December 25, 2023
Dec. 25th - Luang Prabang - Kuang Si Waterfall
A day bike ride
Merry Christmas! The hotel lady finally pointed out to me that Christmas isn't really celebrated here. Buddhism is the dominant religion. Duh! Kind of forgot because there are Christmas decorations up in town.
I have been debating for days when/if I would go out to Kuang Si Waterfall that everyone visits. I mean, I've seen lots of waterfalls, right? Well, I certainly have never seen a series of waterfalls as peaceful and beautiful as these ones were! A little Christmas present to myself.
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How am I getting there? I could take a mini-van round trip for $100,000 kip, but I need the miles on my bike. It's only 18 miles to the waterfall and I figured I catch a tuk tuk back. Well, that was 18 difficult miles. The one big hill early on did me in and then it was decent cycling, but some short steep hills every once in a while. Just enough to get in a little extra heavy breathing. And coughing. Let's just say, I'm not recovered yet and cycling there with a lingering cough and an air quality of "poor" was a bad idea.
Kids shouted hello at me, but much to my dismay, some kids were shouting hello and this one little boy just casually flips me off. I gave him a look of shock and awe and a little smile. (I met other tourists later and the same thing happened to one of the ladies.) 😂
When I got to the waterfall, they directed me to a parking lot. I saw another cyclist and she told me you had to pay for parking. I was like, "I'm not paying to park my bicycle." I think they tried to talk to me as I was leaving, but I just ignored them. Ridiculous.
I went up and paid the entrance fee which includes an electric vehicle ride up a pretty long and steep hill. They drop you off and there are a bunch of food and souvenir shops. Another couple at the hotel had told me about a bear rescue center close to the waterfall. Well guess what? It's the first thing you see upon entering the area. I was pretty happy about that as I love bears! And as an fyi - you can swim in a couple of the pools. I wasn't prepared for that, but I did enjoy a nice picnic lunch. Enjoy the pictures - lots of them - as I make my way to a series of waterfalls. It was a really peaceful and calming place.
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Time to head back, but I'm hoping not to ride my bike. When I get to the parking lot there are not as many tuk tuks as earlier. I approach one and he says wait. In the end, he sends me to another one who wanted, $200,000. Ummm, no. He then says $150,000. Still no. I'll give you $100,000 which technically should go to the people who already paid for a private tuk tuk. He didn't argue with me.
I enjoyed visiting with two sisters originally from Egypt on the way back and we also stopped for Buffalo ice cream. Expensive, but good. And this fun finale wraps up my time in Luang Prabang!
Today's ride: 17 miles (27 km)
Total: 339 miles (546 km)
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