Well....time for bed - should be easy - we hiked all day in mostly monsoon rain conditions, up and down hills and valleys, enjoyed amazing visits, delicious local food, etc... We were settling in just fine. Our guide actually brought in a candle because there were no lights - anywhere. However, Chris had his iphone and I had a kindle reading light (because we were so-roughing it) and were about to go to sleep anyway. Of course, I knew I wouldn't want to get out of bed in the middle of the night all alone in the dark so I thought I might sneak out to the restroom (or "donation toilet") before tucking in the mosquito net for food. As I put down the kindle and prepared to step out off the mosquito-netted platform. I eyed several eyes looking back at me amidst eight very hairy legs. Fortunately the beast was outside the mosquito net, but my heart skipped a beat and my jaw dropped and for a moment I was unable to communicate my thoughts...I managed to alert Chris and pointed to the giant spider on the woven wall separating the platform into semi-private sleeping areas. He informed me that there were probably more and helpfully shined the iPhone flashlight around to reveal several more large spiders around the mosquito net, just hanging out on the "wall." At this point, I got am outside the mosquito net and am not in a very courageous stance. Our guide hears me and comes out of his platform section a few feet away. He tries to spray the spider nearest my side with bug spray, this method was ineffective for the first few squirts, the spider just stayed there so he tried to brush it away with the can....the spider ran/fell away from it's hunting stance straight down into the nebulous space between the floor/wall of woven bamboo - with no way of knowing if it had instead crawled right into the bedding. So now I feel more miserable and Chris - still inside the mosquito net is scrambling to check and see if our spider friend is, in deed, planning to cuddle up with me in the bedding - really breaks out the "newlywed husband line of the century" as I say I'm heading out to the bathroom and looking Chris for reassurance - secretly he wants to come out there and stand by the door just in case I'm too scared and too proud to ask for such unnecessary help..."If they're in here, they're definitely going to be in the bathroom." What reassurance! now I could know with certainty that something giant and gross, but not lethal could join me anywhere in this Hmong paradise. I bravely set out and walked around the corner, coming up to the open doorway of  the cellblock bathroom and crawling up and down the doorway were little scorpions just a few inches long and very light in color. Needless to say, I didn't make it inside. Finally upon returning to Chris a minute later, he informed me that "the small ones are the most poisonous." Of course, I've heard the same thing on National Geographic, but was pushing it to the back of my brain as I decided to simply avoid the tiny devils all together. Eventually, we both slept til almost dawn and were very glad to wake up and move on with our day of hiking. Breakfast turned into the most delicious meal of our time in Laos - eggs scrambled up with bamboo shoots. We had survived the night and were ready for more adventure. The morning light was soft on the village and we were able to see the school they'd just built and take photos with some of the kids. They loved seeing themselves so immediately in the frame. After packing up we were back on track to hike on a more downward path this time to Luang Prabang. The second day was much drier, hot, and humid. We enjoyed the greater proportion of downhill hiking and clear weather to further take in the lush landscape of the Laos countryside. Finally, 3 hours later, we ended up back at the Elephant Sanctuary. We handed over our camera to the guide and climbed up to a hut on stilts where we could step into a bench like site tied to to the top of our elephant for a one hour tour.
Riding the elephant was one of the highlights of our trip. As we started out, Chris and I sat on the bench hiding from the sun under an umbrella while a mahout, or elephant driver, sat on the elephant's neck. She walked down a standard path, stopping whenever possible for delicious leaves, branches, bananas, etc. The mahout would nudge her behind the ears with his knees, but she wasn't overly concerned with his desired pace. Finally we made it down to the river and actually walked right into the water while our elephant cooled down in the water and walked straight down the middle to a little sand island (with tasty reed snacks) and then back to the river bank and onto the path. Chris climbed down on her neck and practiced his mahout skills and enjoyed riding up in front. I got my chance as we turned back toward the camp. The mahout sits right up on the elephant's neck with knees up behind the ears. Our elephant's appetite was not staved by her walk in the water or the reeds on the sand island and she kept stopping on the way up the path and at one point had an entire branch with several stems and full of leaves! She was amazing - the size and strength of these animals down to the extraordinarily long eyelashes and stiff thick hairs all over the leathery skin is so much more real in person! Supposedly we're now honorary mahouts but I don't intend to take up as an elephant driver any time soon!
The rest of our Luang Prabang visit was less eventful but really wonderful. I'm heading to bed now after a wonderful visit from mom, but I will relate more soon and try to figure out the photos...