40 miles on a bicycle through Laos

The American girl, Ember, turned out to be a pretty groovy gal. We've decided to continue to travel together through Laos. It's probably better to stick together with all the shady business that goes on in Laos.

Me and Ember in bamboo hats

We are constantly discovering similarities between us. It's almost scary. She's also on a solo round-the-world trip.

After the loooong boat ride, we ended up in the nice, smaller town of Luang Prabang.

We both thought it would be a great idea to rent bikes and head out to see the stunning Kuang Si waterfall. We both knew we had an ambitious feat ahead of us. It would be a 40 mile trip!! We were both up for the adventure.

I can't seem to get enough adventure in my life. I think I'm an adventure addict.

It had all the makings of a perfect day: ADVENTURE, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY and NATURE, all wrapped into one CULTURAL experience. All of my favorite things!

After a little bargaining, we scored rugged mountain bikes for $5 a day. Sweet! We had an early morning rise and were on our way to the waterfall by 9am.

We passed through small villages lined with wooden shacks and locals going about their daily routines. We were able to see the scenery at our own pace, instead of whizzing by on a bus or taxi. The road began fairly flat, but then, much to our dismay, turned extremely hilly. We pumped as hard as we could up the steep hills, our quads feeling like there were hot pokers embedded in them. Everyime we saw a steep hill ahead, we would grumble "Arghh, another hill!" Once at the top of each hill, we coasted down with the warm Laos air streaming through our hair. Southeast Asia has a funny way of making you feel FREE! It's so much fun here!

At times, we reached dangerously high speeds and our brakes would squeak loudly as we attempted to avoid a deadly situation on the windey roads.

We passed by so many surreal sights along this lengthy journey. As the green rice paddy fields passed us by, I thought, "This is exactly what I pictured Laos to be."

We passed by cute Laotian kids playing unsupervised on the road, they would reach their hands out for a high-five as we passed by. We breezed by cock-a-doodle-do'ing roosters, lazy water buffalo's, woman nursing infants on their porches, flimsy bamboo huts, locals walking under umbrellas for shade, woman washing clothes in streams, local schools with uniformed children congregating with friends in the schoolyard, workers in the fields wearing coned bamboo hats, and families eating outdoors together.

This stretch of land was unspoiled by tourism. But, Laos as a whole isn't exactly a popular vacation destination.

It feels very primitive here. The undeveloped infrastructure makes it very difficult to travel here. A 2 hour bus ride can easily turn into 5 hours.

As we pedaled through these small villages, we called out a friendly "sab-ah-dee!" (hello) to the locals. Some would giggle shyly.

Once we arrived at Kuang Si waterfall, we were greeted by small descending pools of clear blue water. It was a tropical paradise oasis.

A short hike through the jungle brought us to the spectacularly big waterfall. It was breathtaking and definitely worth all the sweat and hard work.

Me and Ember were looking forward to soaking our sore muscles in the water, but one dip of our toes changed our minds quickly. It was ice cold! But we still winced our way in half way. We enjoyed a much needed rest at this idyllic spot and gained back our strength with fresh fruit bought from a local vendor.

The 20 mile ride back went by surprisingly quick. Once we got back to Luang Prabang, we started to see the familiar sights of shaved-head orange-robed monks, the night market and heavier traffic. I felt exhausted, but in a good way. It was a perfect day. I would say it was one of my best day in Southeast Asia so far. Good views with great company. What more could I ask for?

That night, we slept like babies..... babies with very sore bums :)