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Published: February 21st 2009
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On Sunday we headed to Erawan National Park, which is a good daytrip from Kanchanaburi to see the 7-tiered waterfall. We took a bus there from Kanchanaburi no problem and it was well worth the trip. Each level of the waterfall was different from the last and beautiful in its own way. The water was that sort of turquoise-blue color that I think is caused by calcium (don't ask the science teacher!) There were tons of Thai families, particularly around the lower levels, eating picnics, playing in the water, and relaxing.
National parks in Thailand and other government-controlled tourist sights charge one entrance price for foreigners and another price for Thai people (which seems to be about 10-20% of the foreigner price). I’ve noticed that sometimes it’s even cleverly disguised that there are 2 different prices, or at least what the price differential is. I was in front of the ticket booth window one time and I noticed that it said “Foreigner price: 100 baht.” Everything else was in Thai writing and there were no numbers visible. Then I realized that there WERE numbers, they were the Thai numbers. I don’t have them memorized, but I recognize them. Arabic numerals
This sign did make me a little nervous
We know people who've been bitten by those cute little guys, but we made it through the monkey gauntlet unscathed and with all of the belongings we brought with us are almost exclusively used here, which makes it easier for all of us ‘farang.’ But here is one instance where the old system is useful—obscuring the price differential on tourist attractions!
This system really rankles some other foreigners I’ve talked to, especially Americans. I guess it must seem counterintuitive to their equality ethos, but it doesn’t really bother me. I suppose I’m used to the two-tiered entrance fees from Cuba (where it’s prevalent most places—museums, parks, theatre, movies, etc.) and Mexico. I met a couple who was rather indignant about the 2 different prices for the wats in Ayutthaya. I tried to make the point with them (gently, of course!) that the prices for foreigners are still quite reasonable, and that even though they are very affordable entrance fees for us, many Thai families might not be able to afford them. There’s nothing uglier than tourism apartheid—when local people cannot afford to see the treasures of their own country! The foreigner fee to Erawan National Park was 200 baht (a little less than $6)—certainly worth it for a day of entertainment in my book. Courtney and I now get to pay the Thai price, though, since we are in
possession of work permits (which makes it even better, and 150 baht cheaper).
Although it seemed like we would have plenty of time to go all the way to the top but still be leisurely on our way up and have time to swim to our hearts’ contents, we misjudged the time it would take us (shocker). Though many of the levels looked inviting for a swim, after taking all the requisite pictures at each level and climbing all the way up to the top of level 7, we decided to go back to the big mushroom-like waterfalls that you could slide down. We realized that we literally only had about 10 minutes to play and slide if we wanted to make it back down in time for the last bus back to Kanchanaburi, which was supposed to leave at 4 PM.
After we slid down a few times (asking some Thai people to take a picture of us mid-slide, we quickly got out of the water and tried to dry off. Instead of putting our clothes on over our wet bathing suits, we tied our sarongs around our necks and literally ran down the trail. We looked
absolutely ridiculous-- soaking wet in tennis shoes and sarongs. I think most of the people on the path thought we were lunatics as we passed by them. According to my clock, we were down at the entrance at 3:55, but the bus had already left!!! It was a definite “This is Thailand” (“T-I-T,” as we have called it since Ban Phe) moment. Fortunately, we weren’t the only jokers who had missed the bus. There were 2 girls from the Netherlands and 2 girls from China who had also missed it. So the 6 of us found a songthaew that would take us back to K-buri for just double the price of the bus (annoying, but could have been much worse!) The bummer, though, was that we waited in the parking lot for about and hour and a half for 2 other customers, all the while we could have been frolicking about in the waterfalls like sea pups. Despite the hitch in our plans, it was a really nice day at the park.
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