Today we conquered the world… well… maybe a mountain… ok, ok you got me… it was a waterfall… but it was huge! Well it felt that way after climbing for an hour and seeing “level 6” at least 3 times before we got to “level 7”. That makes it bigger doesn’t it?
We started our day slowly. It was the day before the next leg of the journey so we did that domesticated thing and got the washing out of the way first up… that was even before breakfast!!! And after a rather restless night where we had found ourselves awake at about 2:00am for no known reason ... We then meandered our way down town where we found someone supplying fried eggs on toast with coffee and orange juice (edit by Cath: we did not wander down town looking for breakfast at 2:00am by the way, it was more like 9:00 ish). You can see they are attempting to accommodate westerners but haven’t quite got it right… It was still breakfast and it filled the void that had been gnawing at my stomach since 2:00am… So why didn’t I eat an apple at 2:00am and go back to sleep? Would you???
Over breakfast we decided our travels for the day. We headed back to our room to don bathing suits under our shirts and trousers and swapped the boots for sandals. Then it was a 4km hike to the local bus depo to catch the local bus to Erawan National Park to view the seven tiered waterfall… Ha! Like I said… I am sure we saw tier 6 at 3 different locations… We arrived at the bus station shortly before 10:30am and were promptly hustled towards a bus. These guys really know their business… see a western tourist and assume they want to see the local attraction. Fortunately for us, it worked and the bus departed at 10:30am to arrive 65km down the trail at Erawan by mid day.
As our stomachs were talking again we decided to fill them before attempting the climb. We had 4 hours until the final bus departed… plenty of time! We picked a local eatery (mostly because they offered us a menu) and ordered lunch… the order got slightly mixed up and instead of getting one large bottle of beer to share between us over the meal, we ended up with one each… hmmmm… how safe is it to climb a waterfall after a large bottle of full strength ale? Not to worry… by the time we reached tier 3, the beer was pouring out of us in the form of sweat… We decided to go to the top of the waterfall as quickly as we could and then spend the rest of the time climbing down at a leisurely pace and taking photographs and video footage. The first three tiers were relatively easy. After that the climbing gradually became more difficult until we were clambering up slopes between tiers, grasping on to tree trunks and vines to haul ourselves over the rocks. Upon reaching tier 6 (the third tier 6 that is…) it became apparent that the only way to reach tier 7 was climbing through the water fall. We shrugged our shoulders, took off our sandals and took the plunge. Fortunately the water was only knee deep and the camera gear was still safe and dry.
We had noticed as we steadily climbed that the throng of tourists had dramatically dropped away with each tier, and now, approaching the last level, there was only a handful of us willing to take the challenge. We passed a Japanese girl coming down who smiled at us encouragingly and told us we were almost there… Eagerly we waded through the water and turned the corner, and climbed the next slope, and turned the next corner… about 15 minutes later, after heaving, puffing, panting, seating and hauling ourselves over the steepest part of the climb we fixed our gaze on the thundering waters of Erawin… The whole group let out a whoo-hoo and thumped their hands into the air in jubilation. We stood gazing at the mist shrouding the first pool and carefully waded our way across to the sign “End of trail.”
Our descent was a bit more rapid than we expected, with much photo taking and video footage. We reached the car park with only 20 minutes to spare before the bus departed. The bus trip home was subdued with most people falling asleep… Cathy and I just grinned at each other.
Was it worth it??? Hell yeah. The feeling of success is still lingering along with the aching tired muscles… but we did it!
Tomorrow we are heading for Ayuhaya… Until then… there is more beer to be drunk (if I don’t spill it all over Cathy’s gear again… heh heh heh)
Cass
(Edit by Cath: She realy should not have tempted fate with that one. Cass finished this entry, handed the computer to me then went to change for bed and promptly dropped her PJ’s in the puddle of water in the bathroom!) (Cathy is still laughing over that one!)
