Somehow in our group of 5, it was decided to go to the local waterfall. I was up for it, but could not see how the group was ok by this. That was because Thomas thought we should get there by bicycle. He said he saw mountain bikes in the town and we found out that it was 35K away. The guidebook mentioned that it was 35k, and surely that would be round trip. Right? We were in for a heck of a day trip.
After a wonderful breakfast with cats for entertainment and a jungle styled bathroom, we walked to town to check out the bikes. The available bikes were not mountain bikes, but a cruiser/hybrid set up with a rear bench and good street tires. When we offered a passport and payment, we mentioned that we were going to ride to the waterfall. The attendant seemed to have no problem with this and pointed in the direction of the waterfalls. Robert's phone with GPS said that it was 15K out. No problem we said. We strapped our bags down and headed out of town. We were in for a surprise.
The bikes operated smoothly, which was a big concern. I knew that sometime we would have a problem. We stopped briefly to readjust the seats. The geometry of mine was nowhere near correct, and with one gear, small hills were fierce. I guessed that the bikes were maybe 40 pounds each! But... They were fun!
Robert's GPS was ticking away as we grunted up the hills. We all noticed that mysteriously the entire ride was uphill. Soon enough, we hit the 15k mark on Roberts phone. No waterfall. The group made the decision to continue on with a stop to resupply. This is where we found the Lao Canadian.
There were many vendors along the way in the small villages. They seemed to have the same things, but this place was a little different. It was out in a large field with a few small buildings close by. Chickens were running and dogs were left to their freedom, except for the dog offered as a meal. He told us to come back on the ride back to get dinner. He said it would be the real deal with dog on the menu. Funny enough, he pointed up the hill to where the dogs were kept and said he wasn't kidding. Nice. After an hour and a half of riding and getting resupplied, we thought we were close to the falls. Nope. The dude said his place was half way to the falls. We were in for it. The road kept getting steeper and the sun hotter. My shirt was totally soaked as if I jumped into a swimming pool. Equally were my shorts. Grabbing the grips with wet hands was a task since they were so slippery. The group morale stayed strong, which at any time I thought would crash. Sometimes we walked the steeps and then would ride the brakes to keep from getting too fast on the downhills. There were not many downhills, but when there were, the bike would rattle and at speeds with no helmet the result of a broken weld would be a disaster.
After the 3.5 hour mark and 35-40k of riding, we got to the falls. There was a small fee to pay to help with the upkeep of the area which was understandable. Inside was a bear sanctuary with bears playing and sleeping. But just up the mountain a little higher was the first fall. It was beautiful!
The water was chalky blue and a very refreshing, 70 degrees or so. Our legs really needed the cold and our clothes equally needed the cleaning. There were places to jump at varying heights and even a little rope swing. Thomas, with his gymnastic and parkour background was showing the audience what was up! I even got a video of him doing a few moves. I guess doing a double front flip off a 25 foot cliff is pretty cool. He nailed it.
Our time at the falls was cut short a little bit. We had a tough time getting there and anything could happen on the way home. We didn't want to ride in the dark, get a flat tire, or get taken over by pirates. We allotted 3 hours to return since it would be a lot of downhills. And, it was. The ride was smooth and fun fueled by fried bananas and fresh fruit shakes. Robert even got chicken on a stick. Easily identifiable! That is the best kind of meat. We knew of two things on the way back. The giant hill and the local trying to get us to eat dog. We made it past his place, but shortly later came the giant hill. Robert was in the back and the group of four kept going strong. We hit the crest and got off the bikes to take in the scenery. From this point we could see the town of Luang Prabang. It was far in the distance with low lying clouds in the background. As we looked back to see if Robert was walking up the hill, we saw a pickup truck instead. It was carrying Robert and his bike. We let him have it when he got out! Someone had been nice enough to carry him up the mountain. From there it was a mostly downhill descent and easy. We arrived back into the town in plenty of time to return the bikes and get a bite to eat close by. Paying for the bill was a little messy. I had to remind the waiter that we were from Germany, France, and the USA, so we were all equally stupid. Paying with 50,000, 20,000, 10,000 notes looking "same same, but different" was our real problem. Ouch!
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