Waterfalls

June 19

Today was really a fun day. We were ready to head out by 8am to the Kuangsi Waterfall Park. It was about 25km outside of Luang Prabang and it took us basically an hour to get there.

Before we left, I told Matt that I couldn't do the elephant riding anymore. He asked if I was feeling sick and I said no, I just don't agree with it morally and he seemed really upset. He said he had already booked it and that he may lose out since he had already paid. I was confused as to why since he had specifically asked if it was possible to get a refund for Bart if he wasn't feeling well and they had said yes. I told Matt that I would happily pay the money but I still wasn't going to do it. He tried to convince me otherwise and I continued saying no. He said he would try to get my money back. His reaction made me feel worse and I cried again. In front of people from the group. Cara was really comforting and Courtney said she really respected my decision. I had told Melissa in the morning and she was really nice about it and said she understood and compared it to a vegetarian trying to tell a meat water why they don't eat meat. In the end, a few hours later, Matt ended up being able to get my money back for me. I was really glad that even though Matt wasn't the most understanding that the group was really great about my decision.

The area we drove through was beautiful countryside and fields. We even saw a military training base I think. A ton of soldiers were gathered in one area. I took a picture but it was too blurry to see anything. We rode in Tsung Taos (no idea if this is the way it is spelled- we took the same thing to and from hiking in Vang Vieng) which is a vehicle with 2 long benches in a covered part in the back.

We arrived at the Waterfall Park and had to pay a 20,000 kip entry fee ($2.25). We then walked up a twisting path that was very green and lined with trees and plants. Matt led us to this beautiful waterfall. It was huge and the water was a beautiful blue color. Like a cyan. We spent a while taking photos and then continued through the park. As we walked we continued passing smaller waterfalls. There were a lot of bees but we also saw this crazy green bug. It kind of looked like a leaf bug but it was maybe 7 inches long and was less of a triangular shape. Both wings parted so it could fly. I had never seen anything like it before.

Finally we came to another clearing and there was a large swimming area with a small waterfall and a rope swing. One of our divers had been saying how he can do a back flip off the waterfall and he showed us. He looked like a seasoned diver. It was really cool.

Ed busted his foot open on a sharp rock. He called me over to see if I had any medical supplies with me and I had literally just taken them out of my bag that morning. He ended up using my purell hand sanitizer to clean the cut. I can't imagine how much that had to have stung. He wasn't going to jump in the water but he really wanted to and he climbed up the tree for a photo so he ended up going in anyway. He swam out with his foot in the air haha. It was pretty funny to watch. I think he was glad he got to do the rope swing.

For the rope swing, you had to go across some small pools of water and climb up the roots of a tree to reach the large branch. Then, you walked out on the large branch and could get the rope and swing into the water. When I did it, our driver was there to help us get the rope so it was just handed to me. Otherwise, there was a stick with a hook on it hanging on the tree branch and you had to use that to get the rope.

I was a little scared to use the rope swing haha. No idea why. It was pretty high up, but by no means was it higher than paragliding or abseiling. A lot of the girls were pretty scared though so I wasn't alone. It was really fun once you actually jumped off and swung though. He counted to 3 the first time and I didn't go but I went the second time. I don't think I swung out very far. The boys could hold on for way longer than the girls could. The water was freezing. It was so nice. Like cold water and not warm or hot water. It was so refreshing. There were fish in the water that would bite your feet. It was really an unpleasant feeling and it startled me every time haha.

I knew there was no way I was going to try jumping off the smaller waterfall. The way to get there looked pretty slippery because you had to climb over many wet rocks. Also, once you got to the ledge you had to basically climb down it a bit and step on the edge of a rock and them jump from there. Zara tried to do it and had to turn around and come back.

After we had our fun in the falls, we continued walking along the path. This led us to the Bear Rescue Center. Matt had actually worked to help build some of the areas for the bears. It is the Tat Kuang Si rescue center. All of the bears here have been donated by owners or rescued from the illegal wildlife trade by the Lao Authorities. It was started by a lady from Perth, Australia when she heard about the situation of the asian bears (poaching, bile farming, illegal pet trade, etc.). Both Asiatic Black Bears and Sun Bears are protected under the Lao law. Bear bile is popular across Asia as a medicine for illnesses from headaches to heart and liver disease. Some bears are held in small cages and endure a life of suffering while bile is extracted from their gall bladders. It is potentially harmful to humans and the alternative medicines are much cheaper. The bears have a large area to play and they seem quite happy. Their food is hid around their living areas so they don't lose their ability to forage.

After this, we jumped back in the Tsung Taos and were dropped off at Jomas for lunch. I got another banana chocolate shake and a bagel sandwich with pastrami. Jomas is where the rich people eat apparently. We got our lunch to go so we could head back to the hotel and have a small break before the elephant riding and bathing.

I asked if it was possible for me to go and take photos for people but not to ride or bathe and Matt said that would be fine. Then I figured that way I could go and I wouldn't mis out on any of the group things but I still didn't have to ride them.

We then all piled into the van. All 13 of us! And headed to the elephant camp. Everyone kept making sure I was okay. It was really sweet of them. When we got there we walked down a woody path and it led out to a bunch of elephants. It was really cool to see how excited everyone was. They were pumped before we even saw the elephants but when we saw them their faces just lit up.

The first thing I noticed was all the chains. And that made me a little sad. But I also noticed none of the elephants were swaying back and forth which means they are not stressed out. They all had a lot of food in front of them as well. The platform chairs were already hooked onto the elephants. The first thing I did was go up to the man and give him the receipt for us (Matt had entrusted it to me) and he wanted to know who wasn't doing it and why. Matt had already called him. I kept it short and simple and he tried to convince me otherwise and I didn't budge. The next thing I did was ask if we could touch the elephants. When he said yes I was so happy.

Again, if I haven't already made it clear enough, I think elephants are the coolest creatures ever. I didn't know anything about them and now I am in love with them. They're so strong and so large but they can be so loving and gentle. Plus I feel like any animal that can carry around that much weight has got to get props.

I immediately approached the elephants and started stroking their trunks. They're so cute! And I may just be wanting to feel the connection and making it up in my head but I feel like when I look the elephant in the eye and the elephant looks back that its just like instant understanding or something. I just want to hug them. Ha. And give them all to Lek so they don't have to be chained up.

Most of my group members were starting to take photos with the elephants at this point but not too many of them touched them or felt comfortable getting too close from what I noticed. And my job as official photographer had begun.

All of a sudden everyone was shuffled onto a platform and loaded onto the elephants. I didn't do the elephant safari in Nepal but from what I understood it seemed like that was a platform of wood and 4 people sat on it, one on each corner. And this one was an actual bench with 2 people sitting on it and the mahout on the neck. It still looked like it was digging into the elephants skin though so I didn't live it. And when Zara and Laura came back they both said they could tell their elephant wasn't into the walk and did not want to be doing it.

After I watched everyone ride away on their elephants, things got awkward. But, being me, I just pretended it wasn't awkward. Ha... Successfully or not I don't know.

I wasn't sure where to sit so I sat down at a picnic table. There was a chess board in it and little stones and cigarette butts for checker pieces. I just sat there and started typing my blog. And the 2 or 3 people who weren't on the elephant ride were talking and laughing and kept telling me that I could go to the restaurant if I was hungry or wanted a drink... Which I wasn't. And I had both my bagel and water. Which I pulled out and started eating.

They were taking bamboo and peeling off the outside so the raw shoot was what was left. And then they were eating it. They kept peeling it and eating it. They asked if I wanted some and I decided why the heck not so I said sure! He peeled a big one for me and handed it to me. The part at the end had not been peeled and made for a good gripping place. I bit into it and they were all watching me. It was way juicier than I had anticipated and I started coughing as some juice went down the wrong pipe. They laughed and thought it was because it was too sweet. To be fair, it does taste like really sugary water. When I was chomping on it, right before I was about to swallow, one of the guys said quickly to not eat it, just suck the juice out and spit it out. Well thanks for the warning on that one sir! I think I had maybe already swallowed a bit.

Eating this bamboo took for freaking ever. First of all, there are joining parts between the bamboo smaller parts and those areas are really tough! It's hard to bit through it! It took me a while to gnaw my way through that one. I'm also not sure how good the raw bamboo is for my teeth... They felt pretty clean toward the end of it though! Very smooth. It's also super juicy and I was dribbling juice out of every crack of my mouth. The bamboo is pretty thick so you can't really get your mouth around it all and bite down at the same time without losing some juice. In the time I ate one I think they ate 4 or 5. It's not a very graceful plant to mange. Between the leaky juice, the gnawing, and the spitting out the chomped up bamboo bits, well, you can imagine ha. I was very sticky to say the least.

When I was sitting here chomping down my raw bamboo I got to watch them play checkers. Clearly one guy always wins and it was a pretty intense game of him dominating the board. I thought it was hilarious they used cigarette butts lol. One of the guys went to go get water for everyone and took the motorbike. When he came back, he basically played chicken with the elephant (who was eating food and minding its own business). The elephant dropped back and the guy laughed as he swerved the motorbike away from the elephant. Too bad the elephant didn't slap him with his trunk. Rude! That made me mad.

The guy also told me that this is a new place and they use to be on the other side of the river. I asked if they moved because this side was better for the elephants and he said no that the other side was actually better but it was too hard to get tourists across the river so they moved over here. Well sir, if we were keeping a strike list you and your mahouts would pretty much be on strike 3.

When everyone got back they all got on their own elephant (bare back) and rode the elephant down to the river. And by down to the river I mean into the river. And depending on the elephant, it may have been under the river, ha!

Zara and Laura chose to skip the bathing because they already felt bad about the elephant ride. Zara and I followed everyone on the elephants down a pretty steep hill. And when I say steep I mean like you're pretty much slanted over backward or forward going up or down. It was also muddy. So again, that was fun! Haha. Zara and I were impressed the elephants could get up and down as well.

It was a pretty ridiculous sight, staring at the asses of 10 elephants getting down this hill. Pretty silly!

Robyn was the first one, and she was riding Baby Boy I think. He just went right for it. It wasn't really like the bathing in Nepal. You never were meant to fall off the elephant. Although, Cara and Sarah got in some pushing fights with their mahouts and ended up off the elephant and in the water at least a few times. Most people stayed on the elephants neck as the elephant submerged itself under water. The mahout said the elephant may stay under water for up to 5 minutes! Their lungs must be huge. Robyn literally looked like she was riding a bull though. Baby Boy kept going up and down... Well in and out of the water. She was laughing and screaming. It was pretty funny. Zara and I stayed back and took photos. Everyone really seemed to be enjoying themselves. The water looked pretty nasty though... I was glad I didn't have to swim in it.

The second we saw some of the elephants coming toward shore we both booked it back up the hill. Definitely did not want to be in the middle of a wet stampede of elephants. Not that they were stampeding but I don't really know what else to call it.

Not too much happened after that aside from heading back to the hotel. I think I would have preferred to not go at all Because I feel like I supported it by going and taking photos... At least I didn't give them my money. The only reason I went was because if that did end up being the best part of everyone's trip I didn't want to miss out on a group activity. We all do everything together all the time anyway.

When I got back we decided to meet up again at 5:30pm to head to the night market and then Jomas for dinner/food for lunch on the boat the next day. I had about an hour and a half break in between. So, naturally, I started googling eating raw bamboo. Terrible idea. Lets just say after that quick session I was pretty positive I was going to die of cyanide poisoning. Luckily, I'm still alive and that didn't happen. But, for future reference, you are not supposed to eat raw bamboo shoots because they contain large amounts of cyanite. I did find a website that was a plant survival website that did say you can suck the juice out of the raw bamboo shoots. So good! Way to be smart self. I just figured since they were all eating it it would be fine... And it was. But if they wouldn't have told me not to swallow it I could be dead now. So, another I might die now situation! Gotta love that.

Between the waterfall and the elephant camp, Melissa (my roommate) clogged the toilet in our room. She also just left it. I went in there and flushed the toilet (she always forgets to flush) and it started overflowing. I came out and told her the toilet was clogged and she continued eating her sandwich on the bed. Didn't look up, didn't say anything. So I went downstairs and told the staff my roommate had clogged the toilet. They sent someone up and the person was so angry. She was screaming about how there was too much toilet paper and at that point I just left. I didn't want to deal with something that wasn't my mess to deal with. I was so annoyed. At this point I was already annoyed with her for many other reasons and this just topped it off. First off, she refused to throw the toilet paper in the bin. Even after clogging the toilet and being screamed at and told to not flush it, she continued to flush the tp. Knowing this is quit easy when there is no tp left in the bin. She also would use a full roll of toilet paper within 2 times of going to the bathroom. I understand having travelers diarrhea and all but seriously now... Take care of your own shit (pun intended) and be considerate of other people. I think I've already written about it but I can't even tell you how many times I went to the bathroom and only realized there was no tp at the end of my pee.

I went back to the market with Cara, Ed, Bart, Saskia, Kat, and Sarah. We just walked around. I took more photos and bought a few little things. We didn't spend to much time there. We then went to Jomas and got lunch for the next day (granola... It looked amazing, and it was. Like actual clusters of granola with other stuff. It was great.) and I got another salmon bagel sandwich for dinner. I still have a really hard time here figuring out f I'm hungry or not. I rarely feel hungry. Even if I haven't eaten all day. Blahhh.

That's pretty much all the events for this day. If anything little or funny happened its been too long and I can't remember it. Fail on catching up on the blog. :o