Our big adventure today was traveling to the beautiful Kuangsi Waterfalls, some 27 km north of Luang Prabang. Belle and Jesse traveled by motorscooter, and I rode a mountainbike over the rolling hills that rise up to the site. Most visitors to this area take a van or Tuk Tuk from LP to visit the waterfalls, but they miss a lot. From my bike I noticed that roughly half the adults I saw in the countryside are gathering wood, cutting wood with ancient axes and long knives, or carrying wood on their backs or in baskets. Others are making bricks or blocks by hand, or are turning the soil by hand or with a water buffalo in preparation for the next rice planting. Many folks cook meals over small fire under or beside their thatched houses. Life is dialed back to the elements in the Lao countryside. Back in Vermont many people busy themselves with I-Phones, laptops, and DSL. Here many people still concern themselves with wood, dirt, fire, sand, clay, and water.
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