Erawan Falls National Park

So far we're really enjoying Kanchanaburi, the Thai to westerner ratio is far better than the previous touristy places we've visited. The weather further north has been quite hot and muggy. Today we ventured out to Erawan Falls, which is a 7 tiered waterfall, each of which you have to hike to see. The first five tiers drop into deep aqua swimming lagoons, thick with large fish that nibble at your toes as you swim.

We made two mistakes with today's venture to Erawan, first we decided to visit here on a Sunday which is when all the local Thais come to swim and picnic with their families. This mistake was unavoidable as we're leaving here tomorrow , but while there were swarms of jovial Thais everywhere it was quite nice to see the Thai people outside of their 12+ hour tourism driven jobs. The crowds were easily escaped by climbing higher in the tiers of falls. Tier five was the most picturesque, with water running off the tall lime stone rocks into the lagoons surrounded by a lush jungle, except this was mistake number 2. Both Levi and Jen can be absent-minded at times, but this rarely happens simultaneously, however today we both failed to grab the camera on our way out to one of the most picturesque destinations of our trip yet! Shoot. Shamefully the photos here were lifted from other people's blogs :( Tier four was our favorite because the limestone rocks at this one had more of a slanted (steep & tall) natural water slide shape to them that we took full advantage of! This reminded us of the Silver Apron above Vernal Falls in Yosemite from last summer - so fun :)

Strangely on the rugged path to the park there was a casual Thai guy taking photos of people walking by, later when we were walking that same path out we realized why. This guy took photos of tourists, cut them into a circle and then glued them to the inner circle of a cheesy Erawan Falls small plate (see photo), but it wasn't like this was a photo you were aware was being taken or posed for in front of an attraction of sort, it was an unsolicited photo of you walking a 1/2 mile beaten path to the falls with the sun beating down hard and sweat pouring off your face. Because of the randomness of it all and probably in spite of Jen's protests Levi felt compelled to buy his plate for a whopping $3 U.S.

Tonight we're heading to Kanchanaburi's night market. We're expecting blocks of food stalls, music, stands of (hopefully) authentic, less touristy handicrafts, etc. We'll report more on this later and hopefully have some photos of our own this time to show for it.

We're at a bit of a cross road here, we had our trip figured out through Kanchanaburi with two separate options for the next remaining 6 days before our final 3 days (reserved for Bangkok). Option A: Head Southeast for 1 night in Trat and then 5 nights in Ko Chang an island in the SE Gulf of Thailand for relaxation and additional diving opportunities or option B: Head North to the historical ruins for Sukothai for one night/two days and then head to Chiang Mai a culturally rich large city packed with distinctive and delicious cuisine, trekking opportunities, elephant riding and fantastic markets. First we were leaning towards the island life, but Jen is craving more culture and Levi having recently faced a bout of "islanding-out" (he was tempted to buy a shark tooth necklace and baggy island pants) has decided he might not be able to resist this temptation twice :) So North it is, but first we're decided to make an impromptu stop in Bangkok for one night first where we intend to find an Irish Pub and recreate the St. Patty's Day magic both Levi & Kirt experienced on their trip to Hong Kong last year :)