11/1 Luang Prabang: Kuang Si Waterfalls & Wats

After just vegging out yesterday afternoon on the guesthouse balcony, it sounded like fun joining Andy, the owner, his 4 year old daughter, Mali, and other guests on a half day excursion to Kuang Si Waterfalls. On the drive to the falls, located 20 miles south of Luang Prabang, Andy talked about Laos being the most heavily bombed country in the world as the Ho Chi Minh Trail ran right through Laos during the Vietnam War. As we passed lots of corn fields, the former Bostonian in him mentioned the best corn in the world comes from New England in his mind! 

I asked Andy why we always hear his adopted country being referred to as 'Lao' and not 'Laos.' He said that Laotian people cannot pronounce the 's' sound at the end of words and so the country is called or, more accurately, pronounced 'Lao.'

Photos from Kuang Si Waterfalls:

Eagle eyed readers may have noticed the Waterfalls' different spelling above;

 there are often many different ways of spelling place names in Asia.

There was a 'Feed the Bear' sanctuary at the waterfalls' entrance.

The initial pool was only a short hike from the entrance. The almost crystal clear green water was just gorgeous. We decided to hike to the very top of the falls right away and then make our way down to the swimming holes. The hike up took close to an hour.

Felt decidedly cooler and refreshed from the fine mist here after hiking up the pretty steep path.

Recycling was strongly encouraged in the park.

Beautiful views from the top at last.

We sure didn't jump off the rock into the lovely green waters below 

but I was happy to take a photo of this woman doing so!

We had a really fun time swimming in one of the pools but the current was very strong and not great for young children or weak swimmers.

After all that exercise and fresh air, we needed another afternoon siesta on the guesthouse balcony before heading out to see something of Luang Prabang (LP)! The city is so small that we were easily able to walk everywhere.

Our late afternoon stroll through LP:

Stopped in at Ock Pop Tok, a store that works with a wide range of different tribes to preserve their handicraft traditions. Darlene - this would have been YOUR cup of tea as the weavings were just spectacular!

Map showing the Laotian provinces.

The price for this exquisite hanging was $350.

LP is known as a spiritual center for Buddhists and virtually all of its wats or temples are located along the main street that we were walking along. Since we had had a late start, we could only stop in a few before they closed for the day.

Photos of Wat (akaVat) Sensoukharam:

We heard the gong calling the monks for evening prayer. It's on the left in the above photo.

Photos of Wat Sop Sickharam:

Next walked onto Wat Syrimoungkoun Xaiyaram just a block away from the others. It though was already closed to visitors. Look at the sign's Laotian writing below; it looks like it would take a foreigner a long time to learn how to write in the language.

Our last wat of the day, the lovely Wat Souvannakhiri:

The monks we saw and heard chanting in perfect unison, without benefit of any books, either were all young boys, no older than early teens at most. Their sounds were the only ones we heard while we wandered around the large wat. What a great end to our introduction to Luang Prabang.

Thought of you, Ivy, when we saw the paintbrushes as we headed back to the guesthouse.

Posted from Luang Prabang on 11/6.