Bears and waterfalls

Our last day in Laos started with the idea to rent a motorbike to see at least one waterfall in the area. As it turned out here we would need a passport to rent one, people in Luang Prabang were not as trusting as in Champasak. In the end we booked a guided tour because neither Dudley nor I wanted to go back to the hotel to get the passports. Which was on the one hand a great idea since the road to the waterfall was abominable but on the other hand a wast of money since the travel agency where we booked it ripped us off. Basically we paid for an overpriced taxi ride but whatever.

We arrived with the minibus at the Kuang Si waterfall park but before we could head inside we were distracted by some grilled fish.

We agreed on a lunch break before heading inside which was a smart thing to do. There was more than enough time to see everything. The fish by the way was going to be my choice and it was amazing! You can see me mmhhing and aahing here. That was one good fish.

Finally we paid our entrance fee though and started on the waterfall. The first part of the park was a dedicated to the preservation of local bears. Their antics were just too cute to ignore so we stayed in front of their enclosure and watched them for a bit.

We saw at least 10-12 different bears and but you can take only so many pictures of them. I rather wanted to go for swim at the waterfall. Not that it happened though but at least this was the plan. The waterfall was actually very small and not impressive. But what was impressive were the small pools that formed all the way down to the entrance of the park. Not always could I take a picture without people in them, but I tried my best. Isn’t the blue color of the water amazing? I never made it into the water myself though since I didn’t want to sit on the way back in my wet clothes.

On the way back down to the parking area we stopped for an ice coffee and then it was almost time to get on the bus to go back the city. The bus driver was in no hurry though and made us wait 15 minutes. Not that it mattered since we had nothing better to do.

On this last evening it rained again and so we decided to stay on our side of the city and try the restaurant right next to the bamboo bridge. It wasn’t easy getting a table, lots of people suddenly wanted to eat there. Maybe it was because of the downpour since I hadn’t even noticed that there were that many tourists in the city. In any case the food wasn’t really remarkable but a young puppy which belonged to the restaurant was staying with us through dinner.

Click here to see more of him, he had lots of sharp teeth and tried to eat my hand. Yours, Pollybert