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Haew Suwat Waterfall
The waterfall is impressive and easy to get to at Khao Yai National ParkOvernight to Khao Yai National Park
Thursday 3rd July
At 8.00 pm five of us including our driver Tum left my hotel for the drive to Pak Chong where we would stay overnight before driving through Khao Yai National Park in the morning. We are travelling in style in a recent model Mitsubishi cabin style truck and after about 1.5 hours of cruising down the highway we arrived at our destination where we continued driving towards Khao Yai looking for somewhere to stay for the night. We stopped at a large resort but the prices there were very expensive so we kept driving and eventually found the Apple Resort which has very clean, modern hut style rooms about 10 minutes drive from the park entrance.
It was about 10.00 pm and the resort’s restaurant was closed so we headed for a roadside open air restaurant close by for a meal as everyone was very hungry. When we returned to the Apple Resort we sat around outside our rooms chatting and drank a bottle of 100 Pipers Whiskey before getting some sleep at 4.00 am. I was amazed when everyone was awake and ready to go at 8.30 am
Korat - Chumpoi Gate
Korat - the old city is moated with small parts of the protecting walls remaining as usually it is impossible to stir anyone here too early after a late night. Everyone was very keen as I was the only one to have visited Khao Yai National Park before. It is so close but I guess it probably has been the lack of opportunity or maybe they are just happy to stay near home with all of their extended families. It has been great to be able to take most of the family and others to visit places they have never seen in this part of Thailand and especially the younger members of the family are full of expectation and very excited about doing something different like this.
We stopped at the northern park entrance to pay the fees (400 baht for me and 50 baht for a car load of Thais) for visiting Khao Yai and picked up a Swedish tourist Seena who needed a lift to the information/visitor centre. Today we are going to drive about 65 km from the top to the bottom end of Khao Yai and then head east to Kaeng Hin Phoeng for white water rafting. After stopping at the first main viewpoint and dropping of Seena at the
visitor centre it was off to the Heaw Suwat Waterfall which I have visited before in the dry season but it was a much more imprssive sight in rainy season. Apparently Leonardo Di Caprio jumped off the waterfall in the movie “The Beach” and it is very easy to access Heaw Suwat with a short climb down some stairs. The water is a bit cool for swimming so we took some pics and headed along the road towards our next stop at the Heaw Narok Waterfall.
I have never seen much wildlife in the park but there was a huge monitor lizard on the road and many large and colourful butterflies that would gracefully zoom up close to us wherever we went in the park. There are definitely wild elephants here as we could see their large deposits on the road. It was a perfect day in rainy season, slightly overcast but cool compared to Korat and Bangkok and no rain.
It takes a fair effort of climbing up and down many steps to get to the Haew Narok Waterfall but you are rewarded with a fearsome sight as the water pounds from a huge height and we
Night Bazaar
A nice market wih no touts to hound you - Korat would be a great place to live were sprayed with water even though we being a fair distance from the falls. Apparently at least one elephant every year falls and drowns in the waterfall. There are many other waterfalls in the park but some require trekking a fair distance in the jungle and there are leeches here especially in rainy season. We were not really prepared for jungle walks today and were already tired after visiting the two waterfalls so we had lunch at the nearby hut and hopped in our truck to leave the park. Khao Yai is a brilliant place to visit and should be on every tourist’s itinery.
To get to Kaeng Hin Phoeng you drive to the Prachinburi roundabout and turn left along highway 33 towards Kabin Buri. There are plenty of signs in english and you turn left before Kabin Buri and drive past the rice and bamboo fields which are a brilliant sight in the afternoon sun. There are many resorts here that provide rafting and we stopped at the Kaeng Hin Phoeng Riverside This area is used to mainly asian visitors and there is no english speaking, luckily I was with a group of Thais and after paying 2800
baht for the five of us we tried some life jackets and helmets, jumped in a truck and headed for the river. I was suprised again that everyone wanted to go rafting as we were all tired but I think I am promoting a thrill for more adventure in some of my new found and old friends on this trip.
It is a twenty five minute, about two kilometre walk to the Kaeng Hin Phoeng river and fortunately it is through a shaded part of the jungle in these warm conditions. When we got to the river there were again many large and smaller butterflies of all colurs dancing around us which is a very interesting and feel good sight. I have been rafting in Chiang Mai and they usually give you instruction on the rafting technique and safety but here it was straight into the raft and into the rapids. Unfortunately there has not been much rain lately and the rapids were fairly tame, they can be at the peak of rafting level 5 at the right time of the season but again I have picked the wrong day. It was still worth the effort of coming here
Apple Resort - Khao Yai
It was very nice and peaceful here and not too expensive like some of the other resorts though as the smiles and laughter ever present as we all paddled through the swirling waters and swam together along a stretch of the river is something I will never forget.
There are no pics from Kaeng Hin Phoeng as it was a bit wet to take the camera but the rafting tour guides are sending some in the mail to post later. I have not put up much in the way of pics of my host family and friends out of respect for their privacy, you just get to see my smiling face ocassioanally.
We were all tired and after getting changed drove along highway 304 for the 145 km trip back to our village in Korat, stoppping for a nice meal and beer at a roadside restaurant. When we got back to the village we sat around outside and had a few beers and some food including some very tasty locally made corn sweets. The young kids and some of the adults just stare at me like I am from another planet, I am sure that I am the only foreigner that has stayed in the village and it would be a rarity for a farang
to pass this way. I just say Sawatdee Khrap (hello), they smile back and the ice is broken. It was time for some much needed sleep, it had been a great night and day on a Thai style road trip, another wonderful experience on this visit toThailand.
Sunday 6th July
Today was a bit of a rest day after a hectic week touring around Korat. We dropped into a place called Sai Thong just off the highway travelling from Chock Chai to Korat where there were some very impressive statues and shrines to the past heroes of Thailand. Everything was written in Thai so it was a bit difficult to understand the history of the site but the shrines and statues are very colourful and impressive and worth a visit if you are passing this way.
We then drove a bit further up the road about 15 km from Korat city and checked out the Dan Kwian Pottery Village. The ceramics/pottery is made by the Mon people who settled in this part of Nakhon Ratchasima and it was like visiting an art gallery with all the various colourful designs. We did not see any displays of the
pottery being made but it is worth a stop here to see the beautiful pottery and souvenirs.
We stopped for my last meal in Korat for this visit and it was off to the bus station for the 3.5 hour trip to Bangkok. Some of my host family from the village had come to say goodbye and it was difficult to leave as I have become very attached to everyone here. We cannot communicate much with language but the smiles, some interpretation from my english speaking friend and the warm welcome that I have received have made it a special time for me in the village and touring throughout the region.
I am back in Bangkok tonight and it is another shock to return to the hectic life of the big city. I really preferred the quiet life and the wonderful people of Korat but I guess it was time to move on although if I was ever going to live in Thailand then Korat would be a perfect place to settle. I have some great friends in Bangkok and most of them are from Isan or other outer regions, many Thais come to Bangkok for University and
for better employment opportunities. Like anywhere in the world the bond with their families is very important in their lives and they return home whenever they get a chance, there is not much holiday leave here, sometimes only six days plus public holidays which fortunately are fairly numerous.
Tonight we went to karoake in Sathorn till about 4.30 am and I was nearly falling asleep in my seat so it was back to my room for some sleep, I think tomorrow will be another rest day with nothing planned and time to write this blog.
Click on the pics if you want a larger view and select next to see all the pictures.
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