Adventures in South East Asia

36 ~ More waterfalls

Luang Prabang, Laos

In the morning, Alberto, the Polish couple, Maria the Quebecois woman, Philippe the Frenchman and I found a tuktuk driver that would take us up the renowned waterfalls for cheap. I wasn't sure I wanted to go do something so touristic, but their idea was better than the none that I had. Some days could just be fun tour days.

The Polish couple insisted on stopping for another bottle of whiskey at that morning hour. We had helped them finished their other one last night and they argued it was so cheap it was a crime not to drink it. We turned down the wife's offer for shots right after breakfast, but told her we would have some later.

As we drove, I found out while I was sleeping, Alberto had been unable to do the same and had ventured out into the hall where Maria had been. They had chatted away. I couldn't help but wonder if our strange conversation factored into that, but I was likely putting too much weight on it.

Everyone seemed to have their hand in the tourism game because our tuktuk driver also had to pay a fee to get us past a certain point and check in the number of tourists.

At the entrance to the waterfall, many shops selling everything from food to clothes to souvenirs filled the area. Once inside, we went by a black bear exhibit that had everyone's attention but mine. Since I had grown up camping across Canada every other summer, black bears were something we hoped wouldn't show up at our site, but we could spot lurking around the sealed dumpsters. I realized I was probably one of the few who had grown up in an environment where black bears were the norm and just silently observed all the fuss and awe.

We continued up the narrow path and arrived shortly after. The waterfalls had several tiers of beautiful turquoise waters. The water supply was abundant despite the recent lack of rain. The lowest tier was meant mainly for swimming and was generally the most crowded. The next was the water playground with a rope to swing off into the pool.

Alberto wanted to jump off the rope. Maria encouraged me to come with her and I checked out the waters just to make sure they were deep enough. Last time I had played around at a waterfall much like this one, I had sprained my ankle and I didn't want a repeat. My body shared my emotions, shaking as I walked up to the platform on the tree and was passed the knotted rope. I gripped it tight and crouched to get closer to the water. In the end, I made it off once but wasn't willing to do it again.

We made it up to the very top of the waterfall complex, which had a few bridges to approach the highest falls and take pictures. Alberto was rather sad he hadn't brought his nicer camera with him. I wasn't. Humidity was a lens' worst nightmare.

On our way down, we stopped so we could take advantage of an empty pool area. Maria asked if I would come with her and shoot some sexy pictures for her friend back home. We wandered off to another pool away from our group. She left her top up on the rocks and we wandered closer to the water. Most of her pictures had her looking back at the camera, sometimes around her torso and other times at her side.

A man at the top kept watching and she hollered for him to turn around. He pulled out his phone and chastised her saying she was giving him permission when she took off her bikini top and it was a public place. A few Laotian men joined soon after and we stopped.

She took a few pictures for me afterward, but I wasn't willing to pose without a top -- too much to lose career-wise -- plus I didn't have a little friend I wanted to send them off to. I waivered back and forth with my hope that he'd have a girlfriend when I came home so I could be spared the awkward 'we're not going to work out, even though I'm not travelling anymore' talk.

My look sexy poses also generally induced laughter since I was just so out of the loop with the sort of thing. I could smile and look cute, but sexy escaped me as an on the spot expression.

When she found out I also spoke French, she laugh and jokingly called me a "'tit salope", a French insult, since I had heard her remark about Alberto the previous night. I told her she should go for it. If he liked me, she was more than a step up. She had abs I would kill for, a fearless personality and the confidence to go with it. It kind of confused me when I tried to give them time together that he didn't act on anything.

On the ride home, the Polish woman pulled out the bottle of whiskey. Since it was five o'clock somewhere, namely here in the tuktuk, we passed it around for bottle shots. Life only got better when Philippe discovered a hammock and pulled it down from the roof. We took turns lying in the hammock with the whiskey and posing for ridiculous pictures. Great safety standards enforced there. At least the driver didn't take to swerving like the one had the previous day.

Later that night, we went out to a bar called Utopia, which was essentially where 50% of the tourists our age congregated based on how packed it was. Our group had shrunk to just Maria, Philippe, Alberto and I. We walked around the outdoor area, with riverfront tables, -- all full -- bomb decor to callback to the country's landmine problem and plenty of bean bag chairs and low tables until we finally found a spot near the bar.

When it was just Alberto and I, he turned to me. "Sorry about last night. I've never asked anything like that before when I travelled, but thought we had the room and you were pretty chill. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"It's fine. It makes sense to ask. Why not take advantage of the situation? You respected my answer so that worked for me."

"Yeah, you were so cool about it today too."

"No use being weird about it." I really didn't have any other friends out here.

"That's why you're great. That would bother most girls."

He filled me in on this amazing Brazilian woman he had met at the waterfalls who could be at the bar tonight. I told him I'd keep an eye out for her and try to help him if I could. We never did end up finding her, but it was still a fun night.