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Bathe with elephants

Today, we took a boat up the Mekong River to see some native villages, view a riverside cave of 4,000 Buddhas, and then play with elephants. We got to meet four elephants including an adorable "little" three year old. First, we took a ride on a wooden chair strapped to the elephants' back and rode briefly along an open pathway before heading into the jungle. Uphill wasn't bad, but we tended to slide out of the chair a bit while going back downhill so that was a challenge. Then got to bathe the elephants in the river which was a blast! You could mount the large female elephant and then jump off her back and into the river - this takes the cake for the most unusual diving board I've ever used. The elephants would sometimes spray us which was delightfully refreshing. The baby elephant also seemed to invent a little game where she'd go underwater, creep forward, and then pop up quite close to you. What fun!

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Rafting on the Song River

Vang Vieng in Laos is a place where you can do lots of adventurous activities such as rafting. This included stopping at places along the river where you could use a very high rope swing and plunge into the water. It was a bit crazy, but fun. Rafting was more tame as the rapids weren't very rapid. The girls were even able to jump out of the raft and hold on to its side as we meandered along.

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Streets of Vientiane

Here's Audrey, Nyla, and Bert walking the streets of Vientiane, seeing the sites. We spending three full days here and the town is lovely. The hotel is fabulous with excellent staff and a delicious breakfast.