Tag Archive: swimming


Bears of Paradise

Woke up and headed off for a quick breakfast. Our goal today was to visit a waterfall we had heard about from the guide book. We started haggling with a tuk-tuk and moved off from him, found another who would go for the price we wanted, but he wanted to find more people to make it worth his while. After like 20 minutes of driving around (and I am sure, wasting more money on fuel than he would have if he just drove us right away) we popped off in search for a new tuk-tuk. After the waste of time we settled for a different, slightly more expensive, but ultimately cheap tuk-tuk which got us to the falls 40 km later.

We bought a couple sandwiches from a vendor for a picnic later and headed into the park. It turns out there was a bear rescue place there with tons of bears. It looked like a really nice place for them actually and there we all these hammocks that they would lay in that looked really really comfy.

We got to the first pool of water and small fall and we were just taken back. The turquoise water described in the book was better than could be imagined. The water was cool, but comfortable. When we get around to getting these pictures up you will not believe it.

We checked out all the different falls and when it got to the first, largest fall Amy and Jen decided to go off to swim, while I decided to check out where a trail led. Turns out it led to the top of the fall, and it was one heck of a hike to make in flip flops. On the way down I ended up going barefoot just to get at least a bit of traction on the dirt. I ended up running into some boat people on my way up. They are everywhere. The view was nice, but maybe not really worth the amount of effort it took to get up there and down.

By the time I met back up with Amy and Jen I was just soaked in sweat and really ready for a swim. There was a rope swing and Amy teased me onto it… what a great way to get into the water. A brief swim, under the waterfall, a few swings and it was time enough for us to go back.

When we came into the room it took us only a second to realize something was off. Amy quickly noticed that the chocolates we on her bed (off of the TV where they were being left untouched.) The pyramid was open and wrappers were everywhere around it. It was very clear that some one was in there, which worried the hell out of us because for the first time ever, knowing we were going swimming and not wanting to leave our passports on the shore unattended we left them in the room along with our extra cash and other valuables. I had $200 laying on the nightstand, right in the open (stupidly.)

After a really thorough look through everything we realized absolutely nothing other than the chocolate was taken. No cameras missing, no money gone, no credit cards taken, no passports stolen… it is one of the weirdest break-ins I have ever heard of, let alone experienced.

We alerted the staff, and it was not easy to explain that some one broke in, took chocolate, nothing else, and then locked the door again on the way out. Then we went for dinner, valuables all safely back in our backpacks and bags on our shoulders. A cocktail, a crepe, and a massage later we were back to the room before curfew.

North Thailand Trek – Day 2

We woke up had eggs with toast and fruit. We had some time so we walked around the village. Granted there was a solar panel powering the store, and some hefty radio antennas by some of the huts, you felt that you were at an authentic (if slightly modernized) hill tribe village. There wasn’t anyone trying to sell you gaudy souvenirs, the water and pop didn’t really cost much more than it would from the 7-11 down in Chiang Mai. There was a school with about 12 kids in it, cattle roaming around, chickens everywhere (the roosters started at about 1:00am eugh!) pig pens, pigs not in pens, really neat stuff.

We got back and it was a much easier hike to the next village, much smaller, and essentially it was just to get out of the sun, buy some water, and maybe a bag of chips. We walked along a stream, through the jungle, and eventually to the first waterfall. It wasn’t huge and the water was freezing, but it was an opportunity to swim and become less sweaty. We had lunch and played with a cat for a while and then went on to the next waterfall. It was beautiful, sandy bottom, but not deep enough to swim. The water seemed warmer and it was great for the legs and feet to cool off. After this we walked off to the camp for the night. No roosters this time! It was right on the side of the creek, and we had a big bonfire. There were some huge chunks of wood and Tej and I had a mission to burn through them before going to sleep.

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