Luang Prabang (April 16) - elephants and kayaks

Having fed the monks, ascended Phou Si and had breakfast, we headed to elephant camp.

      
What is the view when astride the elephant's neck?


When we got to the Nam Kham River, it was time to bath the elephants.

I had visions on being sprayed with water from the elephant's trunk. No one said anything about the elephant submerging.

   
After lunch, we moved from elephants to kayaks.

This was the only picture I took of our trip down the Nam Kham. The primary reason was bad equipment. The kayaks provided by All Lao Services leaked like the proverbial sieve. Guild and the guide had their kayak sink once and thereafter had to stop on the shoreline at 8-minutes intervals to empty water out of it. Pam & I had to dewater ours twice. Having all that water weight as an extra passenger made the paddling strenuous. We were all really glad to see the bridge beneath which was our haul-out location.  We nearly got a real dunking when children swimming at the location swarmed around the kayaks and started hanging on them.  It was in good fun, but the resulting weight nearly compromised our buoyancy.

Given all we had done since 0600, dinner with new friends Gavin and Barbara did not run late.

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