My eBid Cap Trip to Laos & Cambodia!

[meebo1]

Wow, that's all I can say

[sucadot]

I think I might have dipped my toe in the water

[Oldandintheway]

Manifa Elephant Camp trip at Pak Ou

A day spent riding & helping wash the elephants on the opposite bank of the Mekong to the Pak Ou Caves.
Bro & Sil call this a rest day, as they only had 4 separate rides each & only washed 1 elephant each! Slackers!
A bro quote:
We have a great deal of respect for these animals as they are so patient and gentle but at the same time capable of being very dangerous if they are pushed beyond their limits. All they seem to need is to have plenty of food and not be overworked or overheated.
Bit like their rider??
A 6 or 7 hour bus ride to Vang Vieng is planned tomorrow, & some blog site maintenance by its owners, may mean a short delay in posts here. But stay tuned. As Arnie said - "I'll be back"

The mounting yard

Ready for action

View from the top

Off we go!

Here we come

Rounding the bend

Man! that G strings gotta hurt?

View along the way near the Mekong

Bro says - I think he smells water

Whoa 'Lear Jet' slow down baby (snacks taken)


cont. over:

[Oldandintheway]

Elephant Camp continues!

Bareback rider training area

Look Ma - no hands

Lets get wet

Hey! yours brought his own snorkel

Scrub a dub- dub

I hope this sucker don't sink!

Bro says - was that a Croc!

Sil says - Did you say Croc - lets get out of here!

Ha! we made it

I've got the cleanest machine, na na na na nah!

[meebo1]

Both my children have done elephant rides and bath. Just in different places. One Thailand, the other India. I would love to ride an elephant, but I don't like heights, so maybe I will skip it

[cheaver]

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I'm just loving these adventures! I click on the thread as soon as I see a new post!

Thank You so much!

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[Oldandintheway]

So glad everyone's enjoying the trip so far (as I am) & it's bringing back good memories for others.

The Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng road trip!

Again I'll let Bros blog do the talking & just point out that they've had rain (which continues) & have celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary along the way. Like the weather - Kool.

Well, yesterday the 9th of January was spent travelling by bus from LP to Vang Vieng which is 7 hours south by road.
A large bus for a change and a very careful driver also - for a change.
Much of the trip involves climbing and descending mountain roads and as it was rainy weather all the way the apparently beautiful views were obscured by clouds - or mist, not sure which.
The occasional glimpse through the mist, banana and coconut palms did show some steep mountain sides & wonderful green valleys - plus excellent opportunities for the bus to plunge off the slippery roads to deliver certain death to us all.
Ah, memories of earlier good times came flooding back.
As we got closer to Vang Vieng the road levelled out and huge Karsts came into view - much bigger than those in Ha Long Bay. At times the scenery looked downright prehistoric, with no sign of human habitation, just utterly lush mountain-sides with valleys criss-crossing each other. Quite unlike anything I have seen elsewhere.
The bad news is that a combination of an aisle seat and being on the wrong side of the bus, plus the wet weather, prevented us from getting any photos of all of this, dammit!
All I have is a few pretty poor quality iPhone snaps taken near the end of the trip which I will put up in the Photo part of the blog - better than nothing perhaps.
Oh, almost forgot.
Before we left Luang Prabang we got up at 5:00 A.M. to go out to the street nearby, just below our local Wat.
At dawn each day Buddhist Monks proceed down the street past the many waiting faithful who place small parcels of sticky rice in the their 'begging bowls'.
This is a morning ritual called "Tak Bat" and I guess it that has developed over time due to the Monks vows of devotion to poverty, humility and the teachings of the Buddha.
In return the pious towns-folk gain spiritual merit through their act of giving. A fair swap I reckon.
Given this is sort of a religious ceremony it is improper to shove your camera in the Monk's faces - although some did of course. I took a few iPhone shots, sans Flash, from across the street and will put these up on the Blog also.
As I write this on the morning of Saturday the 10th of January, I am sitting on the balcony of our Hotel in Vang Vieng. It's been raining steadily all morning and I am a bit cold - not something I expected to happen here!
Desley is inside getting pummeled by a tiny local woman as a part of a massage - it's been going on now for close to an hour.
It is our 34th Wedding Anniversary today and we have had a yummy full English Breakfast with lashings of toast and coffee - a nice change.
I think we will be pretty much trapped inside today as the rain doesn't look likely to stop anytime soon - how awful to be forced to do nothing all day.
Ciao.












cont. over:

[Oldandintheway]

Vang Vieng Trip continues!










We await the sights/sites of Vang Vieng in the next issue, hopefully in clear weather?

[cheaver]

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Better stuff is on its way!
They'll soon be warm again....



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[sucadot]

Had a nice few minutes catching up with the travellers I'd swap their rain for the high winds we've got this weekend.