The rain finally stopped on Saturday 2nd February (February already!!) and we had a 45 minute tuk tuk ride to Kuang Sii Waterfalls, which are about 28km south of Luang Prabang. If we had missed this part of the tour, I would not have been that disappointed, as I have seen a lot of waterfalls before. A few people went for a dip in one of the pools (I didn't, as it was a bit chilly). (See photos).
In the grounds you can also see Phet, a female Indo-Chinese tiger born in August 2000 and some Asian black bears. Phet was a victrim of the illegal trading of wildlife for exotic meats and medical extracts and was found with two other cubs 50km outside Luang Prabang. The cubs were bought and re-sold four times before the sixth person in the chain was intercepted by police, on his way to see the cubs to a Chinese trader at the Lao\Chinese border. A fine of US$1,600 was imposed on the poacher and paid to the Luang Prabang Provincial Government. Poor Phet was in an appalling state and her mother had been killed by the poachers. Phet will never be released into her natural habitat, as she has no hunting instinct or skills to care for herself in the wild (see photo).
Phet is cared for by the Care for the Wild International, a UK based non-government organisation specialising in the protection and conservation of wildlife around the world. The bears were confiscated from poachers in 2003 who were on the way to transport them to Vientiane to sell on the black market. They are supported by the Free the Bears Fund, an Australian charity and the Provincial Community for the Rescue of Confiscated Wild Animals of Luang Prabang. Asiatic bears are poached for their body parts, especially the bile found in their gall bladders which is said to have amazing medicinal qualities (most notably by the Chinese) It is said that the bile from their gall bladders is worth more than gold. (See photo of bears).
After the waterfalls we headed back to the city and Karen and I had a 3 and a half hour session at the spa. I am in pampering paradise here. We had a one hour body scrub, which involved practically every part of your body being scrubbed with exfoliating salts (my skin felt as smooth as a baby's bum afterwards!) a one hour Lao massage (which is a lot more relaxing than Thai massage and the masseur applies medium pressure on your pressure points) and a manicure and pedicure. That was all for the bargain price of US$31!
Laos certainly is cheap. You can have a main meal for less than a quid and the local handicrafts in the various day and night markets are well made and very reasonable. We had dinner in a traditional Lao barbecue and hotpot restaurant. They have earthenware barbecues in the tables and you cook your own meat, seafood, vegetables and noodles. After dinner we met our guide Wung in the local nightclub where we saw the locals dancing the night away. There was a band which allowed members of the audience to come up to the stage and sing very out of tune. There is no crazed drunken dancing around the dance floor like at home, but the Lao people dance to a lot of the songs like at a line dancing class.
I was sitting in a chair by the dance floor happily observing the action when all of a sudden an old white man who was as pis*ed as a fart suddenly stood on my foot. I screamed ow and as he wasn't moving off my foot, I gave him a violent push, whereupon he fell backwards onto a table, spilling about 5 bottles of wine and sending glasses crashing to the floor (including a Birkenstock sandle which went flying somewhere into the darkness). Everyone then turned around - the guy was so drunk that he did not know what hit him but the bouncers then told him to leave for being drunk and disorderly! I was suprised at how hard I pushed him (not intentionally so that he would fall over, of course) but I now have a lovely bruise on my foot and I was lucky he didn't break any bones!
Phet is cared for by the Care for the Wild International, a UK based non-government organisation specialising in the protection and conservation of wildlife around the world. The bears were confiscated from poachers in 2003 who were on the way to transport them to Vientiane to sell on the black market. They are supported by the Free the Bears Fund, an Australian charity and the Provincial Community for the Rescue of Confiscated Wild Animals of Luang Prabang. Asiatic bears are poached for their body parts, especially the bile found in their gall bladders which is said to have amazing medicinal qualities (most notably by the Chinese) It is said that the bile from their gall bladders is worth more than gold. (See photo of bears).
After the waterfalls we headed back to the city and Karen and I had a 3 and a half hour session at the spa. I am in pampering paradise here. We had a one hour body scrub, which involved practically every part of your body being scrubbed with exfoliating salts (my skin felt as smooth as a baby's bum afterwards!) a one hour Lao massage (which is a lot more relaxing than Thai massage and the masseur applies medium pressure on your pressure points) and a manicure and pedicure. That was all for the bargain price of US$31!
Laos certainly is cheap. You can have a main meal for less than a quid and the local handicrafts in the various day and night markets are well made and very reasonable. We had dinner in a traditional Lao barbecue and hotpot restaurant. They have earthenware barbecues in the tables and you cook your own meat, seafood, vegetables and noodles. After dinner we met our guide Wung in the local nightclub where we saw the locals dancing the night away. There was a band which allowed members of the audience to come up to the stage and sing very out of tune. There is no crazed drunken dancing around the dance floor like at home, but the Lao people dance to a lot of the songs like at a line dancing class.
I was sitting in a chair by the dance floor happily observing the action when all of a sudden an old white man who was as pis*ed as a fart suddenly stood on my foot. I screamed ow and as he wasn't moving off my foot, I gave him a violent push, whereupon he fell backwards onto a table, spilling about 5 bottles of wine and sending glasses crashing to the floor (including a Birkenstock sandle which went flying somewhere into the darkness). Everyone then turned around - the guy was so drunk that he did not know what hit him but the bouncers then told him to leave for being drunk and disorderly! I was suprised at how hard I pushed him (not intentionally so that he would fall over, of course) but I now have a lovely bruise on my foot and I was lucky he didn't break any bones!
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