After a 30+ hour travel day, we finally ended in a beautiful, quaint, friendly city of Luang Prabang. LP is tucked away on a peninsula between confluence of the Mekong and Khan rivers. It was safe and comfortable to walk around and had some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world.
After a 40 minute tuk tuk ride out of the city and a $2 entrance fee, we entered Kuangsi Waterfall Park. I was in love at the first waterfall. Crystal clear, blue/green spring water rolled over countless natural infinity edges. The farther we went into the park, the more impressive the falls became. After several dozen medium sized falls and swimming pools, we found ourselves at the base of the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, Kuangsi Waterfall. I have seen some sights this year, but nothing compared to the 200 feet of enchanted travertine falls with dozens of infinity pools.
We climbed all the way to the top of the falls before slowly working our way back down. On our way down, we climbed out on the top tier of pools. Waterfalls surrounded us in every direction as we traversed across the rocks making our way to the largest top pool. We jumped in and swam right up to the edge of the falls. It reminded me a lot of the Devil’s pool at the top of Victoria falls, but smaller with a more fairytale-like charm. We made our way down to the second pool and I jumped in and swam out to the edge again. We were the only ones playing on the falls and had the pools to ourselves. This was probably because you’re not supposed to swim/hike those parts of the falls, but no one ever stopped us.
I remember sitting on the edge of the middle infinity pool: to my back was a huge waterfall seeming to pour out of the sun. To my front: a stunning natural infinity edge with water running over towards the valley ahead. It was the most beautiful place I had ever been to in my life. I’ll never forget the magical day we had exploring the Kuangsi Waterfall Park.
The other highlight of Luang Prbang was…you guessed it, another waterfall! The group rented scooters for the day and cruised around some outer parts of town before taking a small boat across the Nam Khan tributary to the Tad Sae waterfall park. Though not as grand and impressive as Kuangsi, it still had plenty of charm. Hiking away from the touristy bottom falls, we followed a trail along the river of falls in the jungle. We eventually found my second favorite swimming hole in Laos. Tucked away in the jungle we were the only people swimming there. With water falls all around us we jumped off rocks, explored around, and relaxed in more infinity pools. It’s hard to put into words the beautiful of the natural water features in Laos, so I tried my best at taking pictures to share with everyone.
Our last big activity in LP was white water kayaking. We were on a sit-on-top kayak floating down the valley between the mountains. It was beautiful and had just the right amount of excitement and relaxation. I think every kayak had its moment where it flipped in the rapids, which made it even more exciting.
The other highlight of LP was the friends we made. Jack, Ben, and Rob found a local bar and made friends with the owner. His name was Phout and his friend Nomg. It was history from there. Every night we went to Phout’s bar for drinks and more drinks. Phout took us to the bowling alley, let some of the group crash at his house, and even took us to the airport on our way out of town. It’s always nice to meet locals to show you a good time and Phout and Nomg couldn’t have been more inviting and welcoming. Thanks you two, I hope we cross paths again someday.
Luang Prabang was the last stop of Garrett’s trip. Unfortunaly, he had to head back to school while I keep traveling the world. I will see him again for a pit stop home on my way to South America, and were both looking forward to his visit to Central America come July. After another teary eyed goodbye to Garrett at the airport, the rest of us were off to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
