Day 61: 1/18/24 - Kuang Si Falls

Our one day trip from Luang Prabang was a delightful morning at Kuang Si waterfalls. A 45 minute ride through the rolling hills was beautiful, if not a reminder of the joys of cushions. Electric carts ferry visitors from the parking lot up to visitor area; aware of the popularity of the spot, we rushed towards the waterfall before it would be swamped. Kuang Si falls is a multi-tiered (not sure if that is a real term, but it falls and then has a relatively still pool several times), but the first drop is the largest. I know not many people would have the courage to say this, but waterfalls are kind of pretty. After ogling at it for a while, and exchanging photographer duties with other groups, we decided to brave the steep (short) climb to the top. 

We trekked down the other side of the flow of water, on a trail all to ourselves, save for the butterflies, and ended up at the largest of the 3, brisk pools fed by the falls. When we arrived, there were many people cautiously watching the water, or wading in isolated pockets up to their ankles for photo opportunities, so we had the water to ourselves….with about 100 people watching. Some yelled encouragement as we braved the water, some filmed us laughing at our life choices, and some offered to take pictures for us on our phones. As someone who does not enjoy physical discomfort, I had my misgivings, but Kaia had been willing to hike to the top, so I was committed. And I am so glad I was! It was invigorating and beautiful, and many more people spilled in over the next half-hour or so (probably because of the bus schedule for many tour companies, but there will never be proof that we didn’t start the trend). 

On our way to lunch in the town at the entrance, we visited the attached bear sanctuary. Apparently, there is a lucrative, and illegal, practice of harvesting bile from bears in captivity to use for traditional remedies. Always good to learn about a new bad thing you didn’t know in the context of people doing something about it! The bears were cute, we bought a t-shirt, and headed back to the entrance. 

In the afternoon, we packed up our room, and headed into town for one last dinner at the lovely night market. As we waited for the van to bring us back to the hotel, a man approached us yelling “youyong! Youyong!” (“swimming” in Mandarin). One of the spectators at the waterfalls had recorded us jumping in the water, though from what he showed is in his camera roll, he may have been recording everyone that day… He didn’t seem phased in the slightest that Kaia would know enough Mandarin to have any sort of communication, and despite coming over to us and showing us the video he took of us on his phone, never offered to share it… So look for us on a website probably.