This last weekend Lori and I went to Kanchanaburi. It was our first trip with just the two of us and we had to fight the urge to go to the beach with a group of other teachers. Kanachanburi is one of those cities that is very easy to get to, has lots of tourist attractions and is easy on the wallet. We caught the bus from the main street near our house for 100 baht each and 2 1/2 hours later we were in town.
The main reason for going to Kanachaburi was to hike the Erawan falls, a national park near Kanachaburi. It normally costs 200 baht per foreigner but because we are teachers it only cost us 40. Belows is a few pictures of our hike. I was very excited to get back into nature. Plus this park has fish in the different pools that will nibble at your feet if you let them. Apparently this is somthing that people pay money for in Korea.
In the park they take waste collection and sorting very seriously. They even required that we separate our Hazardous waste from the Rubbish and the Garbage. It was funny watching other tourists who didn't speak English as a first language open each one in turn to see if the words did in fact have a different meaning. They don't.
We could swim in seven different waterfalls and go right behind the falls in a couple of them. Lori and I took pictures of each other behind the falls. Unfortunately, to get behind the falls you have to climb on the rocks a little and if you look closely at the picture of me you will see something missing from my left hand. That's right! I lost my wedding ring in Erewan falls. I first noticed when we were packing up to go. I am have a habit of rotating my ring with my thumb and pinky when I am waiting around and when I went to do it, I felt nothing. I quickly checked both hands to make sure I was looking at the correct hand but to avail. We looked every where. I was completely shattered. I just hung my head and almost cried right there. It was arguably the worst moment of my life, or at least in the top two. Lori was great though. She kept telling me to keep looking and that it would be ok. I went behind the falls again to look and I almost didn't come back out. It was terrible.
I went to look in the water a bit but it is filled with minerals (mostly lime) that make it very blue but you can't see the bottom. We gave up looking and decided to report it to the park office in case someone turned it in but we didn't really expect something. In broken Thai and English we communicated our predicament. The park ranger asked which of the falls we had been swimming in and then said she would call a friend. A young man comes out of the back, hears the news and goes back to get a mask. That's right, he intended to go looking for the ring in a deep pool full of carnivorous fish with just a mask. I love the Thais. After pointing where I thought I lost it he did a few laps along the bottom of the pool. When he was about to give up I went in with him to look one last time behind the falls. We went to the left of the big rock in the picture in that tiny gap and I hear a little "okay." Not sure at first if it meant he was finished searching or what, just like that the fine young man found my ring! I couldn't believe it. I was astounded, amazed, bewildered and confused all at the same time. I swam over and gave him a big hug right in the pool. He was a bit uncomfortable but there was no possible way to communicate the extent of my gratitude. The day went from being the worst to the best in about 30min. I was ecstatic for the rest of the trip, continually reliving the moment when he found the ring and when I got to put it back on (and swimming to shore close fisted.) Even now, watching my fingers type, I see the shimmer of the ring and my heart skips a little.
These are the little fishes that eat the dead skin off your feet. However there were much larger ones - up to 10-15 cm - that ate off of my feet but there are no picture of those. It was very hard to get used to but after a little while it felt fine. In one of the pools there were quite large fish that were more aggressive, but for the most part the fish just nibbled here and there. I still have lots of dead skin on my feet so I thinking I will need to go back (I will keep the ring at home though.)
Here I am standing on a vine that was fun to climb on. You can see some falls in the background. The foliage was incredibly rich and everything was so beautiful. Last time Lori was here there were lots of aggressive monkeys but today just birds flying in the trees and fish nibbling at your feet.
And waterfalls to stand under and get wet. The cave behind Lori was really neat to go into. The minerals in the water actually build up the rock and then erode that rock. Almost all the way up the trail you could see where water had flowed before, where it built up walls and then changed directions.
Here you can see the cliffs are actually growing down. It was really cool. Whole plants and trees were sometimes swallowed up by the mineral onslaught.
Here is the happy wedding ringed couple. It was a great weekend.
Oh ya. And this is the bus that brought us there. Note the different fluid intakes (oil maybe) are wired into the cab. I guess it makes for easy access.
