifts or for yourself at the market. Scarves galore, t-shirts, jewellery, paintings, lao wine and whiskey too! The next day we had planned to wake up early to watch the monks collect food, as we were told it is a must see...but, Denise and I are really good sleepers....and pink eye needs it's rest. (Oh yes, we both got pink eye from tubing. Well I got pink eye - in both eyes! And then passed it on to Denise's eyes. Ooops!)

We booked a tour to go to the Pak Ou caves and Kuang Si waterfalls for Day 2. Before the cave we stopped at Whiskey Village where they make Lao Lao whiskey. We didn't get a tour of how it's done or anything but were kindly greeted with shots of wine and whiskey. Breakfast of champions.
The caves were full of tiny little Buddhas and to the higher cave (up many, many steep steps) were some carvings and bats! It's was lovely to see but I must say, once you've seen a Buddha sculpture, you've seen 'em all.




The Kuang Si waterfalls later in the afternoon were these beautiful and natural pools of water you can swim in. On such a hot day it's great to cooled off. There's also a spot where you can jump off a cliff or swing off a rope. Ever the daredevils, Denise and I decided the best way to enter the swimming area would be by jumping from the cliff. Once up there of course you have second thoughts...but just jump! It's so much fun. I also swung off the rope into the water. Of course not as graceful because the ropes are slippery and it was more of a fall, but still a good time. The only downside of these natural falls are the tiny fish that enjoy nibbling at your feet. The idea that people pay to have their dead skin chewed off by fish baffles me. For dinner we had some delicious Indian food and headed to the night markets again. Another quiet night in Laos. We hit the hay early in anticipation for our Elephant Village adventure. A 2 day mahout experience in the jungle. Can't wait!

Travel Duo

So....we have not updated in, well, too long! A lot has happened. We are no longer working. We are no longer in Taiwan. We are travelling and currently in Vang Vieng, Laos. From here we're heading to Luang Prabang and spending 2 days at an Elephant Village. We LOVE elephants.

Here's a mini update and itinerary of our travels. We arrived July 2 in Vientiane around 6pm where we got a cab to take us to the centre of the town. We had no clue where to stay, only our trusty guidebooks in tote we stayed the first night at a place for $18 US dollars. The next night we found cheaper for $11 US. Honestly, Vientiane is more of a transition place I think. Not a whole lot to see.

Moving on from Vientiane we are now in Vang Vieng. As we got closer to Vang Vieng, the roads were curvy and the views were lush and green. Tiny villages lined the streets from what you may only see in magazines. Stepping out into the heat, we trekked into town with the hoards of other backpackers all looking for the same thing. A cheap, clean room. We found one for 50 000 kip a night (about $6US).

Yesterday we did the popular river run...and I must say, it's mayhem! Unfortunately we somehow had our tubes taken so we ended up walking to the next bar. The rest is a blur. During the day the town of Vang Vieng is not very busy and it's because people are out tubing or caving. We're here until Thursday morning when we leave for Luang Prabang. Our Elephant Village mahout tour begins on July 10.

Not sure how long we'll stay in Luang Prabang, from there we're taking a slow boat on the Mekong to get to Thailand. The slow boat takes 2 days and then we're taking a bus to Chiang Mai. From Chiang Mai we're heading to Bali for some blissful beach time.

Laos is a very slow town. Coming from Taiwan where everything is a rush, and go-go-go, relaxing has never been this hard, or easy!

Until next time!

Where does the time go?

6 weeks of teaching left

6 weekends left in Taiwan

10 weeks or so until Canada bound

Only in Taiwan

3 beers at Beer Temple............180 NT

Game of quarters..............$0.50

Hitting an old Taiwanese man in the back of the head with a chopstick............priceless

Apologizing in broken and terrible Chinese...........worth it

Apparently, my chop stick skills are still somewhat lacking.

Introducing Smash and Crash - The Rough and Tumble Twins

Sooooo you all knew it was coming. ... I crashed the scooter.

I have once before "tipped" it over but this time was no joke. I really did'er and poor Carie was dragged behind me.

On a Sunday beach trip to Nanliou we were following our friends JP and Mike. JP was leading and while we were driving he dropped his MP3 player. The rest happened REALLY FAST. Mike looked to see what had fallen and not even a second later I looked down to see what Mike was looking at. When I looked down Mike put on the breaks because he knew what had been dropped. I didn't think it was anything so when I looked up there was Mike breaking and all I could do was smash into him. I clearly remember locking eyes and I hitting him. Before all of this happened Carrie saw the break lights but I was looking down . . . . So all she could do was hold on tight knowing I was going to hit Mike. The fault in all of this is a combination of freak accident and Me. I was driving too close and too fast which is inevitable on scooters in this country.

The thing that made this whole deal even worse was the weather. It was a gorgeous day so Carrie was wearing a sun dress and I was wearing shorts, t-shirt and sandals. This left us with almost no protection against the road when we hit. I bounced off the ground after we hit Mike and Carrie was dragged along with the scooter. Once we stopped Carrie popped right up. Partly because she was in the middle of the road, partly because her dress was up over her head. I decided to lay there and mumble profanities.

DID I REALLY JUST DO THAT?

70 km....
crash. road. fuck.

I hear the boys run over to us and drag the scooter out of the way. They peel me off the road and I just start saying sorry. We were all saying sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. MAN THAT SUCKS!

Once we are up the ambulance arrived and washed the road out of our wounds. They asked us if we wanted to go to the hospital using a pre-written sign in English because of our very obvious language barrier. We decline....damn our pride. We just want to go home. But before we get going one of the onlookers on the street decided Carrie needed some home remedies. This tiny, old Taiwanese woman began applying medicine to Carrie's skin. It was stingy and Carrie made a face and tried to slowly move away but the woman rambled something in Chinese that we concluded to be, "Stand still this will help". It was similar to what any grandmother would do in the situation...give medication without asking or explaining. They are older, they obviously know best. Carrie gave up on her escape and took the medicine...what harm could it do really? Luckily I got away without any. Next, the boys put us in a cab and we dragged our very broken bodies home. Carrying our helmets and minus a shoe our security guards watch us as we hobble in.




Once home the guys missioned our scooters back to our place. Mike's took most the damage and the gib looks like a road warrior but nothing serious. She is a champ! The boys immediatly began to play doctor. They were cleaning and bandaging our road burn, mangled toes and wounded spirits. Their supplies included gauze, tape, beers, movies and snacks. Carrie and I are so thankful to have these guys in our lives they took great care of us!


Our next step was to call our school and tell them we would need at least a day to bounce back from this one.



Carrie was covered in road burn all over the left side of her arm, leg and foot. I bounced off the ground so my road burn was in smaller spots where I hit. My shoulder, elbow and foot. Basically, my toes looked like someone took a cheese grader to them. Sick. But my biggest issue wasn't the stinging skin it was the aching in my shoulder. I thought I was just bruised and decided I would keep still for a day or so.



Our return to school was the biggest news on campus. I am pretty sure every single student knows us now. Our students were so sweet with cards and letters wishing for us to get better. My grade ones became very protective of Teacher Denise and enforced the don't touch the teacher rule very striclty. Two weeks later we still have students in our classes and from other classes check on our wounds. They want to see the scabs and ask if we are better yet. Literally one boy named Porter stops me in the hall and gets right down to my toe to make sure it isn't bleeding anymore. Then he is on his way.

After a couple days I still was having trouble moving my arm. So, I began to google symptoms...who needs a doctor right? I concluded it could be a seperated shoulder. On Tuesday my school sent me to the hospital. After xrays I discovered I had a linear fracture in my left scapula (shoulder blade) and needed to be in a sling for a month.

IDIOT.

Lesson learned when you are hesitant to get up off the road, nervous to move afterwards and google your symptoms.....you are hurt. Trust your body. Go to a doctor.

Carrie is back behind wheel and I can not wait to return. But for now I am the one armed passenger who squeezes my legs tightly around my driver every two seconds.

Bones heal.
Bruises fade.
And scars are just great stories.

Another Special Birthday!

For a little Menace...Happy Birthday you fabulous 25 year old!

A terrific night in togas at Tipsy to ring in turning twenty five (how do you like that alliteration?!)