After Vang Vieng , I cross extremely poor mountain villages, until I reach the harbor of Luang Prabang, from where I will fall under the spell of immense love balls.

The landscapes are magnificent, but what I will remember the most about this region of Laos is the immense poverty of the inhabitants. The houses often have no floors, the people living on the beaten earth, and their walls woven of bamboo bark allowing the light and the elements to filter out. Many other dwellings are placed on the side of the cliff, held up by stakes planted in the escarpment.

Over the mini villages that I cross, I see more penises and breasts than ever.

Let me explain !

No one has running water. People use public fountains in the center of the village, or use water that comes directly from the mountain. Consequently, the shower is done in the middle of the village. And I see that the older a woman gets, the less she hides. I am making a guess.

After 65 years of washing in front of the whole village, you imagine that everyone has already seen your breasts.

Either way, it's either that or wash clothed.

As for my view of male anatomy, this is mostly due to the fact that very young children usually walk around in a sweater, but without pants or underwear. It saves on laundry and the consumption of diapers!

Laos by bike

If you are a bicycle lover, I strongly recommend Laos as a cycling destination. Despite the great poverty, even the secondary roads are well paved, in addition to being low traffic. And the people are welcoming and smiling. Lots of kids are running to line up and give me high five. Few things give me more pleasure than high fiver twenty children one after the other!

Especially when I see the youngest, little five-year-olds looking at their mother, not believing their luck to have slapped the hand of a cyclist passing through their village. Maybe I'm in a good spirit but I see love everywhere. A guy of about 6 places his little brother of about two years his junior on the side of the street and holds his hand to show him how to make a high five.

I give cookies to a little girl, bananas to a group of boys, Canada pantyhose all over the place. I wish I could help them all.

Manual work

As you pass through the villages, you can only see the extent of the manual work that is done by everyone on a daily basis. Everywhere pigs, chickens and ducks roam wherever they want and are fed by their owners. The thatched roofs are constantly being redone using tall grasses growing everywhere. The hairy end is used to make brooms. People weave bamboo and other types of bark to make buildings, cages, baskets.

Believe it or not, this is a Laotian house.

I rarely hear children cry. As if they were aging faster than ours. The majority start working as soon as they can walk. They go to fetch water, prune branches, take care of the animals. Unfortunately, that doesn't leave much room for childhood.

Luang Prabang

I finally arrive at the very touristy town of Luang Prabang. Small town of about 50 inhabitants, visitors do not flock here by chance. Nestled between the mountains, on the banks of the Mekong River, the city is peaceful and pleasant, and offers an array of activities. I take this opportunity to make one that has been tempting me for a long time: visit an elephant refuge.

On the market street in Luang Prabang, there are several companies offering this expedition. However, unlike most of the time, this time I didn't make my choice based on the price, but rather on the quality of treatment towards the elephants. Almost all of them boast of having happy pachyderms, but the reality is different. I don't pretend to know the whole truth about this, but I preferred to choose a place where we walked next to the animals rather than them. Although it is said that settling on their neck is less painful for them than in a saddle placed on their back, I liked the idea of keeping the hike as natural as possible.

Noi Noi, or “Petite Petite” in Laotian, elephant guide.

Either way, life with tourists is much more lenient to elephants than their old job. Several were collected from logging camps where they were used to pull trees through the forest. When this became illegal, many elephants found themselves unemployed, with no place to go for lack of a nature reserve large enough to accommodate them. We have therefore seen more and more shelters appear to take care of these retired elephants.

And I find them so beautiful and adorable. They look like big pets. What they are in a way, having been used to humans from their previous work.

At the refuge, they can be fed fruit and sugar cane, and despite their immense size, their proboscis are as agile as fingers. They gently pick the banana from our hands before swallowing it all at once. One after another after another!

And just as Laos had already won a place in my favorite countries, the elephant, by its quiet strength, its kindness and its gentleness, has just risen to number 1 on my list of animals!