SANDWICHES, MANGO SHAKES AND WATERFALLS IN LUANG PRABANG
Finally off the boat and checked into a guesthouse and as usual for Laos and plenty of other Asian countries there isn’t any toilet roll. My first few weeks in asia is going straight in the “getting used to asian living” section. The only option you have is to use a hose and your hand to clean yourself, I’m sure learning a lot about myself here. If there does happen to be some toilet roll, then its got to go into the bin and not flushed into the system. Not the best place I have stayed in but its all part of travelling the world and what do you expect for £3.
200 STALLS SELLING THE EXACT SAME THING
WHERE IS LUANG PRABANG?
The first thing I do when I arrive at any new place is take a walk around and see what I can find. Myself and the Americans (Dusty, Mike and Cody) went out to the market to check it out and I have never seen anything quite like it. There was close to 200 stalls all selling the same 4 t shirts, elephant sculpture and leather satchal, yet we still felt the need to check them all out. How these people make money is beyond me!
On the far end of the square we noticed the street food and it was the same again, 50 stalls selling the same chicken sandwiches and mango shakes. It appears locals find it hard to set themselves apart from their peers.
KUANG SI FALLS
If you do plan to visit Laos then at least a night in Luang Prabang is necessary between transfers in which case you must visit the Waterfalls. I’ve been telling the boys about Kuang Si Falls and they’ve never heard of it so they are in for an absolute treat tomorrow.
WHERE IS KUANG SI FALLS?
HOW TO GET TO KUANG SI FALLS
The falls are only 15 – 20minutes taxi jeep from the city. Often there are other travellers who are looking to go so you can arrange and save money at the same time. It isn’t necessary to book return transport as there will be plenty of options at the entrance.
WHEN TO VISIT KUANG SI FALLS
Like most attractions it makes sense to go in the morning but as Laos doesn’t have the crowds that Thailand experiences it isn’t completely necessary. We arrive mid morning and almost has the entire falls to ourselves.
THE FALLS
At this stage the falls are relatively unknown which was apparent once we arrived. This is exactly why I spend months researching a trip and I would have been gutted to miss out. If the falls were in Thailand you can be rest assured it would be at the top of any “10 things to do in Thailand” lists you might come across.
Shotgunning
The falls are stunning and just don’t look real! At the bottom it is made up of several tiered waterfalls in the bluest blue you will ever see. As you walk up stream you’ll come to the main falls after which is a path to take you up to the top. Its a bit of a trek and we were all joking about wanting a beer for the effort so you could imagine the surprise when we found a local selling cold beers! So in typical backpacker fashion we shotgunned 4 whilst sitting at the top looking out over Luang Prabang. It was the American’s (and mine) highlight of their trip so far.
Luang Prabang
NEXT UP
Tonight we all headed off to a cool bar called Utopia which has a flood lit beach volley ball court. It’s full of backpackers so it’s a great place to meet new people and the beers are cold and cheap!
Tomorrow its of to Vang Vieng where we will be doing the infamous Tubing, a river pub crawl where 20 people are said to have died inside 12months.
SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
20/229
This episode is part of The South East Asia Series, click to see episode 1.
