Erawan Waterfalls = <3 (love)

Today was the day I had been looking forward to all week! At 9:00am Suzie, Jen, Renee, and I took a van to go see the Erawan Waterfalls. The drive was about an hour away from our guesthouse. These waterfalls are 7-tiered and the hike up was quite strenuous. Every level of the falls looked totally different but all of them were absolutely breathtaking. It was so serene to hear the water and see the clear blue of it. For every tier higher we climbed, the path became more and more challenging. Often, there wasn’t even a path but more of rocks with footholds and vines to pull yourself onto. By the time we reached the 4th tier (where you could slide down the fall!) I was drenched in sweat. It really felt good to be doing some heavy-duty exercise. I love the feeling of pushing my body and the awesome views were the reward. On the path there were also some sketchy bridges that looked like they were about to fall apart, a ladder with broken rungs, and slippery steps of mud and stone. At the 6th tier, the other girls decided to go swimming instead of keep trekking to the top. The path kind of disappeared and was hard to find, but I really wanted to climb all the way to the top. I am SO glad that I did. The final waterfall came from a sheer rock face that must have went up 15 stories. The water felt cool and was completely clear. To me, this was the best day of the trip so far. The pictures I took of each level don’t do justice to the absolute beauty of the falls. On my hike back down (just as dangerous and challenging as on the way up) Suzie and I saw 3 monkeys in the trees. Real ones. Live ones. It was so exciting! I also had a chance to ride down the slide of the waterfall on tier 4 and swam around in the cool water before going back to the bottom. This is a place you could spend all day in, but we only had a few hours.

(Sliding down the waterfall, tier 4)

Once we returned back to Apple Guesthouse, our group had to leave right away to take a bus back to Bangkok for the night. Tonight, we stayed at a place called Thai House. WOW, was this place amazing. Thai House is family owned house made completely from teak wood (a native wood of Thai, dark brownish-red and gorgeous). All of the decorations, doors, verandas, walls in our rooms were all hand carved. It really was a treat to stay here with this family. Not to mention, the mother and daughters of the house cooked us dinner and breakfast. Nothing better than a home cooked meal! It was also really neat because when we ate dinner, it was required we all wear sarongs (even the guys!) they provided for us. Typically when at home during mealtime, sarongs are a normal piece of clothing worn by all. It was a nice touch to the traditional home stay for the evening.