Kanchanaburi – Erewan Falls

0.1km   39’C

Today was the shortest distance I’ve ridden in a week of riding. Just 100M, from one hotel to another.

I decided to make a day off riding into a day off exploring, and joined a tour to Erewan National Park.  The highlight of the park is the magnificent 7 levels of waterfalls, which requires a good amount of climbing to reach the top. We set out at 8am, and by 10am it was already 38’C, the afternoon saw the temperature peak at 39’C
Needless to say, I was drenched in sweat climbing the 2km up to the top level of the waterfall, but it was all worth it when I jumped into the crystal clear blue water, which was actually quite cold.  There were a large amount of fish in the rock pools, and they took to ex-foliating dead skin from all over my body, although they were very aggressive, especially with my feet!   The guide had warned against urinating in the water as the larger fish could easily remove a large chunk of “a banana” as she explained.

After cooling off in the water, and a quick lunch, it was then off to ride an elephant, which was less comfortable than I expected.  Even more so as the elephant took to pulling branches off trees and using them in his trunk to swat flies, but inevitably whacked me, as I was sitting on his head.  Once the elephant had beaten me up enough, we took a raft ride down the river Kwai.

The day ended with a short journey by train on the death railway, built during the second world war by POW labour.  100,000 lives were lost in the process through overwork, abuse, illness and disease.

On returning to Kanchanaburi, i had dinner at roadside stall.  $1.90 for two huge plates of pad Thai noodles, followed by some papaya at the night markets.

All ready for tomorrow’s ride towards Bangkok!   Here comes the traffic!