I don’t really know, but we ran into way too many mother hens clucking their chicklets across the road as we drove into the mountains (and out) for a little hiking. There was also a cow, but he wasn’t as adventurous, and just lay at the edge of the road.
Our hike started in a village in the mountains. It was separated into two parts – Khmer and Hmong people (Khmer being from Cambodia). You could tell the difference in architecture (Khmer builds on stilts and go up, Hmong go out) and it was pretty interesting seeing the parts of the village. There were plenty of children happily splashing next to the pumps, and many chickens squawking around. Their breasts were all patchy and oddly plucked looking, which made for a pretty ridiculous sight.
Once we passed the village, we wound through some greenery and paths bordered with teak and fruit trees. The teak trees are pretty important as a good source of income since the wood is strong and used for furniture.
The path continued to wind, and the trees were eventually replaced by grass and fields. We saw plenty of sticky rice and corn, as well as a few peanut fields. When we had previously passed through some land that looked dead with stumps lying around, I had wondered what had happened. After seeing these fields, I realized that those pieces of land must be fields for sticky rice or other things. The farmers just plant around the stumps and everything sprouts fabulously. There’s no need for straight lines, like what you see in the states.
From there it got a little wild. We had to push through leafy plants taller than me, climb up muddy rocks, sidestep bugs and ant mounds, and make our way through some scary nature. It was really pretty, but I had a hard time enjoying the greenery sometimes when I was swatting at bugs or trying not to slip onto my bum. There were worms that bit onto your shoe and wiggled their tails, and you had to scrape them off with a stick or they would be stuck there (and hopefully it didn’t bite onto you). It was a fun trek though, and we ended up at the top of the waterfall, walking on tree roots and stone to traverse through the pool.
Once we had explored the top enough, we scrambled down (running into a few snakes along the way) and had fun ooh-ing and aah-ing at the bottom. Kuansi Falls are pretty popular, so we finally ran into civilization around the pools that flowed off of the main waterfall. We had fun taking pictures, diving off mini falls, and swinging from trees into the water. The cool water was also a great reward for our four hours of sweat (and bug bites), trekking through the jungle.
We ended the day with delicious food (not in the touristy area, we just randomly walked around), then went to the night market to thoroughly comb the stalls and haggle away at everything. We did discover that down certain alleys, there are tables set up buffet style, where you pay for a plate and fill it with whatever you want. It seems like a pretty decent meal option, and the fact that people are constantly waving plastic bags over the food to keep flies away means it should be relatively safe.