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| Tier 1 |
Once upon a time in Asia, there was an elephant named Erawan that either had 3 heads or 33, no one can remember correctly. Erawan broke free from his egg as Brahma read from the holy hymns and so was considered holy.
What Erawan has to do with a seven-tiered waterfall in Kanchanaburi eludes me. Nevertheless, Erawan Falls is the official name for one of the most beautiful places I’ll probably see in Thailand. The water is aquamarine in hue, gently gliding over rock ledges that have all ranges of height. Tons of little and huge carp swim in the clear pools. The forest canopy hides the water from the sun’s glare while also being a home for some territorial monkeys. It looked like a scene out of Lost only a million times more beautiful. Vines are hugging tree limbs or hanging free and monkeys are calling. The roots of the trees weave in and out of the water leaving the fish with an obstacle course to navigate. It’s exactly what you dream about when you think of an exotic oasis in the jungles of Asia. With a few notable exceptions, which we’ll come to soon.
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| Tier 2 |
Jenna and I made the return trip to Kanchanaburi in a comfortable minivan without any mishaps. Some of you will remember that Kanchanaburi was the setting for an all night party at a swank hotel and some epic elephant riding back in October. Even then we started hearing stories about this massive waterfall you could swim in that we had to come back to. So we met some other OEGer at the legendary Jolly Frog hostel, a place known for it’s all night parties and regulars who have been hanging around for a while. We found it tame and comfortable, with great hammocks and porches sitting right on the river Kwai. The next day we got up early and flagged down a really, really ancient bus headed up the Erawan National Park (this thing could only make it to about 15 mph on the hills.) It was standing room only and the wooden floor had some large junks missing where you could see the ground beneath you.
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| Tier 3, my favorite |
One hour later we arrived to the park, which we soon discovered should be renamed Erawan Water Park. Being a weekend and all, every tier was packed with people, something I was expecting. What slipped my mind was the part where you can swim in these waterfalls and so I should have expected a lot of people swimming around. But I forgot all this, as well as the propensity of fat, balding, hairy European men to don tiny swimsuits. Sweet Jesus. I will pay someone to round up those Speedos and burn them. I look to my left and right and realize I’m flanked by them. Then I look behind me and notice I’m completely surrounded. There is no escaping it, the Europeans were everywhere. There they are, smoking with their feet in the water. There they are laying down to get some sun by the pool. There they are sliding down the rock face on the fourth tier. There they are with a massive wedgie. It was an amusement/water park to these people. Hiking towards the top we passed many spirit houses and decorated trees that made me feel like myself and everyone else were trespassing on sacred ground, scantily clad no less.
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| Tier 5 |
At this point you either join them or stare at them. Resistance is futile and of course, we had planned on swimming. We hiked up to the seventh tier then made our way down to swim in the fifth and fourth tier, trying out the natural water slide. It was frigid but so refreshing after the sweaty hike. The water was clear and the fish didn’t bite if you stayed moving (though their bite is a bit more fierce than the traditional nibble I’m accustom to.) The slide on the fourth tier was a lot of fun. And the fifth tier had some nice photo opts. It was yet another surreal Thailand moment: having fish nibble my feet while swimming in the most beautiful waterfall I will ever see.
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| Tier 6 |
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| Tier 7 |
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