Waterfalls + leeches = fun

The Kuangsi waterfall is about 30 km from Luang Prabang, and it's spectacular, for lack of a better word. You need to climb up a muddy, slippery, treacherous, fall-and-die path to get to the top, but it's more than worth it.


A bunch of us made it up there, swam lazily in the pools, and jumped off the ledges into the deeper parts. I particularly liked standing underneath the waterfall:


Surprisingly, the muddier pools were filled with leeches. However, they didn't bother me too much -- I just picked 'em off and threw them aside, although the anticoagulant in their saliva (?) ensured that I bled for an hour or more.

I used to be alarmed by leeches, but was "cured" -- so to speak -- during a monsoon hike in Nepal 9 years ago where about 50 leeches attached themselves to my legs, feet, chest, armpits, and groin. Compared to that harrowing experience, this was nothing. :) (Bring it on, leeches!)

btj