Ban Thapèn

Got up and out early today. Met up with girls from last night in the city centre and bargained with a taxi man to take us to the waterfall. I thought we were gonna be in a lil tuk tuk, but it was a very fancy 6 seat minivan, so defo worth the price! The roads here are noticeably worse compared to Thailand, so it was a bit of a bumpy journey!
After arriving, we walked up through this gorgeous jungle path, up to the main waterfall which was absolutely breathtaking. I can't even imagine what it's like when it's rainy, as it was still spectacular during dry season!
Two of the girls hiked up to a pool above the main waterfall, however the other two of us were in rubbish footwear so we went for a swim in the lower pools. The water was an amazing baby blue colour and so refreshing. There were little fish in there that would nibble your toes if you stayed still too long. I've seen some spars that charge a lot for a fish pedicure, so I guess a free one's not bad 🤣
There was also, to our surprise, a bear sanctuary there too which was free with the waterfall entrance ticket. It was full of rescued moon bears, who are like medium black bears with a fuzzy fur collars and a crescent shape white patch on their necks. There were areas where you could watch them at eye level from 3 metres away, with nothing but a small fence as a dividee. I think if they wanted to, they could defo jump over, but they seemed pretty content munching on fruit.
After being mesmerised by the bears, we had another swim in a different pool before hopping back into our fancy minivan. I could've spent all day there alternating between swimming and bear watching, however 3 hours was sufficient.
In the evening, I tagged along with a group from the hostel for fancy pizza (which was 100x better than the one I had in Thailand aha) and then we went bowling. The bowling alley is one of the only places serving alcohol past 12 in the city, and of course was full of other tourists. We played a couple games, which I was spectacularly bad at, only narrowly avoiding last place both times before heading back to the hostel to play more pool, which I was equally poor at.Meer informatie