Phi - Phi, Phi-Sigh, Ya-Ya, How-How

The elephants were a big hit - Colby, Quinn and Levi were in elephant heaven. This was the "Win" that Lana and I needed after many long travel days. Levi, first seeing the elephants, quickly stated that, "this is the best day of my life."
We splurged on a two and a half day "Mahout Training" course at the "All Laos Service Camp and Resort". We really had no ideas what to expect, other than we'd get to meet the world's largest land mammal up close and personal. What we got was a lot of one on one time with these gentle giants.
The camp was setup around the elephants' daily routine of eat, drink, bath, repeat. The first ride we were on cozy bench seats behind the seasoned Mahouts. We squealed at the steep descents down the river banks and held on for dear life. By the end of the first day we were doing the same sort of "too steep for human" trails on top of the elephants' necks bareback. You quickly learn to trust that the elephant will not take unecessary risks, that they will only be given direction within the confines of what they think is appropriate. Lana often remarked that we don't let Levi ride his little bicycle without a helmet and flourescent vest - while we happily let him sit atop a full grown bull elephant, a full 15 feet in the air.
Your first brief lesson is commands. You're given a sheet of commands and asked to translate them phonetically into your own language. The most common was Phi-Phi - or "Go-Go". You then add various commands to "Phi" such as "Sigh" which translates to "Go-Left". Ya-Ya means "stop doing bad" and How-How is "Stop". We learned and applied the commands as best we could - knowing full well that the real Mahout at our backs would apply a more firm nudge or command where necessary.
The days were lazy and there was lots of room to run and play - something Levi had been missing in the bustling, densly packed cities we'd been inhabiting.
By the end of our training, our bottoms were sore and our hips seperating from our time in the "saddle". Levi, like everywhere else in Asia, was lavished with extra attention and was quickly riding the large bull elephant Boon-Soo. I think this 47 year old male was everyones favourite because he always performed the best Boom-Boom or trunk spray during bath time, that and he was a sight.
Completely content, we left the elephants for a few days of trekking to remote villages - but that's another blog.