The Lao Zoo

Saturday, scholastic cares behind us, fourteen folks headed for the Lao Zoo. It's on the far northern border of the province, about 70km from of Capital City Vientiane. It took two hours to get there in the lorry, which included five safety checks (license, registration, insurance). The Lao Police were out earning their keep. Luckily, Pastor K was prepared and as soon as they got to us, we sailed through each one. It was not the San Diego Zoo, but I give it an "A" for charm. It also gets high marks for being reasonable; I treated the entire group to entrance passes for the bargain price of hok-sip ha pan kip (65,000k or about $8).
Lush, shaded, meandering paths of wood, brick and gravel led to the various cages and exhibits. In one of the alligator ponds, the five or six animals were covered in green, mossy muck, but in the other, forty-some crocodiles were everywhere, most with their considerable mouths wide open. Very impressive. The observation platform was well-elevated, so when the kids bought and fed them food we were plenty far from their snapping jaws.
The gray elephant and the white elephant were in a very informal paddock where you could touch and feed them. Visitors bought bunches of bananas and the elephants ate them stalks, peelings and all. They just wrapped them up in their trunks and tossed them down the hatch. After ten minutes of eating, the trainer walked the gray elephant to a grass track with a large shade tree in the center. For 5,000k the kids (big and little) took rides, usually three at a time. Our group's three volunteers bravely climbed the steps to the loading platform, straddled the blanket on the elephant's back and around they went. Just one of many Kodak moments.
After a picnic lunch everyone contributed to from the various vendors outside the zoo gates (I had a doctored-up hard-cooked eg in its brown shell and kao niao--sticky rice, a Lao specialty--cooked in a bamboo stalk; just peel back the bamboo and voila!), we headed another forty kilometers to the Nam Ngum Hydroelectric Plant. The dam (government-owned) sells electricity to Thailand and helps power Laos as well. The Nam Ngum River itself and the man-made lake behind the dam were glorious. Everyone was full of national pride.
On the interminable way home, we stopped a couple times, first at a talat (market) for fruit, then at a field for an informal bathroom break. It's an amazing process. The lorry pulls over to the side of the road and everyone with business gets out. Five minutes (or less) later, everybody's back in her/his seat and off we go.
Pastor K gets the Captain of the Day Award. He safely shepherded us all through everything over and back without complaint.
It was a very good day.