Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Moped sorted we head out to visit the first of two waterfalls, Tad Sae.  

After a few false starts due to an extremely poor map we made it to the dirt track signed for the waterfall.  Boarding a really rickety long tail we wobbled our way across the river to the waterfall.

And elephant rides, we didn't ride these magnificent beasts just watched them slowly circling the waterfall.

After Tad Sae we scooted off to Tat Kuang Si complete with Bear Rescue Centre.

Spot the odd one out...'odd' definitely

And then pure magic, if we had been the only people here (instead of the army of tourists) we would have thought we'd arrived in heaven

According to one local legend Kuang Si falls were formed when a wise old man beckoned the waters of the Nam Xi by digging deep into the earth.  After the waters came to Kuang Si a beautiful golden deer made its home under a rock that protruded from the falls.  So Tat Kuang Sim gets its name from 'Tat' meaning waterfall, 'Kuang' which means deer and 'Si' which means 'dig'.

The sound of the water falling on the rock created a mesmerising echo that drew people to the waterfall from as far away as China.  The rock has since fallen into the base of the falls but many visitors still visit to admire this amazing place.

We headed home, stopping for a fruit shake along the way and discovered more good news, what do doctors know anyway!

Luang Prabang has been bliss after some intense days of travel, now on to Vang Vieng to see what all this tubing lark is about and our Christmas stop.