Journey to the World

January 10, 2007

That day I went on an organized tour to Erawn National Park and the seven waterfalls. The program included visiting the reservation, an elephant trek and washing in the river with elephants. Next on the program was a visit to a cave and riding the train to the famous bridge over the river Kwae.

Erawan National Park and the seven waterfalls

We started a trek in the national park that included a three hours walk which reminded me the Jordan Park in Israel. On the way to the park I met Andy from England. Together we walked till the seventh waterfall which was the higher and most impressive than than all others. The rumors I read about the difficulties reaching this waterfall turned out as false. You do have to put some effort to reach the end of the route, but it’s not so hard for a person with reasonable fitness. On the way back we stopped to refresh at the fourth waterfall. The water is cold so you have to choose between a fast cold entrance or a slow entrance which involves some nibbles from the fish who swim near the rocks.

Although it reminded of the Jordan Park in Israel, this park was much prettier and the waterfalls are very impressive here. In order to prevent people from littering the park with drinking bottles, the park management found an original solution. Before you enter the park, you have to deposit a small amount of money for each drinking bottle you have in your bag. The deposits are registered in a special book so you get the money when you get out and show your empty bottles. The cleanliness of the park is commended. People don’t throw their garbage on the ground unlike in other places I know.

During the tour I stumbled upon a weird tree with pieces of clothes tied to it, and small jugs by its side. This was my first reminder of how deep Buddhism is getting into the Thai culture. A small temple inside a national park.

My first surprise in Thailand was monkeys. Already at the beginning of the route some travelers discovered a monkey eating leaves on one of the trees. The tree wasn’t so high, which gave us an excellent angle for close-up shots.

Getting closer to the seventh waterfall the view becomes even better. The last waterfall definitely justify climbing up the mountain.

The way back was a decline and easier. Even though, my knees prefer inclines and the efforts than the shocks they get in the declines. The route isn’t circular and so when you get to the end you have to make a U turn. It’s recommended to skip one of the quality pool on the way up to save them for refreshment on the way down.

When we returned we got another surprise. More monkeys. This time they sat on rail. It seems like they’re used to visitors who throw them pieces of food. There was an entire family of small and big monkeys. Some of the monkeys that set on a rail, close to the stairs, frightened people who walked by. A video documentation could easily get to a candid camera show.

Elephant Village in Sai Yok

From Erawan National Park we drove to the elephant village in Sai Yok. The place is quite commercialized. It includes an elephant trek for 25 minutes, a nice experience but feels like a moving assembly line. After that you can go on to the elephant washing. They take the seat off the elephant and let you sit on its head. The elephant gets into the river and you wash it while sitting on it in the water. Nice but commercialized.

Riding on a seat attached to the elephant’s back isn’t too stable. When the elephant goes down a hill you have to hold something so you will not fall. It’s not so scary, but you’d better tie your bag to something otherwise it will fall to the ground.

There are mainly two options to sit on an elephant with a seat attached to its back. You can sit on the seat or on the elephant’s neck. At some point the leader offered me to replace him and sit on the neck, which was even less stable but much more fun. On the way back I met two Israelis on another elephant which reminded me again that it would be hard to completely disconnect from my country, especially in those heavily toured areas.

While you’re at the trek, it’s hard to get photos or photo yourself. The movements of the elephants are constant so the camera shakes all the time. A lot of sunlight , fast shutter speed and an image stabilizer are ideal for such photography. In order for you to take photos of yourself you have to ask the leader to stop, get off the elephant and take a photo of you. It’s quite complicated really. In most cases he doesn’t even speak any English and you have to use pantomime to make him understand. Partners can really help. I took some photos of a couple of travelers, Angela from Canada and Alex from England that were on another elephant, and in return they took my photos. At the end of the trek we switched images with the kind help of my portable hard drive. Without technological abilities you have to exchange email addresses and sent them at a later time.

Right after we came back we went to the elephant washing in the river, the second commercialized experience. From an improvised pier we climbed to an elephant, which this time didn’t have a seat attached. The leader goes on the back and instructs the elephant to dive into the river into its daily bath while you are on it.

After we came back to camp, we had enough time to feed the elephants. After that a small elephant presented his impressive abilities like playing with a hoop on his trunk, shooting a basketball, standing on two legs, putting a hat on a man’s head and even giving a kiss to a young girl.

An old elephant with two huge ivory tusks is tied to the fence with iron chains. They told me no one is riding him because he’s too old, but the fact that he just stands in the same place chained to his leg is very disturbing. It seems like his entire purpose is to supply pictures for visitors.

Krasae Cave and The Railway

We continued to Krasae cave located nearby the railway station. The cave is something you can pass unless you’re already there. Buddhism signs were clearly everywhere inside the cave and a large golden statue decorated its center. I learned there that you do not get inside caves with sandals and sunglasses no matter how small or short the caves are. I went out with a twisted ankle and an injury to my hand.

After we got out of the cave, we went on the train that goes on the famous bridge over the river Kwae. The experience is nice. The view from the window is of the river. Unfortunately there were no available seats left so it’s a good idea to get in fast and find a place on the river’s side. At that time I was busy with my injury and was less interested with the view.

Sunset Over The River Kwae

The tour ended when we got down at the center of Kanchanaburi at the station of the famous bridge to watch the sunset. It’s a fabulous sight which deserves a photo or two. At that spot there’s a small market of clothes and other products. Everything is touristic and commercialized.

This tour started at 8:00 AM and ended at 17:30 PM. Cost is 1090 baht and includes entrance tickets, train ticket, rides to every place and lunch.

I already planned a rest for my ankle in the day after and started to think about the things I will have to give up because of my injury…

 

This article was originally written in Hebrew. It was translated to English at a later time.

This article was published at 10-01-2007 Time: 5:36 and belongs to categories Travel Journal 2007, Caves, Waterfalls, Central Thailand, Elephants, Monkeys, Kanchanaburi, Erawan, Natual Reservation, Sunsets, Thailand. You can follow comments to this article using the feed RSS 2.0. You can post a comment, or trackback from your website.