Today was to be our last day in Luang Prabang and so we were adamant we would be seeing the Tat Kuang Si park, this is a jungle area that is 30km southwest of the town. Its main attraction (and the reason we were going) is the huge Kuang Si waterfall, which is one of the most impressive in Lao and to me south east asia.

We we ready early and left before 8.30 in search of bicycles as we were planning on cycling to the falls, which would take a couple of hours and apparently is quite scenic although hilly. Also its fifteen thousand kip for a bike in comparison to one hundred and eighty thousand kip for a tuk tuk... Or fifty thousand for a shared tuk tuk. This is extortionate and we were not willing to pay that to see a waterfall... This didn't stop the drivers harassing us however as we wandered around town looking for bikes.

Eventually we decided to head back towards our hotel as there was a bicycle hire shop close by... First stop however was to grab baguettes for lunch so we headed over and ordered two tuna and sweet chilli bad boys from our favourite lady... Amazing and huge for only ten thousand each. While standing there the tuk tuk guy came over again and tried to get us involved... Turned out he had found four girls and so we could now go for forty thousand each. We haggled him down to thirty and a deal was done, Steven was feeling not feeling 100% so I didn't want to push him into cycling all that way if i didn't have to... no matter how tight he is with our funds. He went off to clarify prices and so on while I waited for our lunch while chatting with the young girl who owns the stall with her husband and despite being seven months pregnant is here first thing in the morning and stays until late in the evening. We chatted about her pregnancy and when I paid for our baguettes I gave her an extra ten thousand as she's always friendly and puts up with our fussy demands and remembers them... No onion on one, chilli sauce on one or no cucumber on top. She seemed very pleased and cheerily said 'khawp jai lai lai' which means thank you so much. I thanked her for the sandwiches and said we would see her later.

I found Steven and we climbed on the tuk tuk and waited for the Chinese girls to join us... They were having breakfast and so we waited for them, buying some water while we waited. Soon enough we were off and on our way to the waterfall and I couldn't wait, I have been waiting to see an amazing waterfall since I started travelling but yet to see one that's blown me away. We were on the road an hour passing through several villages and along reasonable good roads.... It would have been a long but awesome cycle. After what seemed like a lifetime of being chucked around the back of the tuk tuk we found ourselves at the park. You could tell we had arrived as we pulled into a car park full of tuk tuk and minibuses, we climbed out and found ourselves surrounded by shops selling wares, food stalls and cafes selling cheap beer... Somehow I think this may be a slightly touristy attraction.

We negotiated a waiting time with the tuk tuk driver (he wanted us to leave in one hour... We finally agreed at three). We walked up to the entrance and each paid the twenty thousand kip entry before heading in. There were two ways to reach the water fall... One was straight up the tar mac road in front or turn right for the scenice forest walk... We took the forest walk. Apparently the walk up to the waterfall would take fifteen mins, we enjoyed the stroll and we were pleasantly entertained all along the way. Firstly less than a minute into the walk you find yourself at a bear sanctuary, where a small number of bears who have been rescued by poachers. There is no extra charge to see them and you can sit and watch them chilling out within the safety of the grounds. Souvenirs are sold to raise money for feeding and so on and they seemed to be doing good business.

We headed up further and could soon see the beautiful aquamarine waters through the trees and I got excited. Sure enough we were soon standing in front of a large beautiful pool of water and for the rest of the journey up to the main waterfall we followed these beautiful pools of clear blue water and lots of mini waterfalls. The area was relatively quiet at this time of day and there were just a few locals swimming and playing in the water. The place was beautiful with each pool looking so blue and inviting, as we climbed further up the pools became larger and waterfalls cascaded into them, which was beautiful to see... Each pool a mix of turquoise, green and aquamarine, it was stunning.

Eventually we could see the main waterfall up at the top of the park and wow wow wow what a sight.... It was breath taking and well worth all the hassle to get there and the wait to see such a sight. It was absolutely beautiful, there was only a handful of people around and each one appeared to be looking in awe at this natural wonder. It was at least 25 meters high and had such force behind it, which is amazing considering its dry season and most waterfalls have dried up. The waterfall fell into a small lagoon of blue water swirled together like a beautiful watercolour, this then fell into a bigger lagoon of which you can stand on a wooden bridge that crosses it and really admire the view. Its almost magical with the water sitting so blue and so still... Really was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. We sat for a minute watching the water cascade over the rocks before we decided to climb up to the top of he waterfall where apparently the view is pretty good.

We headed to the left as we had heard the right hand side was fairly slippery, turned out the left and side was easier to climb due to some steps that had been put in and wasn't so steep but was incredibly drawn out due to how the path meandered up the hill. We eventually reached the top feeling very clammy and unfit where we were met by a wood with small pools of water flowing towards the end of the rock face and pouring over... The waterfall. We looked for a way to reach this part of the waterfall and eventually found a route through the wood and numerous small ponds full of mud. We stood at the edge of the waterfall holding on to the bamboo fence and I lent over as far as I could to see over and wow what a view... You really had to lean but you could see the pools below the waterfall and the huge drop. We slowly waded through the current pushing the water over the edge, with me filming it for us to appreciate later before we found ourselves in the middle of the water facing a no entry sign and realised we were probably not meant to be here but hey... once committed... we carried on trying to look over the edge as we waded though and eventually found ourselves safely on the other side. We were no way heading back so instead headed down the right hand side, which was a lot steeper and Steven struggled a bit with the descent as it was fairly slippery.. Flip flops probably not being the wisest footwear.

We eventually found ourselves back on the ground and breathed a sigh of relief before being blown away a second time by the view of the waterfall... It never gets old. We realised the view was much better from down here but appreciated the exercise all the same. We crossed the bridge and decided to head off and find a nice spot to sit and have lunch. We walked on and headed down to the next pool but it was fairly busy and so we carried on and found ourselves at one of the bigger pools where we had met the locals earlier. It was a bit quieter now with a French couple playing with their small children in the water and a few locals flying off the rope swing so we took a seat here. The lagoon was fed by a wide and powerful waterfall and we enjoyed watching it while eating our lunch. After eating Steven headed for the water and I took some photos of him slowly negotiating his way in to the water over slippery rocks and such. He said the water was freezing and looked a bit awkward but seemed to settle in eventually until the doctor fish came a biting... They were the same sort of fish you get at a fish spa and nip at your dead skin. Steven had not experienced this before and was a bit nervous of them at first ...they do get pretty nippy although I think he eventually enjoyed his free pedicure. I decided to join him and waded in to the water finding it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. I sat in the shallows watching the guys on the rope swing and the girls washing their hair with shampoo in the water. It was quite nice to chill after all the walking and everyone seemed friendly and kept saying 'sabaai dii' which means hello.

After a period of time a group of westerners turned up and its started getting a bit rowdy with the cheering and numerous bottles of beerLao so we headed down to some of the more quieter pools where there were less people and equally stunning surroundings. Here I headed in and found the pool to be a lot deeper than the last and so sat on the edge watching the water flowing. While attempting to climb out a young local girl wanted a pic with me which was awkward as I was in my bikini and that's the last thing a girl wants... A photo taken of you in your swimwear... Self conscious much? I obliged all the same and smiled with her before we headed out of the pool and took a slow walk down the hill stopping at each pool en route.

Once we had passed the pools we headed back through the wood where we came back to the bear sanctuary and this time they were more awake and playing in their pen. When we came over one smaller bear came to the fence and stood up in front of us.. He was so cute! Just wanted to give him a cuddle. We watched the bears for a short time before we found ourselves back at the entrance and headed out and back towards the tuk tuk where the girls where waiting. We climbed in a bit sad to be leaving as I wanted to stay another few hours but hey ho, off we went. The journey home seemed more erratic then the one here and we were guessing it was because the driver was hoping on getting another fare in before nightfall (most travellers head up after 1pm). The journey was fine until half way when we had to stop for one for the girls who started hurling her lunch up... Not nice at the best of times but poor Steven was feeling pretty squiffy and didn't need to be witnessing such things lol.

We got home in one piece and by now I was baking hot... Steven was feeling tired so we headed back for a brief rest from the intense heat of the mid day sun.

Later on we decided to head up Mount Phousi to catch the sunset. Mount Phousi, also known as Mount Phou Si or Mount Phu Si is a 100meter hill that sits near to our guesthouse within the old part of Luang Prabang. Its a 355 step climb to the summit passing several Buddhist shrines en route and costs twenty thousand kip each. About three quarters of the way up you can see a supposed imprint of Buddhas foot, here we also saw a monk enjoying the view and over looking the shrine. The whole area has lots of little treasures with Buddhist statues and shrines scattered about. There is also a Wat called 'Wat Tham Phou Si' and this faces the Nam Khan river, it was very serene and beautiful especially given the surroundings.

Once you reach the summit there is another Wat and a stupa called 'Wat Chom Si' this is considered one of the high lights of Luang Prabang. We reached the summit and there was already people waiting for sunset so we took a look around and enjoyed the 360 degree view of the town, which was stunning. We then found a seat to enjoy the serene and peaceful sunset... This didn't really happen though as there was a very noisy Asian tour who were screaming and larking about, this got incredibly annoying after a while. Eventually they shut up and we could enjoy the beautiful scene in front of us. As the sun started to set the place filled up and was soon packed which kind of ruined the atmosphere slightly... I'm sure it would be more magical at sunrise when no one is around. After taking some photos and enjoying the view we headed back down the hill.

At the bottom we walked to a local cafe where I ordered a tiger beer and waited for Steven who was wanting to book buses. He came back a little while later having had no luck, as the guy we had spoke to suddenly decided he no longer sold tickets to the local bus... Just the more expensive mini bus. We decided to head for some dinner and decide if we wanted to spend the extra on the mini bus over the local option. (Local option being forty thousand for a tuk tuk type bus compared to seventy thousand for a air con mini bus).

We headed towards the main bridge in town as Steven had seen a relatively cheap restaurant close by but on arriving the place was closing, so we decided to bite the bullet and head to the pizza place across the bridge. We passed over the huge iron bridge which was pitch black and soon found our selves on the other side of the river where we walked in relative darkness down some quiet streets before finally seeing the pizza place. It was located just behind a business and it was almost like sitting in someone's garden... It was really nice and had a lovely atmosphere with candles burning and music playing. The waitress was very friendly and promptly took our order for a bacon, mushroom and onion pizza, it was a bit more pricey then we tend to spent at fifty thousand kip (about four pounds) but the pizza looked amazing and they were huge.

We declined the beers as we were feeling pretty warm and so sipped on cool iced water while chatting about our day, not long later the owner came over with a beautiful and very hot pizza and it was delicious. It was well worth the money and actually tasted like proper pizza... Mainly due to the fresh ingredients that included herbs and fresh mozzarella and the fact it was cooked in a stone pizza oven. We munched it happily and soon it was gone... Very sad faces. We sat for a while slowly filling up on the rare taste of cheese and welcome carbs before we paid our bill and left. The owner was very friendly and apologised that he didn't get a chance to come over for a chat, which we thought was quite sweet... We informed him that he made the best pizza in south east asia by far and we left full and happy. We then took a stroll home, booking the more expensive bus on route (have to go 2 km to the bus station to book the local) and chilled out... Tomorrow Nong Khiaw.