The Kouangsi Waterfalls were my favorite spot. This was probably because it was 40°C when we visited, so the jungle and the waterfalls offered a lovely cool change.

The easiest way is to travel by road, although it is still quite rough, 45 minutes on a gravel road and it gives you an opportunity to pass through some villages, and see a little of the countryside, and daily life as well. Some of these snapshots we saw, included a number of working elephants and a funeral procession.

You can hail a jumbo, which is a truck with a canopy and seating on the back tray, negotiate your price, we paid $10 and off you go.

The waterfall is actually a series of waterfalls, and cascades with cool glens and numerous picnic spots. The water is the most amazing colour green, due to the limestone found inside. There are several beautiful swimming holes, but although I tried, I couldn’t go all the way in as it was freezing—in fact so cold I thought my heart was going to stop beating, although my partner went for a swim and said it was refreshing!

The trails are really well maintained, so you can climb up the the highest reaches of the falls and actually go to the peak of the mountain, too many trees for an unobstructed view though!

On the way to visit the waterfalls at the main entry, there are two large enclosures, one containing quite a number of Asian bears, and the other a magnificent Tigress named Phet. These poor animals had been rescued from poachers and are supported entirely by donations. Phet was only 5 months old at the time of her rescue.

If you see the tiger enclosure on the left and she is not visible, check on your way out, as I think we were super lucky as when we arrived we nearly walked into Phet. When we asked other travelers at the falls, they were not lucky enough to see her. See www.laos.co.uk for her full story. She is now fully grown and absolutely beautiful.

When we were leaving, the bears were all waiting for their dinner, they sounded just like babies crying and meowing. The man that looks after them is a delight, when we were standing there talking to him, the cutest baby bear scampered out to greet us. This was his youngest baby. The little bear had a pat and when he had enough attention scampered back to his bed in the house attached.

If you only have time for one trip make it this one.

Take a tuk tuk to this beautiful waterfall that appears on some post cards. It takes about 45 minutes on dirt roads, but the trip is very scenic. On the way is a Hmong hill tribal village, but I don't recommend looking around when the driver stops there. It is kind of sad and I felt a bit rude. There is a large pool at the foot of this large waterfall, and signs say no swimming, but it is very refreshing to swim across it to the other side and go beneath the waterfall to a cave on the other side. It is big enough for a bunch of people and pretty exciting. There are trails on both sides that lead steeply up to the top of the waterfall. We went up the right side and came down the left. Be careful not to fall over when walking across the lip of the waterfall, it is very high. Also, you must be in good condition to try to climb the trail. If you don't want to go all the way to the top, the trail on the right diverts to the left to give a view in the middle of the falls. There is picnic space available if you want to bring food. Allow 2 or 3 hours for the whole trip.

Take a taxi to this site, about an hour’s drive through the mountains to the south of Luang Prabang. The taxis cannot go beyond a gate about a quarter mile down the hillside from the falls. Far from a north face ascent of Everest climb, the easy walk on the road ends at a small park where bamboo walkways and dirt paths cross into the spray at the falls’ base. The pools are deep enough to wade in, although no one seemed to be doing this.

The ride to the falls is as good as the falls themselves. Driving through mountainside villages, fields, and the jungle in an open-air pickup was very scenic and my driver, for a few extra dollars, was kind enough to stop for photo taking when I wanted.

There are dramatic bulbous-shaped limestone steps over which the water rushes and plunges to form the multi-tiered Kuang Si falls. The falls are wide and the multiple shoots of water send up a lot of spray, hence the lush flora at its base. This is a park-like setting that has many folks picnicking along the nice walkways near the clear pools of water at the base. There are hundreds of the metallic-colored dragonflies and butterflies all around the gardens at the base of the falls and at its summit.

The hiking comes in when you try to get up the muddy and slippery trails that lead to the summit, about 200 feet up. There are two summit paths, one on each side of the falls. While it is steep, the unmarked trails are not technically hard and didn’t require any special skills or equipment. I did it in sneakers.

The small river that feeds the waterfall spreads out under the jungle canopy before the waterfalls lip and forms a large pool at the summit. Walking around in this knee-deep pool, I hiked about 200 yards up the very clear and cool river. If you don’t like nature or are frightened by bugs don’t do this. Mosquitoes were everywhere as were dragonflies, butterflies, spiders, snakes, lizards, and no doubt other things that I didn’t see.

There is no railing at the top of the falls, but the look down the face is very nice and in gaps between the jungle you can look out and down the mountainside above the canopy below you.