Wednesday 15th Feb.

We slept much better the second night, being in a quieter neighbourhood. Feeling refreshed we rented a scooter for the day, picked up our laundry, fueled up and headed back to the hotel to get ready for the day at Kuang Si Waterfall. It was fun zipping in and out of traffic in true Laotian style - the scooter is the way to go on these roads! It was about 30 minutes to the falls, mostly through the lush countryside.

A typical rural road

One way traffic

Stopping for a look at the Butterfly Park, started by a Dutch couple to provide education on the importance of preserving and studying nature, sharing its studies with schoolchildren, universities in Laos and the government.

The park combines the Tat Kuang Si Bear Rescue Centre with the waterfalls and we saw the bears that had been rescued and survived the bear bile industry, or had been taken from foiled poachers hoping to cash in on the lucrative Chinese medicine market. The 20 or so Moon Bears, many of them young cubs are housed in large, forested enclosures and there were excellent educational displays throughout the park.

The falls are spectacular and each level reached, climbing up the hillside, revealed even more exotic vistas. Reaching the base of the largest fall and crossing over a bridge, we hiked up the mountain to the crest of the waterfall - it took about 30 minutes or so and was a fairly steep climb.

The track to the spring

There were far fewer people at the top and it made for a more tranquil swim than the pools below. Before descending, we followed a 3km track that was marked for the Phawesi Cave and spring water (source of the waterfall). It was a beautiful hike through densely treed and red soil countryside. The caves weren't spectacular and I bailed after just a few metres in - I'm not too comfortable in confined spaces . The head spring of the Kuangsi was a nice area and a family run operation. We hung out there for a while enjoying the relaxed atmosphere, the sparkling blue water, rope swing and a teasing log bridge that promised a free Beer Lao if you could make it all the way across and back without falling in!!

The easier route

We hiked back down the trail on the other side of the main falls, which was slightly easier terrain, stopping for another dip in one of the now less crowded lower pools. Dried off and ready for the ride back into town, reaching Luang Prabang just before the sun started to set.

We returned the scooter and headed for some culinary delights at the night market, purchasing some t-shirts and gifts along the way. Falling into bed, we both had had a wonderful day and decided to extend our stay in this town one more day.