Elephants and Waterfalls

The best ride of the day!

We woke up early in the morning to catch the car to the elephant farm. I don't usually like animal farms that much, but the elephant farms in Laos are actually helping the elephants of Laos avoid extinction.

We were accompanied by a small group of British women, and after passing a muddy route to the inner yard all six of us climbed to ride the two elephants. We sat in a basket of some kind with Inna, and one of the British women was sitting in front of us, on the elephant's neck. The guide started walking and we followed with the elephants. The animals weren't fast, but it was interesting to see how surely they stepped on the muddy and narrow path. The path wasn't wide enough for two persons to walk side by side, but still the elephants handled it with ease! The guide told us that elephants can live as long as 120 years, so they have time to practice I guess!

Misty mountains as seen from Mekong

We rode with the elephants for about an hour, and I think it was enough for us. After riding the elephant the guide told us that we would cross the Mekong and visit some Buddhist caves. We hadn't ordered anything like this but followed anyway. Some minutes later we were sitting on small motor boats in the middle of Mekong. The mountaineous view around with all the greenery and a bit of fog was like from a postcard.

On the other side we were given a short tour in a cave temple full of small Buddha statues. I was laughing silently at the other members of the group who had troubles climbing the relatively short stairs up to the cave. To them it seemed to be like a huge mountain :). On the way back the guide started to tell that after lunch we would ride a bit more with the elephants. At that point I had to open my mouth and tell them that we only ordered a half day tour. The guide went silent when I told him that we need a ride back to Luang Prabang as we had to catch the car to the Kouang Si Waterfall.

The others started eating their lunch as we waited for the guide to sort things out. A while later he came back and told us that the car would come in about thirty minutes. We both knew what "thirty minutes" can mean in Asia, and I thought that we wouldn't make it to the falls at all. Originally we were supposed to be back by noon and the car to the falls left at 1 pm. After all the delays we were back at half past one, and the owner of our guest house started yelling where we had been! We explained him the situation and he called to someone and somehow managed to get us a ride. I'm not sure if it was the same car or some other, but we were happy anyway!

Amazing scenery near Luang Prabang

The 45-minute car ride took us through amazingly beautiful landscapes. I almost wanted to tell the driver to leave us there so I could have taken better pictures. From the moving car it was nearly impossible. Luckily I got at least one or two somehow decent pictures so I can show people a glimpse of what it looked like. The partly clouded blue sky and the sunlight reflecting from the rice fields made everything look surreal. I really wish to go there once again and have a day like this. It was one of the most beautiful places I've seen so far.

At the end of the car ride we were unpleasantly surprised by the fact that we had to pay to see the waterfalls. We had come this far so five dollars more wasn't going to stop us, but it wasn't nice to be forced to pay in a way like this.

The relaxing bear

We forgot all the bad things pretty fast as we walked on. Before seeing any falls we walked through a small forest and saw a mini-sized zoo. We didn't see any other animals but a few bears there, but one of them was so funny that it made it worth a stop. The bear in question was relaxing in something that looked like an over-sized hammock, and it really looked like it was enjoying its life :). We stayed there for some minutes and laughed at this fellow. We didn't have much time before our ride back would leave, so we moved on.

Almost right next to the zoo we saw the first waterfalls and I must say that I've never seen anything like it. It was really beautiful and we found a great, silent spot for swimming too. Quickly we put on our water shoes and walked into the stream. The water was quite cold, but after the burning hot weather it was a real blessing. We swam and relaxed for a good while before moving on to see how the falls higher up were.

The main fall

A hundred meters further we saw a place where people were jumping into the water with a rope. Of course I had to try it too and it was quite exciting because I had no idea how deep the water was. Everything went well and we moved on. Five minutes later we saw the real thing. The main fall was at least ten times bigger than anything we had seen before! I tried to take pictures of it, but I didn't want to ruin my camera with all the water the fall was splashing towards us. When we got closer to the fall, it felt like we were in a big storm as the water hit our faces along with the strong "wind" the falling water created.

We still had about thirty minutes before we had to leave, so we wanted to try to climb on top of the waterfall. The route was muddy and a bit slippery, but we managed to get to the top quite fast. On the top there was water everywhere. The greatest thing was that it was possible to walk right on the edge of the fall and to look down from there. The current there wasn't too strong, thanks to the width of the waterfall I guess. After taking a few picture it was time to turn back and hurry to the car. Luck wasn't on our side this time as it started to rain really heavily. The track we had used to climb up had turned into something really slippery, and I was worried that Inna would fall. A couple of minutes later it was me who fell and got a small wound in my hand! It seems that Inna has become a better hiker than I am :).

Eventually we made it back in time and took a shower in our guest house for a hundred bahts (yes, Thai money). Shortly after that we took a tuk-tuk to the bus station, ate a bit and started the awful way back to Vientiane.

He has eaten well!

The travelers relaxing after the elephant ride

Extreme booze

Some more green scenery

A beautifully colored spider

The first swim in Laos :)

Some of the beautiful falls of Kouang Si

Flooded picnic places

Don't swimming area

These plants apparently prefer wet surroundings.

The view from the top of the biggest waterfall

Not quite an elephant - but close