Kuang Si Falls

Day 35 – Luang Prabang, Laos

(Yes, I know, the picture is not a waterfall.)

As if to compensate for my lazy beginning, I had a (very) full day!

I started with the visit of the Royal Palace, which is literally next door of my hostel. No pictures are allowed inside, and the gardens are not that interesting, so no pictures for you. There is a throne room with suitably gold-leafed furnitures, columns, and gold-threaded garments; a collection of miniatures of Buddha; the royal sleeping rooms, musical instruments, and pipe, walking sticks, and foreign gifts collections.  It is worth the (short) visit.

Going back to the hostel, a few fellow backpackers were preparing to go to the Kuang Si Falls, and I decided to join them, grabbing my swimsuit, a towel, and not thinking of important things like leaving my passport and extra money in the locker.

The walk to the falls start through the moon bear rescue organisation, where we can see rescued bears and learn about them. (The main difference between sun bears and moon bears is the colour of the crescent of light fur they have on their neck; the rest of their fur is dark brown / black.)

We arrived then at the lower pools, but decided to do the whole loop (going on top of the waterfall) before swimming.

[Montrer sous forme de diaporama]

We went up, and up, and up, first along the pools and smallish falls, then along the really tall falls: at one point, the stairs are so near the water that the steps are indeed under water.

The view is quite worth it, and on top, as promised, there is a pool with a swing. It was full of people (that what happens when one goes at peak hour), so I took a quick dip for bragging rights (Ah! I did it!) and went back down. We swam a bit in the main pool. The waters are milky blue because of the limestones that retains the red soil particles but still loses limestones particles.

Small fishes nibble away at the feet when they are not moving (eeek!), and the bed of the pool is either slimy with mud or full of slippery rocks or pointy rocks. The only choice is to swim.

I also had a very interesting moment when going from the few stone squares lining the pool to the beaten-earth path with wet feet; it seems that water on soil makes mud and thus slippery ground to walk on. Not as in gliding gracefully a few centimetres, more as in slipping and catching yourself at the last moment. Applied science, fascinating stuff.

At the agreed time, we trudged back to the mini-van, went back to Luang Prabang (the falls are 27km from the city), stopped at a fruit stall (“This is my wife’s shop, stop and buy fruits!”), I bought mangosteens (my first) and ramboutans.

I was still feeling like going out, so I went to the Sa-Sa Sunset Cruise I had looked up, and had a lovely time on the river, talking with the French guys crewing the boat. (It’s a French outfit.) And what was amazing was having a bit of rain, and a bit of sun, and a beautiful, full double rainbow.

To have the full rainbow on one picture, I used the fisheye focus, which is why everything is a bit round around the edges.

It was an amazing moment, unpredictable, we all on the boat were holding our breath and taking pictures like mad. It was a first for the crew, according to them, and they hadn’t noticed the second rainbow until I pointed it out to them.

There are more pictures of the rainbow in the gallery here, with others pictures of the Mekong.

That was the crowning moment of the day, and I was so happy not to have put back the cruise to another day!