Today I was back on the tourist wagon and I wish I could say I was having another good start to the day. After getting home very early this morning I had no one to blame but myself. Playing pool with the usual crowd of 'John's' in Lao Lao I some how managed to convince all of them that we had to go to the bowling alley to continue drinking. Lesson of the day that we have learnt? I cannot bowl when drunk...there are more dents in that alley now than before.

After a short recovery I went speeding across the town to the Kuang Si Waterfalls. One of the largest collections in the north of Laos. I had every intention of just getting there and relaxing by the pools and chilling out. The weather however thought better of it and the heavens opened as soon as we arrived. The rain eased off enough for me to take a tour of the bear rescue centre and then walk up to the biggest of the collection.

Now comes the usual wisdom moment (or lack there of). I decided it would be a good idea to climb to the top of the falls. Little did I know that this was almost going to be like an army assault course with hard core rock climbing, slippery to boot as it had been raining. Imagine the scene...lone western woman struggles up the falls with soaking back pack in a pair of flip flops whilst locals are running up there like they belong on the Krypton factor and it's a race to the top! After spending 40 minutes getting to the top, I only had 5 minutes there to admire the natural beauty before being forced to turn back or I would miss my bus. Was it worth it? Yes. Even when I got Leeched and stood there slapping my legs like a little girl in vain to remove the bloodsucker.

However, determination took over as I was storming it down the rock face. The only thing stopping me from freaking out at nearly falling over the side was thinking about Bear Grylls. I was going to be Born Survivor for the day...I was on a mission to make it to the bottom, I even had my own narration in my head Bear Grylls style (well if it's good enough for him...) Making it to the bottom I felt a sense of achievement, I actually thought I was better than Bear Grylls...after all...he never did it in a pair of sparkly flip flops!