Day 6 Sunday 21 December 2014
Good morning, a much later call today and the hotel, having been very quiet yesterday was much busier this morning with a wider selection at breakfast.
We head into LP itself first to take the flower arrangement to the Watermelon stupa and with guidance from our guide I seem to manage to get it is almost dead centre under the watemelon!
There is also a replica of the gold buddha statue here, the original having moved to the capital. There is a replica of the emerald buddha which originally came from India at the same time as the gold buddha, although the originals are now in separate countries.
Our main excursion today is into the countryside, first to visit a Hmong (pronounced Mong) village where they have commenced the festival so the children in particular are wearing their “national” dress which for the young girls seems to require a hat which looks very much like a lampshade!
As usual pictures are on Flickr https://flic.kr/s/aHsk71VEZq
We progress onto the National Park at the Kuangsi waterfall where there is a small reserve for a small number of remaining black bears. From there we steadily walk up the hill past the lower waterfalls and a number of very clear pools where it is possible to swim. We choose not to swim – it looks cold and I do not feel like spending the rest of the day feeling slightly damp and cold – it is a warmer day – at least for us – the locals however are still wrapped up with woolies and coats.
Eventually we reach the main fall which looks wonderful, although I am not sure the photos do it justice!
Our guide and driver have transported a lunch for us and serve us with a picnic – including hot food at a table adjacent to the falls. Does food always taste better in the open air and even better still in the open air adjacent to some attractive scenery?
Having had a busy couple of days we opt for an early finish and return to the hotel so this blog gets started and photos get uploaded. Some extra sleep is not a bad idea either! This is supposed to be a holiday after all.
Our day was rounded off by a trip back into town. First to wander through the night market. Another market, this time along the main street which is completely closed to normal traffic, although motorbikes seem to manage to thread their way through. Some more purchases before a local beer in a street side restaurant. Then we head to a “French” restaurant – the “Elephant” which produced some good food – but the cost was an awful lot higher than the previous evening. Another motorised tuc tuc – but this time we are wearing our coats and so do no feel the cold so badly.