{"id":761,"date":"2012-07-13T09:50:05","date_gmt":"2012-07-13T16:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lifeisahighway.casaroberts.com\/?p=761"},"modified":"2013-01-19T15:21:10","modified_gmt":"2013-01-19T22:21:10","slug":"luang-prabang-day-1-and-we-are-knackered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeisahighway.casaroberts.com\/?p=761","title":{"rendered":"Luang Prabang – Day 1 and we are well knackered……"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our first stop in Laos is in Luang Prabang, a city of about 50,000 people in northern Laos and is one of the larger cities in the country (the capital Vientiane has only 250,000 people). \u00c2\u00a0Laos in total has only about 6.5 million people living here (about 10% of the population of neighboring Thailand) even though it is about 1.5 times the size of California.<\/p>\n

During the height of French imperialism Laos like Cambodia and Vietnam became French colonies, and much of the construction and architecture up until recent years has a strong French colonial flavor. \u00c2\u00a0This is very evident in Luang Prabang, and one of the reasons it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995.<\/p>\n

The city is very charming and it did not take us long to see why it is so highly recommended by travelers as a ‘must see’ location. \u00c2\u00a0It is fairly popular with young backpackers as either the start or end point of a trip through Vang Vieng and the legendary tubing that goes on there (which we will see first hand a few days from now), but Luang Prabang is also popular with the more ‘seasoned’ travelers like ourselves because of the scenery, good food, and small town feel.<\/p>\n

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For our first full day we had intended to just wander around the city and get ourselves oriented, but the skies are clear and it is going to be a beautiful (but hot) day here so we think maybe we should get some of our sightseeing done. \u00c2\u00a0As we are walking down by the Mekong River there is a fairly constant stream of tuk-tuk drivers that keep approaching us to see if we want to go to one of the various attractions. \u00c2\u00a0After rejecting most of the offers we finally decide that maybe we should go up to the Kuang Si Waterfall and start the discussion with one of the drivers. \u00c2\u00a0Kuang Si is about 30km from the city and takes about an hour to get to by tuk-tuk because the road while paved is quite twisty. \u00c2\u00a0The trip is very scenic and we get to see first hand some of the rugged country that we saw from the air on our way in.<\/p>\n

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The falls are inside a national park and the admission (30,000 kip or about $3.50US) includes access to the falls as well as the Bear Conservation Project. \u00c2\u00a0It seems that the asian black bear is becoming endangered due to poachers that use the bears for body parts or as living dispensaries for bile that are all sold to the Chinese for medicinal purposes. \u00c2\u00a0The conservation project rescues bears from the poachers and provides a safe, secure environment for them to live – many of the bears cannot be returned to the wild because they were captured so young that they do not have adequate survival skills to cope in the wild. \u00c2\u00a0On our hike up to the waterfalls we go by the project and are able to see several bears, clearly in a much better situation than they were rescued from!<\/p>\n

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Onward and upward, we get back on the trail and head off for the waterfall – Kuang Si is the most common waterfall for tourists to visit because many of the other falls in the area do not have adequate water flow year round. \u00c2\u00a0Even though it is currently the ‘rainy season’ here, I think the rains have been a little less than normal as most of the other falls are essentially dry, and from what we hear even the water flow at Kuang Si is off from it’s peak. \u00c2\u00a0We are told that in about a month or so the water flow should be higher but even with the way it is, the falls provide some spectacular scenery.<\/p>\n

There are 3 or 4 tiers of pools on the way up to the top and the pools are very popular for a place to cool down and catch some sun. \u00c2\u00a0The water is fairly clear relative to most of the waterways we see in SE Asia (most rivers carry a lot of silt from the reddish brown soil that is everywhere) and the minerals it picks up as it weaves it’s way through the limestone give the water a sort of chalky blue-green look. \u00c2\u00a0Either way it is very cool and refreshing to wade into after the walk up the path.<\/p>\n

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At the top of the official trail is the show piece waterfall. \u00c2\u00a0A collection of falls that drop over 100 meters to feed the pools and smaller falls below. \u00c2\u00a0There are a few lookouts for different views and a bridge crosses the river so there are several great places to take some pictures.<\/p>\n

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As we cross over the bridge we see a trail that branches off into the jungle that looks like a continuation of the main trail. \u00c2\u00a0There are brick stairs, and after going up a flight or 2 there is a sign that indicates this is the way to the top of the falls. \u00c2\u00a0The trail is not as well maintained as the lower trail, but there are actual brick steps in many places and we think that this may actually be a fairly decent trail to the top. \u00c2\u00a0Here begins what I call the SE Asia bait and switch – the trail looks like it is reasonably passable until mentally you are committed, but then quickly\u00c2\u00a0deteriorates into something that is more like a climbing adventure. By the time we are half way up it is becoming a bit of a challenge, but given that we have come so far we are determined to make it to the top – full adventurer points to Mrs. Columbus for rallying us on.<\/p>\n

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Along the way we see other people making their way back down, and see that many of them started this adventure in flip-flops, but have now reverted to bare feet. \u00c2\u00a0Given the shape of the trail it is easy to see how flip-flops would be a bad choice and in fact there are discarded blown out flip-flops along the trail side.<\/p>\n

It is easily 35C (95F) in the jungle and coupled with the climb, I am certain that even my sweat is sweating, but we finally make it to the top! \u00c2\u00a0The waterfall itself basically goes straight down, so while there is not much of a view of the waterfall, the view out over the valley and surrounding terrain is quite spectacular. \u00c2\u00a0Additionally, at the top there is another series of pools, so we are able to stand in the waist deep water and cool down while looking out over the jungle. \u00c2\u00a0We spend about 20 minutes or so just taking in the scenery before mustering the will to make the trek back down the trail. \u00c2\u00a0As we have learned from a previous climb like this at Railay Beach, the climb down is actually a little more tricky than the climb up.<\/p>\n

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During the descent we meet a few other souls making their way up, but some have opted to stop about half way after realizing that the top half of the scramble is more difficult than what they have already seen. Overall I am glad we went up, but I am thankful that we had decent hiking sandals, and a good dip in the pools at the bottom was well earned!<\/p>\n

After cooling off in the polls at the bottom of the falls we make the short walk back out the main trail to the entrance where we look around at a few shops, have a snack and re-hydrate, and it is back into our tuk-tuk for the trip back to town. \u00c2\u00a0Along the way our driver makes a few stops for some photo-ops at some rice and vegetable farms, and a Hmong Village so that Mrs. Columbus can get her shop on.<\/p>\n

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We get back to our hotel at about 5pm and are feeling quite exhausted and I know that sleep will come easy, and that there will be some muscles that are going to be filing their complaints in the morning.<\/p>\n

But wait, it is not over yet…..<\/p>\n

One of the recommended things to do here is watch the sunset over the Mekong River and down behind the hills in the distance. \u00c2\u00a0As the skies have been fairly clear all day we decide that we should probably do this today because it may be our best opportunity.<\/p>\n

There is a ‘hill’ right in the middle of the city called Phou Si that rises almost straight up for about 100 meters – at some point in history some fellow decided that it would be a good idea to build a temple complex up there, so now up a total of 428 steps sits a temple with fantastic views out over all sides of the city – including across the river and where the sun will set. \u00c2\u00a0So after waiting until all the afternoon’s sweat has dried we force ourselves to get back out there and tackle the steps to the viewpoint. \u00c2\u00a0The trail is evil in it’s deception because the stairs are set in tiers, so just when you think you are nearing the top, the path flattens out for a bit only to reveal yet another set of stairs. At about the half way point there is a ticket booth where you have to pay 20,000 kip to go to the rest of the temple grounds and there is a sign that happily informs you that you have climbed about 30% of the total \u00c2\u00a0stairs……<\/p>\n

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By the time we get to the top we are huffing and puffing, dripping again with sweat and cursing some of the Laos locals who seem to make a sport out of running – that’s right running – up the steps in the evening!! \u00c2\u00a0The view from the top however is quite spectacular and ultimately worth the effort. \u00c2\u00a0I am happy that the skies co-operated and we got a decent sunset because it is quite unlikely that I would have climbed the steps again. \u00c2\u00a0The way down is much easier than the descent from the waterfall earlier in the day, but because stairs in many of these places are not built to any ruleset on spacing, it is still a bit of exercise even to go down.<\/p>\n

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By the time we get to the bottom we are truly done for the day. \u00c2\u00a0The climb down has placed us right at the night market, but even Mrs. Columbus is sufficiently knackered that we decide to just go for dinner and then directly back to our hotel. \u00c2\u00a0As we are walking back to our hotel we pass Nazim’s Indian food – it was recommended to us by Ian when he was giving us all the 411 on Laos, so we take our dinner here and it totally lived up to it’s recommendation!!<\/p>\n

We both completely crash once we get back to our room – tomorrow will clearly be a ‘relax’ day \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our first stop in Laos is in Luang Prabang, a city of about 50,000 people in northern Laos and is one of the larger cities in the country (the capital Vientiane has only 250,000 people). \u00c2\u00a0Laos in total has only about 6.5 million people living here (about 10% of the population of neighboring Thailand) even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[28,29],"class_list":["post-761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summer-2012","tag-laos","tag-luang-prabang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeisahighway.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeisahighway.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeisahighway.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeisahighway.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeisahighway.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=761"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lifeisahighway.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":789,"href":"https:\/\/lifeisahighway.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions\/789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeisahighway.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeisahighway.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeisahighway.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}