More and Laos

We spent our last full day in Laos at the MandaLao Elephant Conservation sanctuary.

Our visit started with an orientation session, explaining the goals and practices of the project. They have been able to rescue a dozen elephants from logging companies and low welfare tourist attractions. They do not allow any riding and do not use chains, or whips. They rent land from the local community and work with them to reduce human/elephant conflict. The elephants cannot be released into the wild, but are able to spend most of their days foraging in their natural environment, accompanied by mahouts devoted to their care.

After the introduction we were fitted with boots for our trek (except for Jason, who stuck with his own hiking boots for better support) and boarded a small boat for the trip across the river to the conservation area.

We walked some very muddy trails into the jungle to meet up with Than and San, two of the elephants in their care. While elephants move surprisingly quietly when walking, they make plenty of noise when they're eating their way through a stand of bamboo, so they were fairly easy to locate. Eventually they emerged from the jungle and we got to see them.

Once we found the elephants, we ambled slowly with them along the trails for about an hour.

We climbed up and over a fairly steep hill and then back down through the jungle toward their camp.

Just outside the camp, San paused for some tasty new green leaves.

They are brought back to camp for supplemental feeding, veterinary care, and sleeping, since they cannot be allowed to enter the nearby fields and villages.

In the camp we saw a baby elephant at a distance. The project hopes to release the young elephants into the national park further north once they are of an age to leave their mothers. We also met Sankin, who is their oldest resident at 72. She is a devoted auntie to the new babies.

We got to give Than and San a pumpkin treat and then walked with them back to the river for a drink. Along the way we had a gorgeous view of a nearby hill that looks so much like an elephant itself.

We said goodbye and boarded our boat back to the MandaLao center for a tasty lunch.

Alice got this magical-looking green Thai iced tea.

After lunch we returned to the hotel. Alice and I had Lao massages at the spa. The pajamas weren't quite as cute as the ones in Chiang Mai, but it was still a good experience.

In the evening we boarded one of the hotel’s electric jitneys for a ride to the Night Market.

There was quite a crowd of people and motorbikes at the near end of the market.

There is a large plaza of tables surrounded by food stalls that smelled great, but we had another plan for dinner.

We walked past hundreds of stalls with their goods laid out on the pavement. There were handicrafts, jewelry, artwork, clothing, and more, lining both sides of the street for more than half a kilometer.

Finally we reached the Little Lao Culture Bar, which had been recommended to us at lunch.

Their menu was a whole book about the traditions of Lao cooking. We started with drinks featuring local ingredients. Mine (in the middle) was gin with bael fruit juice and soda, and very tasty.

Jeow bong is the staple condiment and each family has their own variation. Little Lao offers a dozen choices and we picked the mak len (on the right) made with sun-dried tomatoes, chilies, and galangal. It comes with sticky rice and lightly steamed cold vegetables. We also had the suup gai, a very mild and soupy chicken curry that I liked very much.

The second round of dishes included mok nor mai (seasoned bamboo shoots and herbs mixed with pork belly and steamed in a bamboo lead) and laab moo (spicy minced pork tossed with toasted ground rice, lime juice, fish sauce, and various herbs and aromatics). Everything was delicious--Lao food is definitely my favorite discovery of the trip!

We walked back through the market as it was shutting down, and WhatsApp’d the hotel to pick us up. In the morning we got to sleep in and have a late checkout, with time for lunch before our scheduled departure.

We hadn't gotten to try the noodle soup that everyone said was a must, so we went around the corner and got some. Unsurprisingly, it was also very good, with strong flavors of basil and black pepper.

We got to the airport with plenty of time to make it through the usual security hurdles and still have more than an hour before boarding.

We walked out on the tarmac just at the Golden Hour. Our flight was only half full and as soon as everyone was on board we took off, fifteen minutes ahead of schedule, which I'm pretty sure is a first in my experience.

The weather was lovely and we got a gorgeous sunset view of Laos’ terrain from the air as we headed to our next adventure.