Jan 23 My last day in Laos

Today was quite an adventure day. I wanted to see the Tad Khuang Si waterfalls, that are about 25 km out of the city. I joined a tour, and I was lucky to get a nice minivan, rather than one of the local buses, which can be quite uncomfortable. The road is something else. I think the straightest section was no more than 100 m, and also hilly. It took almost an hour to get there. It was worth it, one of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen, quite high, and lots of cascades, all in a green jungle setting.

You can hike to the top. I went up on the right side of the falls, but missed the "only for mountain goats" sign. It was brutal, very steep, and somewhat slippery. All the way up I was wondering what kind of emergency service they had, in case I broke something on the way back down. There is no way I could have made it without my hiking stick. Even then I was hanging on to trees, and I used my knees a few times. It took me 20 minutes of hard labour. At the top you had to take your shoes off and wade through part of the river. When I got to the other side I discovered there was another way up, much easier, there were actually stairs part of the way.

The area around the lower falls is gorgeous, lots of cascades and pools. You can, and I did, take a swim. Very refreshing.

They also have lovely picnic grounds in the lower part.

A beautiful experience.

In the evening I went to see a show at the Royal Theatre. Part was some Laotian folk dancing, and part was a scene from  Laotian folktale. When I bought my ticket this morning I noticed that only 4 other tickets had been sold. Not an encouraging sign. It turned out ok, thanks to a bus full of German tourist.

The show started with a ten minute musical number that

was nine and a half minutes too long. All the dancing was quite unique. Everything was in slow motion. They didn't move any faster than I did climbing the waterfall this afternoon. A lot more graceful, but no faster. After the folklore act, all 30 actors left the stage, one at a time, stepping very slowly. It felt that the exit took an hour.

You could tell when the dancers were excited, because they moved the hands faster, while they slowly swayed.

Great costumes though.

It was a cultural experience I would not recommend.

Part of the falls. The lighting was bad, I was shooting right into the son.

Lovely swimming spot

The height of excitement. I found it hard to control myself

Nice costumes