April 26
Paulie and I are up pretty early to get a coffee and check
out the rooms at the new guesthouse option.
We find that our hotel offers us breakfast included in the price and
although we only want coffee they bring us the full on breakfast with fruit,
crepe with butter and jam, a fruit
smoothie and, yes, a great cup of coffee with fresh milk. We eat the breakfast along with the coffee
and then head down the street to check out the rooms at the Tingkham Guesthouse. Turns out this place is ideal and is situated
one block from the Mekong River. The
rooms are perfectly adequate and at a total cost of $38 for two rooms, it is
perfect for the bottom line. We return to
the hotel to see if they have any wiggle room on their rates, which they do but
not nearly enough, so we get ourselves packed up and walk about a block and a
half down the street. We are checked in
soon enough and then we find the friendliest tuk-tuk driver who we are able to
negotiate a pretty good deal with to drive us to the Kuan Sii Waterfalls about
an hour outside of town. We get changed
into our bathing suits and order a couple of sandwiches for the road and we
head outside to the tuk-tuk. We discover
that he has recruited two French girls who will be joining us on our
journey. We take off and the ride is
quite pleasant and Paulie has a chance to use his French while engaging the
girls in conversation. We soon see an
amazing array of beautiful butterflies flitting about the country side. So beautiful.
We arrive at the waterfall and agree to meet back at the bus at 2:00 for
the return trip home. We walk up and
along the entrance and pay our fee to go into the park. From there we have a short walk through a
forest with a well-worn path along the side of the river. We come upon the first of the tiered pools
that are created by the cascading waterfall.
The water is turquoise blue and we soon discover why……it’s
freezing. We make our way a little
farther up the path, and then decide to check it out. There is a rope swing that has Sam pretty
stoked. Annie and I make it into the
water up to our navels and then we have to adjust for about 30 minutes before
venturing further. Sam plunges into the
frigid waters without hesitation while Annie and I are trying to feel our legs
again. There is a curious sensation on
and around our feet…..its tiny fish nibbling at our shins and it is kinda
creepy. We have seen any number of “fish
spas” or ponds where you sit on the side of an aquarium and let the fish eat
off the dead skin on your feet. It’s pretty
weird, but apparently popular. Not for
me though and not for Annie either. We
remain there as long as we can and then have the idea that we will continue our
hike to the top of the waterfall. It is
absolutely gorgeous here and the cool earth under the canopy of trees is really
wonderful. The water is a beautiful
shade of blue. There are picnic tables
scattered around and a number of Lao families enjoying the scenery. We take in the beauty of this place for quite
a while before returning down the path and stopping at a bear sanctuary at the
base of the trail. There are rescue
efforts underway to save the endangered bears of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and
Myanmar. The Chinese use bear bile for
medicinal purposes and the paws are prized for decoration. This group is raising awareness and providing
a place for rescued animals to live out their days. After checking out the bears, it is now time
to return to the taxi and make the hour long drive back to Luang Prabang. We are underway and arrive back into town
around 3:30. We immediately take showers
and rest for a very short time before heading out for dinner. We find a very nice restaurant that offers
regional fare as well as European food….something for every taste! After dinner, Hudson and I walk around the
Night Market, but don’t have enough energy to do any more shopping. He has been feeling under the weather and we
find a night pharmacy that gives us some medicine to help with an ear ache that
he has had for a couple of days. We get
back home and all settle into our room to watch a movie on TV before getting to
bed on the very late side of things.
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