I stayed in SpicyLaos in Luang Prabang - a really cool hostel with an excellent chill out/communal area. So on my first morning in Laos I spent some time there and met up with Ben again. He had already made plans to meet our other besties (Alana and Anastasia) for breakfast so we headed off to meet them. By the time we finished breakfast we had amassed a crew of 12 to go and see the beautiful Kuang Si waterfall on the outskirts of Luang Prabang! We hopped in a couple of tuktuks and headed out there! En route our tuktuk broke down and we were stranded, after a little while we were rescued by another tuktuk and we continued on the journey! The first stop at the waterfall is the brown bear enclosure - while they are rescued bears, it looked a little too much like a zoo/prison for my liking! We then carried on to the waterfall. It truly is a magnificent waterfall mainly because of the beautiful blue colour of the water. At the first pool we came to we had a swim, there was a rope swing and we spent a long time watching a girl struggle to get hold of the rope which was like a car crash moment - I wanted to look away but couldn't! There was also a small waterfall you could jump off so I did!

We then headed further up the waterfall, in Tonga, back in August I had been given a map on a napkin (or mapkin if you will) which led to a secret swimming pool or "your own private paradise" as the map claimed. So armed with the mapkin we headed up the waterfall. We got to the top of the wooden steps (I actually raced Alana and beat her - in yo face) where the map told us to take a path to the right. The path looked a little dangerous but that was ok because the mapkin said it would but to carry on regardless! Along the path some doubts crept into peoples mind that maybe the mapkin was wrong, or we'd missed something - someone even referred to it as a crapkin! However, just as half the people turned back we reached the waterfall - and we were wrong! It wasn't an amazing swimming pool - but it was an amazing place nonetheless! We sat in some pools, got soaked by the spray of the waterfall and enjoyed amazing views! We could see the amazing swimming place below (maybe when the map said take the road at the last step - it meant first, or last coming down?!)

Anyway, happy with our little discovery we headed up to the top of the waterfall across the top and down the other side. When we got to the bottom of the path we were on we realised we had missed the pool again so we went back up and finally got there! It wasn't quite so secret - although a lot quieter than the other areas of the waterfall and it was AMAZING!!! The water was a beautiful colour and you could swim straight under the waterfall into a small cave! Heaven!

We returned to the town and made plans to meet for dinner and drinks later. We ate at the night market which was really good - except for the 2 spring roll limit! And then we headed to a really nice bar called Utopia, had a few drinks and then when curfew hit (there is a curfew in Laos) we did what everyone does and headed to the bowling alley. At the bowling alley I discovered there is an optimal level of drunkenness where I'm a good bowler, I got a strike or spare with my first 4 bowls! Then things went downhill but luckily I'd started out strong enough to win the game!

The following day I decided to go see some temples, so along with Sophie and Max and John who we'd met the previous day we headed out for a cultural experience. We decided to visit a temple in a cave which was across the river so we needed to get a boat! We walked to the river where we met uncle Han who offered to take us across the river for a small fee! On the other side we walked for a bit and came to the cave. It was filled with broken Buddha idols, it was also very big, very dark and very, very clammy! It was a cool adventure though and I really liked it! We returned across the river and had lunch and just chilled for the afternoon! We went for drinks to meet Alana and Anastasia as we were going our separate ways the following day L. After dinner we returned to the hostel and splashed out and bought a bottle of red wine (South African). It was so nice to sit and enjoy a glass of red wine! We decided we'd get up really early to watch the monks collect their alms!

We got up before 6 the following morning and went to see the monks; they walk around the town barefoot and collect bits of food from the local people in large pots. It was cool to see especially when we first saw them but later we saw them again but this time they were surrounded by tourists pointing massive cameras in their faces, which didn't feel so nice! After some breakfast we decided to check out some of the pagodas on the hill in the city. Luang Prabang has a LOT of pagodas and big Buddha statues! That afternoon Sophie and I hopped on the most uncomfortable minivan (mainly because of the incredibly inconsiderate heifers in the seats in front of us).