Today was intended to be a relaxing day (relatively speaking).Were going to spend the day in this area, and sleep in town another night. But not in this hotel. The breakfast served here is bad, the coffee worse, and the room is just too gloomy. So we reserved a room at the Water Park Hotel Kanchanaburi as it had good reviews and price. More on that later...
We went for a walk to the famous bridge over the river Kwai, walked across it and took some selfies. We sat on the grass under the bridge and read a bit about it, and found that not only is the name a misnomer, but its mispronounced as well! The bridge spans a river of a different name that, together with the Khwae Noi rover flows into the Mae Klong. But the name stuck, so instead of trying to change the name of the bridge and the story behind it, the Thais renamed the rover to Khwae Yai, which at least sounds more similar to Kwai (Kwai, apparently, means Buffalo in Tai).
pear with a lovely color. It is crispy, juicy and a little bit sweet, somewhere between a watermelon and an apple in bot texture and taste, and very refreshing! I looked it up and found it is rose apple (also called wax apple).
We checked out of the hotel and drove up to Erawan National Park to see the waterfalls. Its just an hour away and the Beware of elephants crossing signs made the drive interesting! That and the monkey crossing over the road on the electric cable.
The park is very well organized, a large parking area surrounded by touristy food and souvenir stalls, you buy your (expensive) tickets from a machine (it accepts cash and credit), and in you go. The path is well paved with concrete made to look like wood, so its less offensive to the surrounding nature, and you can hire a golf cart to the first set of falls. There you can rent a life jacket for swimming, and go off to explore the park! Theres a large sign numbering the falls, from 7 to 1. You start at the lowest cascade (number 1), and go upstream. So the sign is
arranged in that order, from bottom to top, and each set of falls or rapids is a bit different. Its actually considered one waterfall with multiple levels (7 main, larger levels and a bunch of smaller steps in between) spanning a distance of 1,500 meters.
The falls themselves are absolutely beautiful! White water pouring into turquoise semicircular pools with a tan border of rock, surrounded by the lush greens of the forest. And swimming is allowed! By the first and second groups of falls there are picnic platforms (like large tables without seats, people just sit and eat on the platform), bathrooms and changing rooms, a small snack bar and a ranger station. All a bit too civilized for my taste, but I understand the reasoning behind it.
We had a picnic lunch with stuff we picked up from a supermarket in Kanchanaburi, and enjoyed the set of cascading steps, like terraces flowing next to us. There was a fallen tree that created a bridge and both of us crossed it.
I changed into a bathing suit and we headed up the trail. At the first and second set there were lots of people, but as we
got higher there were fewer of them. The trail crossed the river a couple of times on bridges. In some places the trail was quite steep with tall, uneven stairs, at others it was easy. One set of falls looked like a couple of upended bowls with the water flowing over them. Others had a whole set of semicircular terraces, each with a turquoise pool in it, sometimes with fish. Some had a taller fall with a large, deep pool at the base. Those had larger fish, and in one I found smaller fish that looked like cleaner fish you find in an aquarium. Actually, they found me! They tried to clean my feet!
We finally reached number 7. Cant miss it. Its huge! A very tall waterfall plummeting down the cliff, must have been at least 60 or 70 meters tall, and the cliffs around it had streams flowing down among the trees and vines. The pool here isnt deep and we waded and took pictures here before heading back down.
