On our second day in Luang Prabang (Sunday, 16th March) we had a trip arranged through a local tour company called Tiger Trails to Elephant Village, a local elephant reserve set up to care humanely for old and sick elephants, and also to provide a tourism alternative for working elephants instead of the logging trade. We had the same guide as the day before which made life easier.

The reserve is based deep in the local countryside, about a hour’s drive outside Luang Prabang, alongside the banks of the Nam Khan river. The Nam Khan is the other main river in the area – it flows into the Mekong at Luang Prabang which is how Luang Prabang itself became a place of settlement originally.

The day started with an elephant ride through the reserve. The scenery was spectacular. All of the kids got to take a turn at being a mahout (elephant driver). Myself and DW chickened out of this opportunity.

When I said all, I did mean all of the kids:

Afterwards, we got to feed our elephants. Eldest Girl got slimed by hers:

We then got to go in a long boat on the river, first for a short journey to another part of the reserve where they were keeping a new baby elephant with her mother, and then afterwards on a longer journey to another waterfall on the Nam Khan. The long boat was cool – it’s like a long canoe with a motor attached, so you zip along very close to the water line.

On the way back, we asked our guide to stop at a local gadgets market so DW could pick up a new phone. Her iPhone had fallen off the table that morning when it was buzzing for our morning alarm call, and had smashed its screen. There isn’t anywhere in Luang Prabang to get a new screen, so she decided to get a cheapy phone until we get somewhere that you can. So she picked up a dodgy Chinese Samsung knock-off at this market. Unfortunately, she still hasn’t figured out how to change the keyboard from Laos symbols to English……

Phone calamities aside, we had a super day. We knew this day would be hugely popular with the kids, but DW and I had a great time as well.