Bangkok/Kanchanaburi 2014 - Day 2 Part I

Date of travel: 18.03.2014

This post is a continuation from Day 1 - HERE

Our hotel stay includes breakfast buffet from 6 to 10am.

We were down for breakfast at 6am cos' our day tour to Kanchanaburi was supposed to pick us up at 6.30am -____-

Ate full full, cos'  I predicted a long day ahead.

We waited at the lobby at around 6.25am.

The lobby was full of mosquitoes attacking only King Luis.

So we went to sit at Starbucks which is just next to the hotel's lobby.

The non-English speaking driver from the tour agency finally arrived at 6.50am.  They were late and I knew I had chosen a lousy tour agency.

With us were another 2 caucasian tourists.

We were drove to this place first, which I had no idea where was this, to drop those caucasians off and pick up another 2.

At around 7.30am, we finally made our 3hrs drive to Kanchanaburi in this grandfather old white car with a cracked windscreen.

During toilet break, managed to take a pic of the transport this stupid tour agency provided.

We reached the entrance of  Erawan Waterfall at 10.30am.   The driver told us to come back by 1.00pm and left us.  Only then I realised that the tour was not guided.  I panicked a little initially but as we moved on, it was unlikely to lost our way at Erawan Waterfall.  There were signboards clear enough for visitors.

Hadn't got much time to lose, we left the caucasians who were taking their leisure time smoking and relaxing .

We walked into the Visitor Center, no time to view the exhibits.

Adventure began from here....

Took a pic of the overall map in case we lost of way.

500m to the 1st waterfall.

It was easy with a cement path.

Not sure what plant this was, it cut through our path.

A sign board indicating the distance of each waterfall.  We were quite determined to conquer all the 7 Waterfalls of Erawan.

First sight of a river.

As we moved on, we saw many of these bamboo platforms for picnickers.

This man in blue was taking photos of the 1st tier waterfall, that was what I thought.

He was taking photos of the 1st tier waterfall with that ang mo in bikini -___-

2nd tier was like a playground for the locals.

A closer pic of the 2nd tier waterfall.

Near the waterfall were herds of big black fishes.

3rd tier

Image credit www.tropicultures.blogspot.sg

4th tier is interesting, people would slide down from the smooth rocks.

You can see a boy sitting there ready to slide down into the water.

Water is clear with fishes swimming around.

We saw 2 trees like this one being wrapped with fabrics.  Not sure what it is all about.

At this point, after the 4th tier, no more cement or easy paths....  no more young children were seen, the real trekking began....

Besides the main 7 tiers of waterfalls, there are numerous little ones like this.

Love this photo cos' I am in bikini, those clever leaves hide my fat tummy, yayness to my photographer King Luis.

I found spot to sit down and enjoy splattering with the cool water.

Luis called me childish, but I enjoyed it.

HAPPY!!!

We were competing with time, so I knew I couldn't stay too long....  trekked on....

Wooden bridge that cracks and cricks when walked over -___-|||  But the water below seemed shallow.

One of the smoothest ground we had walked.

Many were steep, full of uneven stones, muddy.  Luis was busy cursing while I was busy panting, so not able to take photos of those challenging roads we covered.

 Still, I appreciate the nature, I know I wouldn't see such sights once back in Singapore.

5th tier waterfall, it's amazing.

Walking further up, we found more and more marble stone.  Many are already in "semi-polished" finish caused by stepping from numerous visitors.  Marbles are slippery , so we avoid stepping onto them.

King Luis was able to identify normal stones from marbles, damn clever.

I missed taking photo of the 6th tier.  Not even sure if the few pics below are part of it.

We were near the 7th tier.

Need to walk through this small section of river.... luckily we brought slippers.

King Luis in despair........

There were so many times we thought of giving up, but we were so near to our target destination, it would be a waste to give up at any junction.

Luis, man up!

All the surrounding area were muddy, our only path was this tree trunk.

I took ages just to get myself up this trunk, fml.

End of trail, at the foot of 7th tier waterfall.

It wasn't as majestic as I had seen in photos.

Water streams down from many meters up, but not enough volume for any gushing effect.

This doggy later woke up and followed us down.

It was with us till the 4th tier, then it went faster than us.  Yes, even a dog was faster than us.

Not too long after this pic was taken, this dog went chasing after a huge black slimy monitor lizard.   I screamed like hell sia.  When I finally got hold of myself, I found a crowd starring at me.  I nearly died of embarrassment...........  -_____-|||

By the time we reached the entrance, we were 40mins late.  We saw that black doggie was laying under a shady tree licking itself while we were panting with legs breaking.

Lunch was included in this tour package and this was what packed for us.

Sorry, blur pic on the moving car.  It's rice with slices of tomatoes and shreds of green veg.  That's it!  No meat nor fish, not even an egg!!  Ok, to be fair, there was a packet of sliced watermelon and pineapple plus a bottle of mineral water for each of us.  Big deal, cheap deal.

This lousy tour was brought to us by Day Tours Bangkok www.daytoursbangkok.com  They are the cheapest I found on the web-site at 1900 baht/per pax.  Tour includes pick-up from hotel, transport and admission fees to Erawan Waterfall, lunch, elephant ride/bath, transport back to Khao San.  Now I learn my lesson, cheap price comes with cheap service also.  So you all know who to avoid sia.

Although the tour agency sucks, this visit to Erawan Waterfalls was an unforgettable experience.
Thailand is more than Bangkok and shopping malls.

Stay tuned for my next blog post on the elephant bath/ride, I have more to say about this tour agency.