Ban Thapèn

Kuang Si Waterfall

After my getting back at 2am last night, it was pretty set that I wasn't gonna make it to see the monk walk at 5.30am. I woke up and met Michelle (who got back at 5am so was feeling a bit worse for wear) for breakfast at our hostel. I got a pancake with banana and honey but I added another banana and my own honey on top for an extra kick. That, with the unlimited fresh orange juice, I was a happy boy.

I was gonna be solo today as Michelle had already seen the famous waterfall near Luang Prabang, so I rented a scooter and headed out towards the waterfall. On the way I picked up a mango but other than that it was a fairly uneventful drive except from the million potholes that lined the streets. It was like a "fun" game of dodge the massive hole in the street except some were too hidden to dodge in time so I had my fair share of painful bumps I wasn't ready for.

About an hour later, I arrived and parked up. I had to get one of the electric buggies over but eventually I was there. I changed into my swimsuit and started hiking through the jungle. As a huge bonus to seeing a cool waterfall, on the trek was an entire bear sanctuary where you could see bears that had been rescued up close. There are 2 main bears in Laos known as "Sun Bears" and "Moon Bears" because of their distinctive yellow and white crescents on their chests. Unfortunately, bears in Laos are poached so they need to be kept in sanctuaries instead of roaming free which is a shame but allows people to see bears up close.

I know bears are meant to be scary and dangerous but honestly some of these bears just looked like extra large dogs and I'd love to jump into their habitat and give them all a hug (it they wouldn't rip me up into tiny little bite size pieces). After spending a while watching the bears be bears, I kept walking up the path. The path itself was a lovely walk through the jungle but was made even better by the beautifully blue swim holes that made their way up to the main falls. The falls themselves were beautiful and there is some legend behind how they got their name and their shape but I can't exactly remember, all I remember is that an overhanging piece of rock that was part of the lore collapsed a few years ago.

There was a pathway up the side of the main falls to the spring at the top which I very sweating ran my way up. I could have got a small boat to the actual spring but decided I'd go for a dip instead. The day actually wasn't as warm as it had been recently which meant the water was quite fresh and cold but it was nice regardless. There was a nice little swing that sat right above the water where small fish nibble your feet which I couldn't help but laugh at the feeling of. I dried off and headed back down the otherside and grabbed a smoothie at the bottom, I was gonna swim in another swimming hole but honestly it wasn't warm enough for me to jump back in after getting changed already. I walked past the bears again and spent a while longer watching them do their thing before heading out.

It was time for lunch and I spotted a nice restaurant on the Mekong River on my way in so decided to get some food which was pretty good timing as it started to rain shortly after. I decided to wait out the rain, watching some Netflix, instead of heading to Nahm Dong Park like I originally wanted to as I didn't fancy driving and walking around in the rain. When the rain stopped I dried my seat and headed back to Luang Prabang.

Michelle and I went for another walk, this time meeting again with Robert before heading to the same restaurant as yesterday for some dinner. After dinner, there was a bakery near the night market that had some amazing looking things that I spotted yesterday and I really wanted to go. I ended up buying a Danish and a chocolate custard cake to go, then we decided to head up to Phousi Hill. It was night now, so technically the entry to the hill was closed but we opened up the unlocked gate and made our way up the stairs. On top was a nice temple but more importantly (to me) was a bench with a nice view over the city lights for me to devour my sweet treats. We chilled at the top for a while, trying to be quiet as to not alert the monk that we assumed was in the little house at the top.

After vibing for a while, we snuck past the house and made our way down the other side of the hill and said goodbye to Robert heading back to our hostel. It was now time for Michelle to show me how to cut up a mango properly given my terrible history - which in all fairness was much much better than my attempt. We enjoyed the mango and honey then headed to sleep.Meer informatie