Welcome to the Jungle!

Last weekend I had my first out-of-Bangkok experience. Brittany, myself and a couple of our friends ventured out to a town on the western side of Thailand. It’s nestled among hills/mountains (depends on your perspective) and surrounded by jungle. It’s a relatively popular tourist destination, but wasn’t overrun by any means. The claim to fame is based upon a bridge built by POWs during WWII. If you’ve ever seen the movie “The Bridge over the River Kwai”, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

The weekend started at 5:30am on Saturday morning. We traveled on motorcycle, taxi and bus, and wound up there around 11am. After checking into our guesthouse (we got two bungalows on stilts over water for about $5/night) and grabbing a bit of breakfast (a full American breakfast…so delicious!), we rented motorcycles and drove to Erawan National Park, home of a 7-tiered waterfall. The drive was lovely although long. I’ve decided that riding on the back of a motorcycle is my favorite way to travel, despite the numbness that quickly overtook my entire lower body. 

The waterfalls were amazing! The park was well kept and the trails between each tier were easy to hike. All along the trail were signs warning naive tourists of the dangerous monkeys. Apparently our American notions of monkeys being cute and cuddly if a little mischievous are totally misplaced. According to everyone here as well as the signs, monkeys are basically the devil incarnate. In spite of all of this, I was very disappointed when we didn’t see one monkey in the whole park. My only glimpse was of one on the side of the road on the way back. 

Anyway, the waterfalls were just like pictures in National Geographic or on postcards. We swam in the first level. It was amazingly surreal! We swam all the way under the fall, and climbed up into the little cave behind it. It was very safe to all of you who are worrying right now. The only hazard was with the fish. There were huge groups of fish in the pool. The sizes varied, but, like the monkeys, these fish had no problem sharing the water with humans. In fact, they had apparently figured out that human flesh is good to eat. That’s right, the fish bit. A lot! At first I thought it was super cool that the fish were so close to the surface and so visible. It added to the tropical feeling of the moment. However, once they took a few nibbles out of me, I ceased to be a fan. It took me a good 10 minutes to work up to getting into the water. I ended up diving over the majority of them and swimming as fast as possible to the deep part where they seemed to be less dense. Swimming with man-eating fish is an experience I won’t soon forget. The waterfall was worth it though!

We also swam at the fourth level. The water there didn’t really fall so much as just stream over really huge boulders. It was set up so we could climb up the side and slide down the front, propelled by the water. So much fun! We only made it to the 5^th level because they had to start closing the trails around 4pm. Apparently the monkeys start coming out around then and they are too dangerous to allow tourists to be in the middle of the jungle alone with them. By that point we were all pretty hungry and tired anyway though, so it wasn’t too much of a disappointment. 

We drove back just as the sun was setting, and walked across the famous bridge. That evening we went out to eat at a place that served steak (not quite up to American standards, but good nonetheless), got massages, and collapsed into bed. The next morning we just hung out and enjoyed the exotic atmosphere and fresh air. It’s amazing how refreshed I felt just being out of the city for 24 hours. We hit the war museum in town that afternoon and then caught our bus back to Bangkok. The museum was interesting and probably the most random museum I have ever seen. Advertised as a war museum, it actually contained a huge range of artifacts ranging from weapons from ancient Thailand to a painting of George Washington to all the dresses ever worn by a Miss Thailand (yes, a beauty pageant). We wandered around for about an hour completely confused and amused. 

Overall the weekend ranks right up there with my favorite weekends ever! It was refreshing and exciting. I feel so alive when there are trails to be hiked, rocks to be climbed and vines to be swung on. Maybe I’m really part monkey at heart…although I’m not sure about the devilish nature… :)