Day 124 – Luang Prabang Waterfall.

Free breakfast! The best thing a hostel can do is free breakfast because it actually makes people get up and out of bed to make the most of the day and when you’re trying to organise 10 people it becomes very helpful. Some people from our room along with some others we met last night decided that today we would go and visit the Kuang Si Falls, which are located just south of Luang Prabang.

The weather wasn’t great and as we were waiting for a couple of people to get drinks and things the weather turned and started to chuck it down. We were told it was dry season… I think you’ll find we are in monsoon season with the amount of storms we have encountered recently! We were trapped under a tent for a good 40minutes before it stopped. We decided, as it was a couple of people’s last days that we would go to the waterfall. Chrissy and I debated about going tomorrow instead but the more people you go with in a tuk tuk the cheaper it is so we gave in and went anyway. It took about 20 minutes to drive there and the views were stunning.

On arrival we paid £1.50 to enter the park and the first place we got taken to was to see the bears. The bear sanctuary looks after 23 Asiatic Black bears and they have been brought here by the Laos government to save them from being tortured in a bile farm. Apparently they are kept in small cages and there bile is sold because it is used in traditional Chinese medicines.

Kuang Si Falls has a 60m cascade and is collected in various pools along the path until you reach the top. This place would have looked amazing in the sun but just seeing it was good enough. Within minutes of reaching the waterfall the rain started again. Chrissy and I made shelter in a café whilst some of the others went swimming. We got the tuk tuk back to town after the rain had stopped and I was very excited to have a warm shower and put on my joggers. Four of us went out to explore the market and get some cheap street food for dinner. We found a street off the market that had these buffet stands. You pay 10,000 kip (75p) to fill your plate as much as you can. It was a cheap and satisfying dinner!