More Elephants

I learned on Thursday night that my Aunt Ruthie had died. I read the email late at night, in the dark, under the mosquito netting. I loved her. She was 94, like her sister, my mom when she died. My Aunt Ruthie was a wonderfully loving aunt to me—forever supporting things I did that were creative. She applauded the dreamer side in me, and I will be forever grateful for that. She was a teacher, and she was quite amazing—until a few years ago, she worked in a prison teaching reading to the inmates. She had done that volunteer work for as long as I can remember. I hadn't seen her since September when my sister and I drove Chip out to school, then turned right around and stopped in Cleveland. It was a lovely morning. It is hard to be halfway around the world and lose people you love. I would have liked to be in Philadelphia, at the grave site with her daughters, my cousins, and their families. And, of course, we'd all go to lunch at the Country Club Restaurant near the Montefiore Cemetery in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, not far from where Disty grew up, where my parents and grandparents and some great-grandparents and miscellaneous aunts, uncles, and cousins are buried. I will go and visit her this fall, if not before.

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We decided to leave Oudomxay on Friday morning, in order to take a one day Mahout training. We joined five other people—two young ladies from San Francisco, a young couple from Australia, and a young German women working in Vientiane, Laos—on a fabulous day of riding real elephants at the Elephant Village just south of Luang Prabang.

Phil and Disty, riding the elephants

It was exhilarating. Sitting on top of the great big sensitive animals, trudging through the water, rambling on the dirt, feeding them, and washing them. My elephant was Mei Khammong. She was 47 years old. She was slow and deliberate. I rode her most of the day. Disty's elephant was Mei Khamhua (sp?). She was a younger, feistier girl. While we were crossing the Nam Khan, Disty's young lady let out a huge trumpeting cry, then proceeded to slap her trunk on the river and make huge canon-ball-like splashes. While we were in the river, we tried to stand on our elephants' heads. I fell off immediately; Disty stood up and stayed for about a minute, then jumped in.

After our training and riding, we went for a little boat ride up the river to a waterfall—a disappointing tourist attraction that had a magnificent quarry with a small waterfall. We jumped in and cooled off. After the boat ride back, we took another swim at the saltwater pool at the Elephant Village—beautiful and refreshing.

We want to go back next year. Who's in?