Natural colors, made from plants and roots, November 2019

Another day, another tour. Oudune picked us up at 9:00 for a drive in the country. Where the cruise yesterday took us north, today we drove south to the Kuang Si National Park. But not without making a stop where you can buy stuff (of course).

Weavers, and a tourist taking a class, November 2019

Our stop was at the Ock Pop Tock Weaving Centre, where we got to watch six or so woman weaving on hand looms, making intricate patterns. A guide showed us around, and we saw the different plants that make up the all-natural colors that they use in their yarn.

We continued on to the Kuang Si Waterfall, located in a national park. The park also houses a bear sanctuary, where bears are housed after somehow being “rescued”. I have no idea what that means, and we only saw one bear sleeping.

The waterfalls, however, were quite cool (1).

Cold cold water(falls), November 2019

You walk uphill along a path, passing waterfalls of increasing size. There are pools below each set of falls where bathing is allowed, and hardy souls were going in. There were also areas with lots of “No swimming – Danger!” signs, where stupid souls were going in.

Quiet little table for two, November 2019

The over-the-top piece of this day was when we saw that they had set up a lunch table for the two of us – just Sally & me – by a quiet little pond, away from all the other tourists. We had our staff of four – guide, driver, waiter and busboy/cook – taking care of us. Pure decadence.

In the afternoon, hung around the room house for a while, and then we took an afternoon walk through town. Dinner was at the Amantaka again. Food here in Laos is extremely reasonably priced – the hotel meal was under $50. Of course, it’s still cheaper outside the hotel: my lunch in a real restaurant with a drink was about $12, and street food is far cheaper.

(1) Actually, very cool. The water was freezing.