Elephant Day

Day 91: Tat Lo (LAO). Reading from the appropriate section of the Laos Lonely Planet, I recited to Karen: “Notable as much for its remoteness as any traditional tourism draws. Tat Lo is not on the way to anywhere and the roads around here remain some of the worst in Laos, but it is these qualities and the lure of tough travel that have begun to attract a few hardy visitors looking to get well-and-truly off the beaten track”. “Hmm. Maybe we should have read that passage before we got on the bus out here!”, Karen replied light-heartedly.

As usual, the worlds most comprehensive travel guide was pretty close to the mark. This was by far the most remote, the most unchanged and the rawest place we had visited so far on our travels and consequently, despite its natural beauty, there was very little in the way of tourist infrastructure here. And that combined with the abject poverty of the region and the naturally laid-back attitude of the Lao people meant that Karen and I were finding life very difficult. Difficult to travel, difficult to communicate and very difficult to find a place to stay!

With only a hand full of guest houses in town our choices were further limited by the fact that most of them were closed: Some in celebration of the Khmer New Year (which, despite officially finishing a week ago, seemed to have by-passed the Lao who were still busy partying twenty-four hours a day) and the highly regarded Tadlo lodge was closed to allow their staff the opportunity to give praise to the elephants!

And what a party those elephant were getting: A band of monks with shaved heads and clad in orange gowns led the festivities which involved prayers, dancing and the consumption of copious amounts of Lao-Lao (incredibly strong rice whisky). And the honoured guests themselves? Well, they were content to watch proceedings from a far, munch on the abundant supply of forest vegetation and have a good scratch against the bark of a shady tree.

Day 91: Total Mileage to Date: 15,099: Number of Time Zones: 10; Number of Countries Visited: 11; Number of Transport Modes Used: 35, Maximum Temperature Encountered: +35C, Minimum Temperature Encountered: -32C.