What is it about elephants that is so charming?  Is it because they are big and gangly, or because they eat using their nose, or perhaps because they have a wonderful smile.   Not sure why, but I think they are grand, and in this trip I got to drive one. You think I jest, but how do you make an elephant go?  You tickle his ears with your toe.  It is rule number one in the elephant drivers handbook.  I tried to pinch her ear but it was not nearly as effective, she just stopped to eat greenery on the side of the trail.

Laos is the land of a million elephants, though their numbers have dwindled down to 2,500 hundred or so.  The book says an estimated thousand still roam free in the jungle.  Today, mostly used for the heavy work of hoisting tourists around, and the lumber industry has moved to machinery.