Waking early 5 - Waterfalls

As I said in yesterday's post, we were never far from the Mekong during our Christmas trip. Here in the south near Don Khon island, there were tourists, but once on the river, they were hardly noticeable. And even at the waterfalls - Khon Phapheng Falls, part of a 13km stretch of powerful rapids and supposedly one of the most visited sites in Laos, they were thin on the ground.

Wow! is something I say from time to time, but during our stay here I must have said it several times a day, and you can see why.

The water isn't just beautiful, it's aggressive, and unstoppable. I stood for a long while wondering how many millions of years it had flowed and would continue to flow, thunder, swirl, dance, splash, drown, impress and astound. Wow, indeed.

In the late 19th century the French built a short railway across Don Khon to transport supplies around the impassable falls, but since the main road from Laos' top to toe -  Route 13 -  was built after WWII, it became redundant and now all you can see is a rusting locomotive. 

We saw other waterfalls on our way to the Bolaven plateau. This photo makes them look meek, but the forests were beautiful, and and the depth of the falls, crashing into a deep abyss, quite breathtaking. Another time - is there's another time - we will venture on the walk to get up close to the falls. 

The image of the river and its falls won't ever leave me - or the views from the boat - the water buffalo, the exquisite temples...