A later start meant that there was time for Morning Tea in my cabin whilst I was getting ready. As always, this arrived on time, beautifully presented on a small tray. Somehow, the almost fanatical attention to detail by the Hotel Staff made the food and drink taste better.
The ship had left the overnight mooring at 'first light' and continued downstream for almost three hours to anchor midstream opposite the large village of Thabeikkyin, by which time I'd enjoyed a leisurely breakfast including porridge and poached eggs on toast.
I was in the group of Guests transferred by the second Fast Boat to the landing steps (for fairness, this alternated day by day). The landing steps were crowded with curious locals just watching the arrivals but, as always, they would readily smile and reply if greeted with a "Mingala Bar". A series of buses were drawn up at the side of the road, each bearing the 'Road to Mandalay' sign and with a printed number taped to the windscreen. The lady guide Nang directed me to Bus 5 and suggested I occupied the front, left passenger seat. As I've mentioned before, most of the vehicles remain right-hand drive, despite now driving on the right (a change introduced after General Ne Win of Myanmar had visited President Nixon in the U.S.A. some time ago). Apart from having to clamber over the engine cover to reach this seat and the fairly limited leg room, I found this position most congenial. We set off on the climbing road leaving the village with the engine straining. The road just kept on climbing, twisting around the contours of the hill we were ascending, giving continually changing views.
Although the 'road bed' was wide enough for two vehicles to pass, in common with many of Burma's roads, the 'sealed' tarmac surface is much narrower, necessitating that vehicles may have to move off the tarmac when passing. One another. This, of course, tends to break down the edge of the tarmac so that the tarmac strip becomes narrower in places. Combined with the effects of weather and lack of maintenance, the road surface is, to say the least, less than ideal. I was fascinated to watch the driver expertly position the road wheels so as to miss the worst of the pot holes. Most of the traffic coming towards us was motor bicycles and the bus just held to the tarmac strip while the drivers assistant leaned out of the open door furiously waving to approaching traffic to move out of our way. I was afraid that the 'bike rider might lose control because of the sometimes sudden steep drop moving off the tarmac onto the 'road bed', but they always seemed to make it. Being a passenger in Burma can be quite frightening - being a driver must be terrifying.
We were now travelling along a fairly high plateau with 'bush' extending towards the distant mountains. We passed through a number of surprisingly large villages. They don't see many foreign tourists north of Mandalay so our fleet of buses was an object of great interest and there was a lot of waving and cheering.
One village seemed to be choked solid with motor bicycles and their riders. They were all waiting for attention at the local registration office for these vehicles which deals with annual license re-registration (and, I believe, insurance) on one or two days in the year. There were hundreds upon hundreds of machines and it was clear that their owners were in for a long wait. I'd seen a similar scene in Mawlamyine at the beginning of this trip.
After driving for, perhaps, half an hour all the buses stopped and the Guests got off. We were each issued with a stout bamboo stick as a 'trekking pole' and directed along an uneven path through the bush. A trumpeting call indicated that there were elephants nearby and the path came to a large clearing where eight working elephants were lined up, with their respective 'Oozie' (called the 'mahout' in some other countries) seated on the neck of their charge, with their legs pushed behind the ears of the elephant. The name and age of each elephant had been painted on the animal's hide, in Roman characters, presumably for the visitor's benefit. To one side, a bamboo shelter had been erected for local villagers involved in the timber extraction industry to watch the proceedings. There was another shelter as a 'refreshment station', a bamboo 'table' with bananas and sugar cane for us to feed to the elephants and a tall bamboo tower (with two sets of bamboo ladders) to allow the Guests to board a 2-person 'Howdah' on the elephant's back for a short ride.
There's nothing more impressive than a line of working elephants each with their 'Oozie'. They are part of the Forestry Service and the men had smart, lightweight khaki uniforms with badges. Even today, elephants have a manoeuvrability, strength and intelligence which is hard to match with a machine. One or two guests started feeding the elephants so I picked a younger, smaller elephant and fed it for a time. At one side of the clearing, there was a steep, muddy bank down to a small river perhaps fifteen feet below. Four of the elephants descending this bank without difficulty and entered the river for washing. Elephants are fastidious creatures and require regular washing, preferably by immersion.
The Oozies scrubbed away at the tough hide until it was time for a demonstration of obedience. The elephants clambered back to the clearing and, on command, all the elephants knelt.
Next, we had a demonstration of strength. Two elephants were equipped with a simple, stout harness attached to chains. The 28-year old elephant called Thit Daung Sein scooped up a large log with its tusks and held it in place with its trunk whilst dragging an even larger log by chain. The first log, estimated at just under a ton in weight, was casually tossed over the edge of the steep bank to roll into the water. The second log (about one ton in weight) was then dragged into the river. A slightly smaller elephant, Htun Chein, dragged a slightly smaller log into the river. Thit Daung Sein then amazed by climbing back up the steep slope, dragging the large log out behind.
The second elephant, Htun Chein, was still standing in the river. First, he scooped up his log and positioned it vertically against the steep slope, ready for dragging out once the chain was attached. He then scooped up the smaller log with his tusks, locked it in place with his trunk, climbed up the bank carrying the smaller log and dragged out his log with the chain. It was an incredible demonstration.
All the elephants were then equipped with a two-person 'howdah' in the form of a double basket made from bamboo so that all the Guests could have an elephant ride, boarding from the special 'tower' I had a ride on a rather vocal 24-year old elephant called Zaw Chin Ni.
This trip, I bought a wooden elephant bell. They carried no stock, so the bell was taken off one of the elephants. With great reluctance, I made my way back to the waiting buses with the other Guests.
The buses then took us back to Thabeikkyin. When we passed the motor bicycle registration centre, the waiting crowds seemed even larger than before. Many had parked their motor bicycles and were taking refreshments at an adjacent cafe.
The Fast Boats transferred us back to our ship which then continued its journey downstream, arriving at Mingun and anchoring overnight midstream just as it was becoming dark. I had dinner with Edward, Ulrika and Arun before going to the Observation Lounge at 9.30 p.m. for the performance of a Yamayana play.
Photographs:
An Elephant Experience.
