On the loose in Laos? Why not go to ele-land?

By John Roberts 12 February 2008 02:30:00

Being the jealous sort and knowing the fun involved I ought not be telling you this lest I get bitter at the stories of your ele time; but since the reason I cannot go is that I'm about to jet off for a holiday myself - non-ele based - then I can hardly hold a grudge.

    Last year, you may recall, we went to Hong Sa for a week or so of ele indulgence and Laos style laid back living, this year Elefantasia have decided to make their elephant festival slightly more accessible, putting it in a place that can allegedly be reached by non-4WD transport, safely on a motorbike (without broken limbs) and rumour has it you may not even need to charter a boat and run the gauntlet of Khmer speaking pirates/New York speaking cocktail mixers.

    I am sure this will not diminish the experience one iota but may well annoy the embassy crowd as I'm sure they loved their excuse to turn up in a helicopter, who wouldn't? - of course, it scuppered my application to purchase a helicopter as a business expense, another reason for my bitterness.

    Pap the Thai Vet will be there representing us - Oil's pregnant, Amp's recovering from an appendectomy so I can't even send one of my deserving Assistants - so if you see the man in green please say hello and put him back on the straight and narrow.

    Please do visit, Sebastien and Gilles of Elefantasia do a great job year round working with the Laos elephants and their communities - this is their time to showcase their work.

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Paklai readies for elephant festival

Xayaboury province is getting ready to welcome local and international tourists to the second Elephant Festival, which is scheduled to begin next week in Paklai district.
"I would like to take this opportunity to invite business people, traders, locals and international tourists to join us for the festival," Governor Lien Thikeo said yesterday at a press conference held at the Lao National Tourism Administration in Vientiane .
"You will see exhibitions of local products and many activities involving elephants, which will not disappoint."
The festival will take place from February 15 to 17, according to the official schedule from the Lao National Tourism Administration.
Dr Lien said the provincial authorities and the French-run ElefantAsia had been preparing the event for months, and confirmed the festival would be bigger than last year's, with more elephants and parades.
Competitions between people and elephants, an elephant beauty contest, boat racing and rocket firing would all be part of the festival, organised to create an atmosphere of fun, he added.
About 70 elephants and hundreds of artists and performers will take part in the festival, according to tourism officials.
The Director of the Xayaboury Tourism Administration, Mr Sangviane Sengkannaly, said that the administration had prepared a number of places for accommodation.
The district has 14 guesthouses that can sleep only 300 people so the authorities are arranging for local families to provide a home-stay service for visitors.
He said about 400 families in the town of Paklai had agreed to open their homes to visitors, providing sleeping arrangements for more than 3,000 people.
He expected that more people would offer their homes in the days to come.
Mr Sangviane said that the price of a room in a guesthouse would be from 50,000 to 100,000 kip per night and for a home-stay it would be 25,000 kip to 30,000 kip per person per night.
"We have agreed on a suitable price for accommodation and all householders have promised not to charge more tha n this sum," he said.
He added that guesthouse owners, host families and service providers had been trained in the provision of good service to visitors, and believed they would be impressed with the local hospitality as the people of Paklai were traditionally kind and welcoming. He also stated that people would have enough to eat, because there were plenty of restaurants in the district.
Mr Sangviane estimated that at least 15,000 people would attend the festival, and the authorities had arranged extra accommodation, if needed, in the neighbouring districts of Kaenthao and Sanakham, about 70km from the festival venue, less than two hours' drive away.
The first elephant festival was held in Hongsa district, Xayaboury province by the provincial authorities and the French-run ElefantAsia. There were only 49 elephants joined in the event last year.

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