Lanxang—A Million Elephants

Our house outside Boston is filled with elephants. They are quite mischievous. The six two-foot-high ceramic elephants who stand guard by winter in various rooms and by summer oversee the pool were definitely responsible for the burst washing-machine hose that flooded our house in the summer of 2008 when we first brought them home from Western Massachusetts. The elephants had been imported from Vietnam by Luy Nguyen and his wife Trai Duongat owners of TrucOrient Express Vientamese Restaurant in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts (add link). The remarkable couple slipped out of Vietnam and came to the United States in 1975. One summer night in 2008 we ate there with our friends Marjorie and Myles, and we found two elephants awaiting us on their wooden deck, a deck filled with ceramic and wooden pots, planters, sculpture, etc that they had purchased the previous winter and placed into a container that they shipped back to the United States.

Ever since we had been to Ernest Hemingway’s House in Key West, Florida, Disty had been looking for a ceramic elephant bench to stand by the edge of our pool. However, the only ones we could find online were over $1,000 and that was out of our price range. We were not prepared for the relatively low price of Trai’s beautiful elephants, well under $100 each. And because of that, we ended up buying another four that were stored in a garage in the back of the restaurant property. After loading the first two elephants into the backseat, I drove our car over the back lawn about 300 yards to the storage building, Trai and Myles leading the way with flashlights to illuminate the grassy path. Seventyish Trai disappeared into the building and returned, and one by one, passed to Myles and me the four others as if she were handing out a piece of paper, each elephant weighing about thirty pounds. As we loaded the elephant benches into the backseat, four across and two on the floor, I noticed that each was slightly different. They all had a similar height and look, coming from the same mold, perhaps, but each had been painted by hand by a different hand, with slightly different hues and textures—by women, children—of what circumstance I only began to imagine.  Because we were concerned for the safety of our new pachyderms, we made sure they had their seat belts on. It was quite a scene, as we drove the 2.5 hour trip back home late at night: the elephants safely tucked into their seats in the back. Just like a long trip home in the middle of the night with our children tucked in their seats in the back, the elephants were strangely silent; but unlike those trips, whenever I glanced back at them in the rearview mirror, the elephants just stared eerily, straight ahead. It was then I first noticed some had their trunks swung to the left, some had their trunks swung to the right.

From the moment we brought them home, a number of things went wrong, and I held the elephants responsible. First the flood, then a variety of problems with the pool and, finally, in the Spring, Andy died. I still wonder why these elephants were brought to us.

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I made our reservations at the Anantara River Resort in Bangkok without knowing much about the hotel. As it turned out, it was a perfect choice. Elephants are everywhere at Anatara.

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After our plane landed in Bangkok and we took the train to the elevated rail that we took to the dock where we were picked up by the ferry to the hotel, we were greeted by elephants. Large planters with images of elephants surrounded the dock and, after we exited the boat and walked up the carpeted ramp, further up, big brown stone elephants stood guard. Around the corner a number of light brown stone elephants were seated holding light poles; further in, a pair were on all fours standing on large light brown pedestals protecting the outdoor restaurant overlooking the dock. We were lead towards the registration desk by an employee named Sam who was on the 7:30 am hotel boat with us. She tells us, of course, that she is from Philadelphia, from the town next to where Disty grew up. She is new to the hotel, having just come from working at another Anantara in the Maldives. As we walk quickly to check in and find some sleep after our marathon day or two of travel, we enter an outdoor hallway lined on our left with small elephants of all sorts, each about ten feet apart from one another, all about the same size, standing on pedestals along the path surrounding the pool. It is very beautiful. The first elephant is a dark green ceramic sporting a beret with white spats and flowers painted on its shoulders and long curving white tusks; next, a primitive squat brown wooden elephant with cracks at its shoulders and small diamond carved eyes; third, a green metallic elephant with trunk upraised and two hooded riders sitting on a saddle blanket patterned with perhaps ficus leaves on its back, both riders holding up spears, one with a very large leaf on its end; then, an old worn sandstone-colored elephant standing on a pedestal carved from the same piece of stone; fifth, a brown chipped clay elephant with head slightly bowed and hind slightly up, its ears like lemon wedges, the flat edge facing rear and a repair to its right rear leg; the sixth is holding its trunk high, one foreleg off the ground, moving forward, trunk upraised, wearing a dark brown saddle blanket and seat studded with a brass floret; then, a yellow brown elephant, like a pitcher with its move open in an "O," head high, hind low; the eighth is an ivory glazed ceramic with brown glaze for its halter and shading, its trunk forming a backward "S," a curve of its trunk resting on its head; ninth is a brown and white elephant with a large decorated passenger basket on its back and in its trunk is perhaps a lotus flower or eye of Buddha; then, an old sad worn brown stone elephant showing its wear, this may be my favorite, but that may be because I was feeling like him; then, a majestic gray metallic elephant who made eye contact with its whimsical eyes with beaded hat and beads that run down its slightly upraised trunk; then, twelfth, a white ceramic tusked elephant on a green base, holding a large red flower in its upraised trunk; the thirteenth is a praying old stone elephant with a large star in a circle carved into its side, I want to look this up, it is a symbol no doubt of something noteworthy. I am told later from one of the staff that "anantara" means "never ending," but I find "anantara" is probably a Pali word that means "without interval."

We check into our beautiful room overlooking the pool and the Chao Phraya River, or "the river of kings."  It is early and we go get some breakfast overlooking the river then walk to the health club. I check in for tennis at 4 pm, and we head to the pool for reading, sleeping lightly, and just being. It is a cloudy day and there is a very light rain on and off that does not deter us from lounging.

Throughout the day, I keep discovering new elephants. The bar is called the Elephant Bar, with trophies and photos of Elephant Polo matches and a poster announcing the forthcoming 2012 King's Cup Elephant Polo, which we will unfortunately miss this year.

What is it about elephants and Anantara? When I ask the concierge why there are so many elephants at the hotel, he tells me: “The Thai people love elephants; so do the foreigners. The ancient Kings would ride the elephants into battle. The elephants are for royalty.”

And so it was in Lao: the Land of a Million Elephants. The old flag of Lao had three elephants grouped together, representing the three kingdoms. As the Pathet Lao, the revolutionary government, struggled against the royal government in the fifties, they had their own flag. It had no elephants on it; elephants represented the old way. The flag carried by the Pathet Lao was a simple blue (for riches of the people) and red (for blood that was shed) flag with a white circle in the middle, representing the unity of the Lao people and the full moon. No elephants. In the minds of the revolutionary Pathet Lao, they represent oppression, inequality, and an old system that keeps the mass of the people poor.

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I had one of the best meals I’ve ever had on Tuesday night in Bangkok. The Blue Elephant was recommended by the concierge at the hotel. It was perfect: the service, the setting in an old colonial house in the middle of the city, and the food! Disty and I shared Khang Khao Phuak, "minced prawn, chicken and sweet spices stuffed in a golden taro pastry, accompanied by its own special sauce;" the Royal Omelette [sic], "Thai omelette stuffed with stir-fried minced port and vegetables. His Majesty King Rama V (King Chutalongkorn) created this dish himself and it was recorded in Thai history when it was served during his second visit to Europe. It became His Majesty's favourite dish and very popular with Thai and foreigners;" Crab Curry with Betel Leaves, "Phuket specialty crab curry served with rice noodle. If you visit Blue Elephant in Phuket [we were not], a dish not to be missed; and the Massaman Lamb, "From the far South a tender lamb curry of dried spices in coconut milk, Thai sweet potatoes, roasted peanuts and cashew nuts. This dish was described in a poem by King Rama II [although I cannot find the poem, yet]."

We took the skytrain one stop back to the Saphan Taksin station and walked down the steps to the central pier. We waited a few minutes for the hotel boat to appear, then hopped on and were greeted by our kind and attentive drivers, who once aboard, gave us cold wet lemon-scented towels. We were definitely ready to sleep off our jet lag and get ready for Wednesday. We planned to go to the Royal Palace and Wat Pho in the morning.

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Sister Elephants to Our Elephants at Home

Wednesday morning, after a great night's sleep, I found them. Two of our elephants—by a door we had not gone through before. Disty was in a hurry to catch the hotel ferry to the public boat to go to the Royal Palace Museum and Wat Po, so we moved along without marveling too much.

We arrived at the Palace, after taking the public boat, and walked completely the wrong way, maybe a mile, around the enormous building to the entrance. We entered and starting wandering, immediately finding the Ramakian wall mural paintings along the gallery walk way. The first panel pictured an elephant, and I asked Disty to take a picture. We moved on. And as walked along the gallery, seeing the scenes of the Ramakian, we reached the end, got two bottles of water, and sat down. It was then that Disty realized that her iPhone was missing. She reconstructed the day and realized it must have been taken from the front pocket of her bag while we were on the boat.