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Published: December 31st 2007
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Erawan Magic
Feels good !!! 29 DEC
Erawan Falls - Heaven on Earth
If there is a heaven on earth I think it is at Erawan Falls. If you want to do something special in your life make an effort to visit Erawan Falls, preferably before you get too old or they may need to carry you down from the 7th tier as their is a lot of steps to climb but it is worth it.
This was my second visit to Erawan Falls and I wanted to spend the whole day there, not just a couple of hours on a scheduled tour. I caught the goverment bus at 850 am from the Kanchanaburi Bus Station, was a bit later than planned as I slept in again after the "Glitzy Disco" the night before. The first bus leaves at 800 am and the last bus returns from Erawan at 1600 pm, costing 45 baht each way. The bus stops at the Erawan market, do not get off there, it is still about 2km to the national park entrance. It is an interesting trip as I did not realise they had marble available in this area and there are huge slabs for sale on
the side of the road. You also pass a large dam close to the Erawan National Park. I reckon it was about a 90 minute trip to get to the park entrance from Kanchanaburi.
It costs 200 baht to get into Erawan, money well spent and there are heaps of food stalls you can visit on the right hand side of the car park before going to the falls. They unobtrusively take a photo as you walk through the gate for one of those tourist plates - this time I posed for mine so I would get a reasonable picture on my plate for 100 baht, a nice souvenir of your visit. Once inside near the first tier they will also check how many drink bottles you have and this is registered in a hut where you pay 10 baht per bottle which is repaid when you show all your bottles when you return, a great way to keep the place tidy.
I was lucky again because as soon as I got to the first part of the falls a guy asked me to take a pic of his girlfriend and himself - their names were Debbie and
Bert from Holland and we spent the rest of the day together walking up the falls. We chatted and took pictures of each other in the water or in and under the waterfalls. It was great meeting Debbie and Bert, besides being great company we took turns to look after each others clothes and gear while we swam in the falls. It was a Saturday and there were a lot of people here - I think stealing is a fairly rare event here but there are monkeys in the trees that will help themself to your camera or anything else for them to play with. Debbie and Bert had paid 2600 baht for a return taxi trip to the falls so you can see what good value the bus is and I reckon it is a more enjoyable trip with the wind blowing through the open doors and the many locals and tourists onboard.
You need to see the falls for yourself, words do not do them justice, they are absolutely magnificent even at this time of year. There was more water when I was here in October but it was still great at Erawan. You need good walking
shoes or the type I have put in with my pictures which I purchased from BIG W before I left - they gave me good grip on the steps and rocks - they also dry quickly compared to runners and you can wear them in the water while swimming. It can be very slippery, especially around tiers six and seven. I have a lot of cuts and grazes - just be careful. The water is excellent to swim in, not too cold, just right and the fish nibble at your toes - it can be very deep in spots and it was good to see life saving guys at most of the tiers. We saw monkeys and lizards of varying sizes, one about a metre long. There is a rock about tier 5 where you can slide off into the water which is great fun. If you sit under the falling water on any of the tiers it is an amazing feeling, you will not want to leave.
About 1445 pm we decided to walk back down to the bottom of the falls again. I was exhausted after Hellfire Pass and a late night out the day before. There
are very clean toilets down near the food stalls at the car park where you can have a cold shower and change. I said goodbye to Debbie and Bert who had been great company during the day and they will be emailing me some pictures as my battery ran flat during the day. I do have a spare battery but it was back at the guesthouse, can't carry too much gear to the falls (or did I just forget to take it hehe).
I was starving and devoured some of the excellent chicken sticks from the food vendors and a huge icecream. There are no rip offs here, the food is suprisingly cheap for a big tourist attraction, maybe because of the many locals that visit here as well. To my amazement when I hopped on the bus, there was Hyun from South Korea who I had met the day before at Hellfire Pass - so I had another friend to chat with on the way back to Kanchanaburi.
We were very sleepy on the way back and the bus dropped us off near the war cemetery which is closer to our guesthouses than the bus station. I
picked up my bags from the VN Guesthouse, had one of Mot's amazing special iced coffees at VN and they called me a taxi to get me to the bus station again. I was so tired but spent the whole trip back to Bangkok chatting with a uni student called Sanun, a good way to practice his english and like most people here a very nice guy. My three days in Kanchanaburi have been so amazing, something I will never forget - please put Kanchanaburi and especially Erawan Falls on your must see locations if you visit Thailand.
Oh - the metered taxi back from the station cost 157 baht for a very long distance to my hotel - I paid 250 to get to the bus station (I reckon he asked for 450 baht) on my way to Kanchanaburi from a non metered version - 100 baht is not a huge amount but from now on I will only use a metered taxi and am happy to give the driver a tip - some of the drivers are excellent while most are just trying to rip off the tourist - some of the quotes they give you are
unbelievable but I guess some naive or rich tourists pay without question.
Click on the pics if you want a larger view.
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