Waterfalls, Bears, Buffalo and Elephants

Was feeling super lazy this morning and was contemplating either a day in bed or lounging by the pool at their sister hotel. However over breakfast my waiter hyped up doing activities so booked myself a driver for afternoon to check out some of the areas surrounding Luang Prabang.

I decided (with help from my waiter) to go to Kuang Si Waterfall, about 50mins west of the town. Along the way she suggested a visit to the Buffalo dairy and an elephant sanctuary. All of that sounded interesting enough so after a quick mid morning nap, a bit of lunch I headed off on the mini adventure around 12:30.

Ou, my driver met me at the hotel and the staff gave me a bag with a towel in case
I decided to swim. Ou was super friendly and described all the main buildings in town as we headed out. One building is home to the last remaining princess of Laos, now in her 80’s.

Once out of town we travelled along windy roads through small villages for about an hour before arriving at the falls. Ou gave me tips on the best route to take to also allow viewing of the bear sanctuary and led me to the ticket office. A quick electric golf buggy ride up the hill and I was ready to explore.

First stop, the bear sanctuary. These bears were rescued from tiny cages and now are unable to be released into the wild so spend their days chilling in the hammocks here. Always sad to see animals locked up but these guys looked pretty chill about it.

The waterfalls are next and they were a beauty. Tiered across 4 or 5 levels with water flowing over the limestone. It kinda looks like the terraced rice paddies, but instead of rice it’s a stream of fresh spring water. On advice from Ou, I walked up to the main waterfall first before returning to one of the swimmable lower pools for a quick dip.

The water was so cold I only made it thigh deep before retreating. It wasn’t that hot a day today, so didn’t feel like freezing myself solid. Sitting by the waterfall while I dried off was relaxing - at least it would have been if not for the large Chinese groups who constantly yelled at each other. Having spent about an hour here I headend back to the car to find Ou.

We’d planned to make a few stops on the way back to town. The first being an ‘elephant sanctuary’. More like elephant jail! Once I got out it was obvious this was remnants from times when elephant riding was socially acceptable. These poor elephants were chained up, with only a few metres of movement available to them. Strapped to their backs were harnesses for people to be able to ride them. No thanks.

Ou let me know that there is a better (actually sanctuary) on the other side of town where riding and feeding are prohibited and the elephants roam free range. We agreed to see that tomorrow and made our way to the buffalo dairy.

Ou suggested to just buy an ice cream and then sit in the cafe rather than paying for a guided tour. Good move! The place is run by an Aussie couple who hire locals and make and sell cheese, yoghurt and ice cream made from buffalo milk. An interesting tourism enterprise. Ginger ice cream consumed, I headed off to the next stop.

A small village of hill tribe people (who were forced off their traditional lands to come to live in a village) had been set up as a ‘community based tourism development project’. My uni friend Mel would have cried her eyes out with all the small children trying to see stuff to me as I walked through. I like the concept, but like many of these attempts, they are all selling the same stuff that’s obviously not made here. Tourism masters hat off, it was at least an attempt to bring some cash into the village. I bought some fabric bracelets.

Making our way back I stopped to take some photos of the fields before getting dropped back at my hotel. A lovely little outing into the countryside. It’s a beautiful part of the world, somewhat stuck in time. As Ou described it, it’s like Chang Mai was 20 years ago.Leggi altro