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It was pretty hard to pry myself away from the delicious Oreo shakes and veggies subs within the city of Luang Prabang for long enough to see the sites outside of town but somehow I managed to rouse myself from my foodie-driven laziness for long enough to book a tuk-tuk to nearby waterfalls.

Laura and I met up again with three friends from our tubing adventures in Vang Vieng, a group of Israelis led by the thoroughly lovable Shimi, they also tookk the popular backpacker route northward to Luang Prabang and we all decided to share a tuk-tuk out to the Tat Kuang Si waterfalls and lagoons of turquoise pools.

Visiting the Tat Kuang Si Waterfalls outside of Luang Prabang

The drive to the waterfalls is through the countryside and once you get to the waterfall park it’s just  a five minute walk to reach the first pool of sparkling, turquoise water.

The color of the pools is unreal – the photos look doctors and even standing there we were unsure that the color could have been naturally formed.

Luang Prabang perches right on the Mekong River…and as mighty as the Mekong is…the placid waters shine with an unattractive shade of muddy brown under the high sun.  These waters, on the other hand, were an icy blue a shade you can only find in a child’s crayon box, never out in nature.

We spent a long time at the first lagoon, thinking that this place was paradise on earth and that surely this was what we had come to see.  As we continued up the path though, the river continued for another kilometer or so upwards to the waterfall.

After having sat in a tuk-tuk for forty minutes, the water was hugely  inviting…so we all launched ourselves into the water…only to discover that it was frigid!!  Not one to be daunted by a little cold, I swam out to the small waterfall, got Laura to snap some pictures of me pretending I wasn’t FREEZING, splashed around a bit with the rest of the group, and then sought the warmth of my clothes…because, man, it was so cold my toes were numb for ten minutes after we got out!

Posing for the Picture:

10 Seconds Later…Freezing Cold:

The final waterfall was beautiful…but really it’s the picturesque little lagoons and lush, tropical vegetation that is so captivating.  Shimi was so taken by it all that she noted that the place made her just want to have someone (anyone) propose to her right then and there…it’s that beautiful.

And as if all of that doesn’t make this place sound super-special enough…apparently Sports Illustrated shot a swimsuit special here…so you know it’s gotta be spectacular!

Also, Laura and I vogued for the camera in the beautiful waters and pretended we were in our own photo shoot…the results were a bit less than attractive but all we could have hoped for and more:

Pac Ou Caves from Luang Prabang

And as a quick addition to this post, Laura and I made a visit to the Pak Ou caves up river from Luang Prabang…and, well, although it was cool, I personally think it was fairly skip-able in the long run. (UPDATE:Read my update about fond travel memories the Pac Ou caves two years later) It was a two hour boat ride there (upriver) and one hour back.  Since I did make the journey though, I figured I would share the pictures here on the blog since it is a travel blog after all and the caves were fairly cool once we got there.

The two caves are embedded right into the limestone cliffs – the lower cave is reachable from a staircase that ascends from the riverbank while the second of the caves is higher up…and because the entrance is surrounded by trees, it’s nearly completely dark in the second cave and you have to use flashlights.  The cool part about the caves – they’re filled with roughly 6,000 Buddha images in all shapes and sizes and colors.

In addition to the visiting the caves, the boat ride allowed us to stop in at some of the small little villages that dot along the river…sadly though these small villages are desperate for cash because they are so far from the city and only get the handful of daily tourists from the boats – that situation has made them dependent on the whim of westerners.

This was the first time that I saw the Laos children actually aggressively begging for cash…not food mind you (which is why I didn’t feel too guilty) – the Laos have perfected the soft-sell and it was a bit off-putting and sad to see that this is one of the side-effects of tourism within poverty-stricken counties.

Oh, and I think I am up to about $20 in random spendings on food and handicrafts that I didn’t want at the time…anyone else traveled and been guilted out of some cash?