Rats, bats, squirrels and frogs

On New Year's Day, we visited the Tat Kuang Si waterfall, 32km from Luang Prabang. It was a very pleasant afternoon. You could even paddle through the water at the top of the waterfall – the current was surprisingly not too strong. In the grounds, there was a ruined old house, straight out of the Blair Witch project, and a bear sanctuary for rescued bears. Unfortunately, Phet the rescued Tiger had passed away in May 2008.




On our journey back, and with the vehicle moving, our driver took the key from the ignition. He then cleared his ear wax out using the key. When he'd finished, he wiped the key and replaced it in the ignition.

We also stopped off at a village where they were still celebrating the New Year. Many of the girls wore very colourful dresses which were almost fluorescent. Day glow pink and green are making a comeback.



We celebrated New Year with Ants and Sandra, who we randomly met whilst having our fish supper in the night market. They are from Dunedin in New Zealand. Dunedin is known as the “Edinburgh in the south” apparently. They recommended we visit the local market in the early morning.

Apart from the usual meat and vegetables, we saw rats, bats, squirrels and frogs, all ready for the pot. One bat was still showing signs of life. The stall holder took the bat and buried it under its dead relatives. Sandra and Ants had also seen some thick, long pieces of snake, but we couldn't find any today. A market not for the faint hearted.