Laos - part 2

Day 3 in Laos - At approximately 8:45am on Saturday 7 April 2007, I headed out for a stroll while my friend was still soundly asleep. I spent some time at Wat Xieng Thong, Mekong river, Nam Khan river, Sala Pha Bang, Royal Palace Museum (Ho Kham) and statue of King Sisavang Vong. I returned to the guest house at 10:45am and to my surprise, found my travel buddy still in dreamland. I woke her up and we discussed our plans for the afternoon. We agreed to go to the Tat Kuang Si waterfall which is located 32 kilometres south of Luang Prabang. My friend wanted to go privately in a tuk tuk (US$15 return for up to 3 people) while I wanted to go in a public minibus for US$4 per person return. The lowest price tuk tuk drivers were willing to do it for was US$12 (i.e. US$6 each) but that was still too expensive for us so I got my way. In one word the Tat Kuang Si waterfall was unspectacular. To increase the attraction of the Tat Kuang Si waterfall, they added two enclosures in the vicinity, one for Phet (Indochinese tigers) althought we didn't see any and the other for Asiatic black bears. Against my better judgement I decided to follow my travel buddy go off the beaten track and trek to the top of the waterfall. Let me tell you, waterfalls are best viewed from the bottom! Anyway, it had rained earlier in the day and the earth was still moist. On my way down, I lost my footing and nearly rolled down the hill. Now I've got a 2-inch long scar caused by a tree branch on the inside of my upper left arm. I had planned to swim in the fresh water ponds underneath the waterfall but my brush with death turned me off. Back in Luang Prabang I wanted to check out a few of the buddhist temples (tourist attractions) that I still haven't visited but my friend wasn't keen so I alone went to Wat Hosian, Wat Pha Mahathat (Wat That) and Wat Manolom. I met up with my travel buddy for dinner and we discussed our plans for tomorrow. She will be spending a few more days in Luang Prabang while I will be flying back to Vientiane tomorrow evening. I told her of my intentions to go to the Pak Ou caves via slow boat tomorrow morning. She said that she wasn't interested so I went ahead and booked myself a seat on tomorrow morning's slow boat to the Pak Ou caves for US$4 return. Just like the night before, I ended the day/night emptying my pockets at the night market. I just couldn't help myself you know!