JANUARY 29, 2001 VOL. 157 NO. 4

Detour
By JENNIFER GAMPELL

TRAVEL WATCH Make Journey Not War on Kinmen Island In October 1949 the tiny Taiwanese island of Kinmen made the world's headlines as Republican soldiers drove communist forces back into the sea Detour Luuk Pong is something of a child prodigy Off the Shelf Travelers often complain that maps in guidebooks look like they had originally been etched on the back of a napkin, lacking in both size and detail Travel Watch Archive Browse hundreds of Asian travel tips

Luuk Pong is something of a child prodigy. He plays the renat (a xylophone-like Thai instrument) in a small orchestra. Luuk Pong is also an accomplished artist: he paints in a large open-air studio and recently exhibited his abstract acrylics at a London gallery. Not bad for a three-year-old living in a secluded teak plantation who just a year ago was begging for bananas on Bangkok's streets. Oh yeah, did we mention that he's an elephant?

Thailand is well-known for its prodigious pachyderms, from precocious talent like Luuk Pong to the anonymous brutes who do much of the country's heavy lifting. But the nation's elephant population is plummeting, from a high of around 100,000 a century ago to barely 2,500 today. The depletion of the forests has eliminated log-hauling jobs, and many of the remaining elephants find themselves homeless, jobless and hungry. Some work in the tourism industry doing treks and tricks, often in unhealthy conditions.

Compared with many others, Luuk Pong is lucky. The monk who rescued him from Bangkok's streets donated him to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center, a government-owned elephant Xanadu 37 km north of Lampang. In pristine natural surroundings, he and 45 other elephants take the stage twice daily (three times on weekends), with performances that include log hauling, painting and the occasional concert by the Thai Elephant Orchestra.

For visitors wanting more than a brief show, the center offers a home-stay program. Participants can befriend an elephant and its mahout, ride in the forest and enjoy an elephant-centric lifestyle in rustic conditions. Can't wait? Order the orchestra's CD from Mulatta Records (www.mulatta.org).

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