Kanchanaburi | Erawan National Park
For my first time traveling outside of Khon Kaen, I went with a gal from home (who happens to be doing an internship in Bangkok) to Kanchanaburi, a province to the West of Bangkok. I was interested in Kanchanaburi due to its national park that is known for beautiful waterfalls.
The first night, Audrey and I stayed in Kanchanaburi, randomly ran into a friend from OEG orientation, and went out to the bars near to our hostel. Our night consisted of drinking a big Leo (the Budlight of Thailand) while walking down the street, and watching people swing on a ball while Miley Cyrus “Wrecking Ball” played at a bar.
They took the wrecking ball reference very literally.
Then, I learned that “doing a balloon” is a big deal, it’s a balloon filled with nitrogen and peeps love ‘em. So 100 baht later, I had a small high for only about 1 minute. Worth it? Meh.
The next day, after relaxing on hammocks with a beautiful view of The River Kwai and mountains, Audrey and I jumped on another bus and went to Erawan National Park. We rented a tent to camp for the night, again surrounded by mountains and The River Kwai…doesn’t get much better than that!
The waterfalls at Erawan are tiers of one main water source. The first tier is lowest, and the 7th the highest, with many small waterfalls and beautiful views in between. The first night we hiked to tiers 1 - 4. We thought we would LOVE to swim in the cool, pure blue water like all of the other visitors…..until we found out about the fish.
The fish that eat our flesh.
….okay maybe it’s not that bad. There were fish of all sizes, some the size of my arm and others the size of my finger. We were told only the smallest ones like to eat the dead skin off of your feet and body.
That was supposed to make us feel better about sharing water with flesh eating fish.
I still couldn’t get in that damn water. Every time I even touched the water, all of the fish swam directly to me, like dogs on fresh meat.. Or like me to ice cream.
I. just. couldn’t. So, naturally, I did a headstand instead.
With nightfall, Audrey and I grabbed a delicious Thai dinner and relaxed on the river bank near our campsite.
Bright and early the next morning, we hiked through a bamboo forest. We were forced to piece together one giant puzzle from the incorrect grammar on the English signs explaining the forest.
What we discovered (whether correct or not, we’ll never know): this huge chunk of forest was once cleared completely by a fire. Some dead, burnt trees prove the existence of the fire, while others survived the fire all together. The vast amount of bamboo, the signs said, show the re-growth of the forest. From research on bamboo, its growth makes sense seeing that it is a hearty plant in Asia that grows extremely quickly.
After the bamboo forest, we hiked all the way to the 7th waterfall tier. The hiking was unbelievable; it involved some walking, lots of climbing, and beautiful views along the way.
After our long sweaty hike in the Thai heat, we finally worked up the courage to go swimming. I continuously kicked my feet and only got bothered by a few hungry fish. Just as I was enjoying the cool water and beautiful view, someone spotted MONKEYS!
So, here I am in this beautiful, crystal clear water, listening to the sounds of the waterfall, watching a family of monkeys swing from tree to tree. 5 babies, a mommy, daddy, and aunt (educated guess on my part, you’re welcome). One baby was hanging onto the mommy’s stomach as she climbed through the trees, then dad would take over baby duty while the other siblings played. It was like living in a movie.
Then, all of a sudden, here comes Daddy Monkey…down the tree and through the foreigners, heading towards a backpack. He opens it and dips his hand in, pulling out everything he finds. As the humans took it away, he found some other cool things, like a necklace, keys, and sunglasses.
Later on, he snuck even further through the screaming tourists towards a juice bottle, snatched it quicker than I could blink and ran back up the tree to drink it. These monkeys know how much cool stuff the foreigners bring to the waterfalls.
It’s Mother Nature that can be so entertaining, beautiful, and shocking at the same time. Watching the monkeys interact with humans, the humans interact with the rocks and streams; it’s amazing we all exist in only one world.
