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Travelling in Laos (4) - Kwang Si Waterfall

jai-dee

By jai-dee,
in Regional Sanuk

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jai-dee

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Late last night Frida and Per came to my guest house to tell me that

 

they would not be going to the Pak Ou cave after all. They heard

 

from others that the cave is not that impressive. I must change my

 

plans for today. I decide to go to the Kwang Si waterfall instead.

 

But first I have some breakfast, followed by a fruit shake. Then I

 

go to the ethnic market where tuk-tuks usually wait for passengers.

 

I need to find a few others to go with in order to reduce the cost

 

because the trip to the waterfall takes almost all day. The price

 

is fixed - 100,000 kip. I talk to a couple of falangs that seem to

 

be waiting around the tuk-tuks. It is my lucky day again, they

 

are going to the waterfall and yes, they'll be happy to have me

 

along. They are waiting for another friend who is on the phone.

 

I ask them to wait 20 minutes as I want to move to another guest

 

house. Then I practically run back, grab my stuff, pay the room,

 

and rush to the new guest house. The girl that works there tells me

 

she has a room for me but it is not ready yet, waiting to be cleaned.

 

Never mind, I don't want to miss my trip, I throw my backpack at

 

her, ask her to store it somewhere and rush back to the tuk-tuk place.

 

 

 

To my relief everybody is still there, waiting for me. We board the

 

tuk-tuk and set off. It is a beautiful warm sunny day. The journey

 

to the waterfall takes an hour and a half, the road goes through

 

pleasant countryside, passing villages where children wave and greet us,

 

climbing small hills and descending in the valleys. Plenty of time

 

to meet my travelling companions for the day. The 2 guys are from

 

the Czech republic, the 3 girls are from Belgium. They are all very

 

relaxed and easy-going, they accept me as a peer although I'm much

 

older. The girls are 23 years old, they just finished their studies

 

and are now travelling South-East Asia.

 

 

 

We reach the end of the road, the tuk-tuk driver indicates which

 

way we should go. It's a 5 minute walk to the water, there are

 

makeshift restaurants on both sides of the path, local girls in

 

them watch us go past, no doubt wishing we would stop at their

 

restaurant and order some food. There is not a single customer in

 

the half dozen restaurants.

 

 

 

The waterfall is quite different from any I have seen before. The

 

water cascades over some strange rocks that look like dome-shaped

 

lace. One by one my companions strip into swimsuits and enter the

 

water. I don't want to be left behind, and although the water is too

 

cold for my taste I join them. The massaging effect of the waterfall

 

actually makes it feel less cold. We take a lot of photographs with

 

all the cameras we have.

 

 

 

There are some other pools somewhere, we are not sure where exactly.

 

So we decide to follow the one trail we see. The trail leads

 

uphill and becomes steeper and steeper, eventually it brings us to the top

 

of the waterfall. We don't find any other pools that are suitable for

 

swimming and we descend to where we were before. The entire walk

 

takes almost one hour and then it's time for lunch. My companions

 

brought pate sandwiches with them. I don't have any food so I walk

 

100m back toward the village where the restaurants are. One of the

 

girls there reacts more quickly than all the others and invites me

 

to her place. There is only one other customer in all of the restaurants.

 

I sit down and she make a noodle soup for me. I don't even need to

 

order as this seems to be the standard offering here. She doesn't have

 

a cooker, let alone electricity, and she uses hot water from a thermos

 

to cook instant noodles. By now I know the noodle soup costs 4,000 kip.

 

It's interesting how uniform this price was wherever I went.

 

 

 

I use the opportunity to talk to talk to the girl. She is very nice

 

and friendly and smiles a lot. Her English is very elementary, we

 

go through the usual routine of name, age, family status. She is

 

asking me questions in Lao which I don't understand. For the first

 

time I realise that English will not be sufficient to communicate

 

with Lao people, but learning even a few Lao words seems to be

 

beyond my abilities right now. Before I return back to the water I

 

buy a pommelo from her. I love pommelos, and in Laos they are

 

amazingly cheap, I pay just 500 kip. It's the first time I see a 500 kip

 

note, I didn't know they are still in circulation.

 

 

 

Back in the park by the water my friends are enjoying the lazy

 

afternoon. One is reading a book, one is writing a diary, one

 

is having a nap, the two guys are struggling with a green coconut.

 

I know all about coconuts, I have a coconut tree at home, and I show

 

them how to open the nut and eat the soft young flesh inside. Then

 

I peel my pommelo and share it with others.

 

 

 

After some time my friends decide it's time to go in the water

 

again. For a short time I join them, we swim, jump, play with

 

a ball. In the company of these young people I feel very young

 

myself.

 

 

 

Around 4 o'clock we head back to our tuk-tuk and then back to

 

Luang Phabang. Everybody is mostly quiet, mildly tired, content with

 

watching the pleasant scenery in the afternoon sun. It is just the

 

time when the school ends. In every village we pass through we see

 

large groups of children walking or riding bicycles home. They seem

 

to be so happy to see us, they wave and greet us, we wave back and

 

feel happy ourselves.

 

 

 

I sit opposite Anne. Of the 3 girls I like her the most, she speaks

 

English fluently and with ease and often translates for the other two.

 

She is smiling almost most the time, looking into the distance as

 

if she is dreaming of something nice. Her smile is a confident and

 

relaxed one. She seems to smile with her eyes too, not just with

 

the mouth. I can't take my eyes off her face. She is a kind of a

 

dreamer, she is not keen on getting a job straight away once she gets

 

back home. There are so many things she would like to learn, she

 

says, but is not quite sure where to start.

 

 

 

When we return to town the girls announce they intend to celebrate a

 

Belgian student holiday by downing a few beers. I gladly accept

 

their invitation and we decide to meet at the same corner later.

 

 

 

At 8 o'clock the six of us meet again and head down the street that

 

runs along the Mekong river. We select a restaurant with the seating

 

on the river side, the kitchen is in the building on the other side

 

of the street. It must be a good one because only one table is vacant,

 

whereas in all the other restaurants we passed we saw at most one

 

table occupied.

 

 

 

We all order Lao dishes. The girls are more experienced with Lao food

 

than I am and insist that I try a laap dish with sticky rice.

 

Laap is a traditional Lao specialty. The finely chopped meat, spices and

 

broth are mixed with uncooked rice grains that have been dry fried and

 

crushed. I have laap fish and I like it. Everybody is satisfied with

 

their choice except Anne. Her curry soup is rather too hot, she is still

 

eating long after the rest of us finished our meals. She puts on a brave

 

face, constantly cracking jokes about her soup.

 

 

 

Then there is beer. Normally I'm not a beer drinker, in fact it's

 

been at least 2 years since I last had one. But for the sake of

 

company I go along and order one. And then another and another. Beer

 

Lao is the one beer that is available in Laos and it is surprisingly

 

good and tasty. It leaves no after-effect the next morning.

 

 

 

We talk about this and that and enjoy the evening. I suggest

 

each of us tell our life story. This brings out some surprising revelations.

 

They find out that I'm not just another run-of-the-mill Australian traveller,

 

I had a life before Australia. And the Belgian girls, they turn out not to

 

be Belgian at all. Anne is Swedish but has been living in Belgium all her

 

life. Julie is half Greek and Sotingo is half Cambodian. Her father fled

 

Cambodia, was sentenced to death in absence by a previous government and

 

has absolutely no desire or intention to return to his home country. Sotingo,

 

on the other hand, is dying to visit Cambodia. Although she promised her father

 

she wouldn't go there she is planning to go anyway, and is not going to

 

tell him. The Czech guys are rather shy, one of them speaks no English

 

whatsoever and we learn very little about their background.

 

 

 

Eventually we notice that it is closing time. We pay our bills which

 

amount to just over 2 USD per person. The waitress that serves us

 

seems to be extra nice and friendly with us, she keeps thanking us

 

and hopes to see us again. We stop at the girls' guest house for

 

another round of Beer Lao, exchange our email addresses and promise

 

to meet again someday, someplace.

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