Kuang Xi Waterfall in Luang Prabang, Laos

September 10th, 2010

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Kuang Xi Waterfall in Luang Prabang

Posted on Sep 04 in Kuang Xi Waterfall ~ Luang Prabang, Laos, Luang Prabangby ShelynPrint

I missed these magnificent turquoise blue cascades in Huang Long (黄龙) when I visited Jiu Zhai Gou （九寨沟） in China few years ago due to the place was closed in winter.

It was totally out of expectation that I would find the same breathtaking turquoise blue cascades in Luang Prabang. Don’t they look so similar and are equally fascinating?

I like TripAdvisor and always look up travel information from TripAdvisor. Kuang Si waterfall in Luang Prabang is listed as the 2nd most popular attraction in Luang Prabang based on travelers ratings which led me there to witness the miracle turquoise water, which I thought the color only exists in China (visit the review here: TripAdvisor).

Kuang Xi waterfall is about 29km from Luang Prabang town and it takes 30 minutes to reach there with tut tut. Along the way to Kuang Xi waterfall, we passed by villages, padi fields and hills which kept us occupied while enjoying the cool breeze on the hill. We bumped into the small kids carried big basket of woods on their back walking by themselves on the street without any adults. I’m so regret that I missed the opportunity to take a picture of them. One of the kids is so small that she’s probably just 4 year old with a huge basket on her back that makes her body looked even more tiny. She’s so cute and tiny that I can’t seem to take away her picture from my mind.

So if you’re really into photography, you might want to consider renting a bicycle or motorcycle to travel around the villages.

The scenic view that kept us occupied on the way to Kuang Xi waterfall.

Villagers were fixing the road, I think.

You can’t escape from paying wherever you go in Laos. Entrance fee to the park is 20,000 kip per person, which is USD2.2 (or MYR 8 ). It’s only about 5 minutes walk from the entrance to the waterfall.

We were so amazed when we saw the first pool at the bottom of the hill. The water is crystal clear and it’s really turquoise blue! I was so excited and asked Don if we should jump into the water now. Don was like “Not yet… we’re just at the foothill, there’s still long way to go…”.

Is it? The water was so clean that it deceived me to have an impression that we have reached the top hill.

We continued walking and more and more cascades came into sight. There were several 10-15 foot cascades from one turquoise blue pool to another. Looked exactly like Huang Long!

The park was very nicely maintained with a lot of greenery and colorful flowers. The beautiful scenery here is as gorgeous as an imperial garden.

We both were so amazed and Don said

“When I read the sign board at the entrance describing the water is turquoise I didn’t believe at all. Mana tau (who knows)…”
“It’s so like the lakes in Jiu Zhai Gou (九寨沟)”
“Totally unexpected… look at the waterfall in Malaysia, look at Kajang Waterfall… the water is brown in color, the trashes are everywhere…”
“Don’t compare like this”
“But it’s so clean here… look…no trash at all!”
“Blame our government then”

After about 5 minutes walk, we came to the largest pool. There is a tree with a huge branch sticks out to the pool just perfect as a platform to jump into the water. A rope was tied on the tree for the nature lovers to swing to the pool. Isn’t it a place of paradise?

I felt so sorry that I didn’t get to snap any photos of Don swinging into the water as my camera ran out of battery

. I hope the photos that I snapped with his crappy cellphone are clear enough, haven’t looked at them yet.

The path is like never ending. We continued walking and there were more and more cascades…

“Is it the largest waterfall?”
“Not sure… keep walking…”

And finally! Needless to say, it’s just simply stunning.

This is the only picture with both of us in it and the most important picture with the 180 foot main waterfall. When taking this last photo, the battery level indication in my camera kept blinking. My heart beats accelerated each time the battery blinked. I quickly got one of the tourists there to help taking picture of us and I made sure he understood that the battery power was almost died off so not to waste any power, I even told him not to turn it on until we finished posing. It was so dramatic and thanks god we got this final picture.

Lesson learned: Charge the battery everyday.

Nonetheless, we had great day here in Kuang Xi waterfall and Don enjoyed it so much to climb up to the tree, swing into the water, repeat the same process for many times, until his palms swelled.

Expenses to Kuang Xi Waterfall:
Tut Tut – 200,000 KIP (USD 22 or MYR 80) – you can further negotiate the price.
Entrance Fee – 20,000 KIP (USD2.2 or MYR 8 )

What to Bring:
Hat, sun-screen, swim suit, towel, extra clothes for changing, sandal/slipper, fully charged camera, water bottle, snacks (there are places for picnic), Lao Beers (water there is chilling enough, so dip your beer in the water).

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Entry Details: This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 2:58 am, by Shelyn, and is filed under Kuang Xi Waterfall ~ Luang Prabang, Laos, Luang Prabang. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Print This!

3 Comments

mylo says:

September 6, 2009 at 5:39 am

WOW! Kuang Xi Waterfall is SIMPLY AMAZING!!!
TOLANIC says:

September 9, 2009 at 7:38 am

The waterfall looks so beautiful. It’s totally different than those waterfalls in Malaysia.
tom says:

November 18, 2009 at 1:27 pm

Gorgeous waterfalls I wish I would be there right now.