After yesterday’s confusing hike up a waterfall alone, I wanted to do it with a guide. So I booked the famous “One Hundred Waterfalls” Trek. This is a hike up a mountain, where the waterfalls are the trail.
The tour started with a relaxing boat ride to a village at the start of the trek. The village is only accessible by boat, and does not have electricity. Needless to say, the people that live there are very poor. The houses were all wicker with thatched roofs. The people were busy building a big boat by hand.
We took the trail behind the village into a peaceful valley. There were some rice fields, which were fallow, and stands of planted teak trees. Green hills surrounded the valley, and some mountains towered above them. We encountered a few people working on our walk.
After a short walk we came to the first waterfall. For the next hour we climbed up a series of waterfalls. It was pretty incredible experience. The forrest provided shade and the rushing water was cold. Up and up we climbed. Some of the falls were a little tricky to get up. But the rocks weren’t slippery, and there were footholds cut into the rock. It was an amazing climb.
We eventually came the the final fall, high up the mountain. It was a big one, so we scrambled up the steep, muddy trail next to it. At the top there was a nice view of the valley far below. I could not believe we climbed a mountain up a path of waterfalls. We had fried rice for lunch there, then headed down via a different trail that avoided the waterfalls.
The One Hundred Waterfall trek was one of the highlights to my journey through Laos. It’s a must-do in Nong Khiaw.
