Kuang Si waterfalls

tiny terracing

After a looooong breakfast at a café with good wifi (so Mum could download the photos and I could write my blog) we went back to the guesthouse to dump the laptop and put on swimming costumes. No, there is no pool at the guesthouse, but we were going to the Kuang Si water falls. We picked up a tuk tuk and negotiated a price. The tuk tuks are different to the ones in Phnom Penh – they fit 10 people, but there were only two of us, so we had to hang on because the trip was 25 kms up the mountains (obviously, because the water falls need mountains to flow down!).

The countryside reminded me a bit of Kep in Cambodia, but it the jungle was thicker. Mum showed me how the farmers plant crops on the side of a mountain by terracing.

canopy

Before we went to the waterfalls we saw another FREE THE BEARS rescue centre. I saw one in Takeo out of Phnom Penh in October, and this one was also set up by an Australian woman called Mary Hutton. The organization is an NGO, and it rescues bears which are kept in cages to milk their bile (used in Chinese medicine), or to have their body parts cut up or be captured and sold as exotic pets!

Laos wildlife are being threatened for lots of reasons, especially because they are being sold AND because they are losing their habitat.

 The forest to the waterfalls made it so much cooler (it’s very hot here, about 38 degrees), and the water was SO cold. It was refreshing. Mum went in, even though she doesn’t like the fish biting her feet.

Because it’s the dry season there weren’t many pools at the waterfalls. They were a BIT like the waterfalls in Thailand near Kanchanaburi but there we had to walk up SEVEN water falls. The Kuang Si water falls only had two levels.

I wrote a comment for Free the Bears, like I did at Takao (in Cambodia)

These signs are everywhere - so tourists respect the Buddhist town

We shared a tuk tuk back with a girl about 26 years old and her mother (who is 60). The girl and her husband sold everything to set up a butterfly farm. They are doing research about butterflies because there’s never been a study on them before in Laos. You see, butterflies are also losing their natural habitat because of deforestation.

They were really interesting to talk to, and they wanted to know about Cambodia too – and the issues in Cambodian society.

When we got back to Luang Prabang we did MORE walking! When we heard drums clanging we followed the sounds and found a small ceremony where monks were banging a huge gong. Mum took a video so we will remember the spiritual sounds.

Lunch!