This was an AMAZING weekend. I had been looking forward to going to this ever since I came across an advertisement for it in a "things to do in Laos" book that one of the girls from Laos gave to me in August at the SALT/IVEP orientation in Pennsylvania. , That's almost 6 months of anticipation...and it was so worth it.
Highlights (in chronological order)
1) Getting there! 8 hour public bus ride! The festival was is Pak Lai, a small town in the neighboring province, chosen for the important role elephants have played in the community's economy (primarily logging) both historically and currently. It's only about 300km away from Vientiane, but because the only road there is a small, one lane road that winds along, following the Mekong River , it took forever! We left at 8am and pulled in at 4pm. Granted that did include a lunch break and a couple "potty stops" where you could get out and squat behind some bushes (or if you were the Lao men, just turn your back on the bus right there at the side of the road...).
To give a little comparison about how bad the roads are, look at this map. I circled my starting point (Vientiane) and the destination: Pak Lai. Not that far - 8 hours. When I went to Thailand a few months ago, I went to Khon Kaen (also circled), about the same distance - 3 hours. That was a normal, Western highway experience...The first half was unpaved and SUPER bumpy (sometimes we would all FLY out of our seats!) and SUPER dusty!! 
This is of course a no AC bus, so it was nice to have the windows down...except you couldn't with all the dust! Even with the windows closedmy face, clothes, everything was covered in a thick layer of dust by the time we stopped for lunch. 
The bus was really really crowded too - the aisles were full of people sitting on little plastic stools. All the luggage went on top of the bus, but I kept my one backpack with me...which is good since I swear I saw something blue fall after a particularly nasty bump. The second half was paved but very curvy, as we slowly chugged up and down a few little "mountains" (hills, really). A few times I really worried about the bus brakes holding on! And right before we got to Pak Lai we had to cross the Mekong on a little ferry boat! It was just big enough to hold us plus five other cars. 2)Home Stay. Because Pak Lai is such a small town, there aren't enough guest houses for Elephant Festival visitors. So the festival organizers worked with the village authorities to create "home stays." Basically people opened up their houses to guests by providing a mosquito net and some sort of bed or mat.
Even though it is only 30,000kip ($3.75) a night, it is an important income opportunity for such a poor community, so many people were signing up. These are pictures of where I stayed. It wasn't the most exciting part of the trip for me, since I have been living in a home stay for the past 6 months...but one notable adventure: I noticed AFTER I had showered and brushed my teeth, that there was a huge CATFISH swimming around in the bathroom's water basin!!!
3) ELEPHANTS!!!!!
They were in parades, hanging out in a courtyard area with crowds of people...there was an elephant baci (the Buddhist ceremony where you tie white strings on people's wrists for good luck - except this time you tie them onto their TUSKS! yes, there is a picture of me there, wishing the elephant good luck).
They kept announcing that there were 50 elephants in the parade, but I didn't see that many. 50 was probably the total. There were still around 20-25 elephants in the parade. 
I got to see the elephants working (pulling logs, etc), bathing in the river...big ones, little babies,...elephants dressed up in festive garb - elephants elephants ELEPHANTS! (my favorite was the one with the big communist flag draped over it's back (she's featured in the first picture on this blog...and I specifically,picked that one to tie my baci string on!) AND I even got to ride one! ;) only 20,000kip! ($2.50)
It was just incredible how close to the elephants you were the whole time! My friend Emma, who is here as a volunteer vet with an NGO said that it probably wasn't the safest thing. There were some security people wandering around with the elephants, but they didn't have much work to do. The elephants were really well behaved. It was funny how natural it felt by the end of the day to just be milling around with the elephants.
To give you an idea of just how close we constantly were, the picture down below here, where the elephant is going down hill, was taken without a zoom. I was a little surprised that some of the elephants weren't dressed up/decorated more. But I think that is just because I was thinking of pictures I had seen of elephants in cultural ceremonies in India. And there was a real charm to seeing the elephants look natural too. It helped create that "this is totally normal" feeling, instead of it being like a circus or something. It was easy to imagine what it would be like to live in Laos long ago, when there were so many more elephants. (Random Fact: before Laos was a country, or I should say, before it was a French colony, it was know as Lane Xang - the kingdom of a Million Elephants)
Oh, and last thing, it was soooo cool: the elephants could do this really great trick! People would put money (1,000 kip) out and the elephant would reach out...grab it in it's trunk...and then hoist it up over it's head to hand it to the mahout (elephant rider/driver)!! I couldn't resist. It was so worth that 20 cents :)
And, to conclude...highlight #4) The People. I got to spend time with my running friend Emma (the one in the pic) and her friend Tracy.
I also ran into Noun, either a neighbor or relative of my host family. She abducted me for a few hours there during the festival and I got to meet her family - they were really fun (and really drunk). We had a great little song-and-dance time together (hence the cymbals..) 
I love meeting new Lao people =) they are sooo nice. Speaking of, I also had a lot of fun talking to the really sweet grandmothers and grandchildren who were watching the parade near me. There is nothing I love more than being able to strike up conversation with random people in Lao language! Oh, and on this trip I even got to use my Lao language to help a little girl who was lost find her parents. I saw her walking down the street crying...I felt so grateful that I was able to comfort and help her. oh, and I also had my modeling debut. haha. Emma, Tracy, Jennifer and I were recruited as western models for this Lao cotton clothing company! The second day of the festival we went up on stage and did the classic catwalk model strut to this obscure ABBA song...it was hilarious! Unfortunately, no pictures of this adventure.
The 2011 Elephant Festival was a fabulous weekend that was rejuvenating and refreshing in every sense! Getting out of the city to see the beauty in Laos' nature and culture really helped renew my sense of excitement for this opportunity to live in this amazing country.
