2 February, 2024

Hi everyone,

Today was our second full day in Luang Prabang. We had an early start this morning with a 5 am wake-up call to head into town and partake in the daily Alms Giving ceremony. Traditionally, monks walk the streets early in the morning to collect offerings of food from locals, often sticky rice that the locals have prepared themselves. Our guide provided us with the sticky rice and we were able to participate. You sit close to the ground on the sidewalk (your head should not be higher than the monks’ heads) and monks from each nearby temple walk single file with a lidded bowl to collect offerings. It didn’t take long before our offerings were gone and we headed back to the hotel after the monks were finished.

We got a brief bit of shuteye at the hotel before heading out at 9 am to the Kuang Si Waterfall. We made a brief stop on the 45-minute drive at a rice paddy where our guide talked a bit about rice farming in Laos. Rice paddies are protected land – you cannot build new structures on existing paddy fields, a means of conserving them so they continue to produce rice. Some fields, like those we saw, are situated on rivers and can be harvested twice a year – once during the rainy season, and once out of the rainy season. Rice takes about 4 months to grow and harvest. If they aren’t situated near a water source, they can only be cultivated during the rainy season.

We continued on to the waterfall, which was tucked away in a forest, very near its spring source. It was a short walk from the drop-off point, part of which included a bear rescue preserve. The group is trying to raise awareness about bear poaching. Up the trail about 10 or so minutes was the waterfall, which was quite impressive and gorgeous. The main fall is a 3-tiered waterfall that falls about 200ft. This then flows back down and you can walk back down along the river to three different spots you can swim in. A few of our group got in. Spenser waded in but wussed out because the water was freezing. Sarah dove all the way in with a couple of other folks.

After trekking the rest of the way back down, we ate lunch at a restaurant amid the forest and river. It was an incredible setting for another delicious meal.

Finally, back in Luang Prabang, we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. Sarah napped while Spenser spent some time by the pool. In the evening we grabbed dinner with most of the rest of our group. Exhausted, we all came back without doing any more night market shopping, and a few of us ended up chatting for a while with our guide while we had a Balvenie nightcap.

Tomorrow we end our stay in Luang Prabang and Laos as we head to Hanoi, Vietnam.

This is the route our tour takes:

Lots of love,

Sarah & Spenser