Day Off

Today was our first day off work since we arrived in Lao and boy did we make the most of it.  I got of work at 730 this morning and after biking home, Anna and I started a day of adventure.  Yesterday we finally found the French Bistro down the street and were able to get a nice western breakfast to start the day.  After breakfast we got a TukTuk and went to the waterfalls.



The waterfall is about 30km from town through the winding foothills of the mountains.  We are pretty sure we are in the foothills of the Himalayas.  We at initially thought of biking to the waterfall but after seeing the roads, I am not sure it would have been safe on the bike, let alone a single gear bike.
At the start of the waterfall there is a bear sanctuary.  They are black bears but they are nothing like American black bears, but instead are cute little bears that look like stalky dogs.  After the bear sactuary, the area opens up to a series of beautiful waterfalls.  We hiked up to the top pool at the waterfalls and the view was amazing!  We swam under the waterfall and enjoyed the cool crisp water.

 We enjoyed our lunch, peanut and butter sandwiches, at the top before hiking down.  On the way down, we adventured into some of the smaller pools.  I think it was the first time since we arrived we were not sweating.  Unfortunately all good things must come to and end so we found our driver and went back to the city.




















While walking back to our guesthouse, we took a slight detour to walk along the Mekong river.  While walking some guy asked if we wanted to go on a boat ride.  His price was higher then we wanted to pay so we started to walk away.  He then offered us a great deal on a sunset boat ride with 4 other people.  We quickly went back, showered, changed and off we went on the sunset boat tour.  It was beautiful.  We had the water below us, the mountains in the background and almost pure peace and quiet.



We then decided to walk through the night market on our way to dinner.  We are so tired after our crazy day but what an adventure.  Tomorrow we are off to learn about dyeing silk and even do our own.