Our plan for the day was to ride the forty miles northwest to Erawan Falls. We visited the falls when we were here a couple of years ago and know they are a nice place for a hike and a swim. But mostly, Re wants to go for the fish. After an excellent night of sleep, we woke to a beautifully sunny morning. Breakfast was more of the same – yogurt, cereal, and coffee from the 7Eleven. After breakfast we showered and packed up our bathing suits, sunscreen, and water, and headed out to the bikes. As we pulled into Kanchanaburi yesterday afternoon, I heard an occasional clank from Re's rear sprocket, so I wanted to check that this morning before we left. I removed the four 10mm bolts and pulled of the chain guard to check the rear sprocket. Everything still seemed snug, so I inspected the inside of the chain case. Sure enough, there was a shiny spot where the chain lube has been rubbed off, so it appears that the master link is slightly rubbing the case. I massaged the area out a bit and put it back together.

With that sorted out, we headed for the falls. The road was beautiful and smooth, and we found ourselves clipping along at 45 mph. Just for shits and giggles, we wicked it all the way up to 50 (!) mph for a short stretch. As we rode west, we started getting into the edge of the mountains and had beautiful views all around us. Some stretches of the road were twisty fun, while others were lined with colorful bougainvillea and dark purple morning glories. We did stop for fuel once we neared the falls and found that it was about ten percent more than in town. We arrived at the turnoff for the falls shortly after 11:00 am and remembered from our last trip that there was an excellent food court at the turnoff. We chose more crispy pork, this time, accompanied by sticky rice and washed it down with a couple of fruit shakes and then made for the falls. The admission to the falls seems to have gone way up, since I don't remember it costing 200 Baht (6.75 USD) the last time we were here. We also had to pay an additional 20 Baht for each bike. We parked our bikes, locked up our riding gear and helmets, and started hiking for the falls.



Erawan Falls has seven levels, and the seventh level is at the top of a 2 km, moderately strenuous climb. Paths in parks in southeast Asia are nothing like their US counterparts. Some areas of a path have you scrambling up and over boulders and using tree roots as steps. This was not so much a path as a suggested route. But the scenery was breathtaking, and the climb was good exercise. We went directly to the top and eventually settled into the surprisingly cool water.



The seventh level is a the foot of a steep cliff face, and the years of limestone deposits have formed a smooth shell over the rocks. The best part of the pools at Erawan Falls is watching other people's reactions when they get in and first discover the fish. The pools are filled with small sucker fish that range from one to about four inches in length that just love dead skin. Within seconds of getting into the water, you feel the first kiss, usually on one of your feet. If you sit still long enough (like Re does) you will have twenty to thirty of these little fish nibbling away on your feet, calves, and occasionally, fingers. The sensation takes some getting used to, and I find it rather ticklish, but Re loves it. Months of walking and riding have left her feet far from silky smooth, so the fish seem to find her especially yummy. Other people's reactions range from embarrassed giggling to involuntary yelps, and every once in a while somebody loses their footing and falls into the water. In the interest of full disclosure, the pictures here aren't from this trip. We did not bring our camera since the broken screen makes it difficult to use, so we're recycling pictures from our visit here a couple of years ago.



But it's the same pools, the same sexy wife, and she brought the same bikini for this trip as well. After at least an hour at the seventh level, we hiked back down to the fourth level, which is our second favorite pool. It is a little more shady and has less people, so it's a nice place to relax.



The humorous highlight of this afternoon occurred when one of the “cheeky monkeys” grabbed a couple's backpack and raced up a tree. The monkey was unable to open the bag and must have eventually gotten tired of people yelling at it, so it dropped the bag and went in search of something better. After soaking in the fourth level for a while, we saw that it was 3:30 pm, and since the park closes at 4:00, we started climbing down. As we descended, I heard the distinctive sound of thunder in the distance. Uh oh.

We made it to the parking lot at around 4:00, and the thunder had become more frequent. We put on our Dariens and helmets and rode out under darkening skies. After a few miles, sprinkles began to appear on our face shields, and it rained on and off for most of the trip back to Kanchanaburi. The rain stopped shortly before we pulled into town, and other than our gloves, we stayed dry. After another shower, we went out to our old standby, the Jolly Frog, for dinner. I had the always excellent chicken cordon bleu (2.50 USD) and Re had more tom yam and fries. Originally we were going to cruise down to the Dairy Queen after dinner but decided we'd had enough riding for one day. Instead, we returned to the 7Eleven for...what else?

90 miles in nearly 3 hours. Re's feet feel extra smooth on my calves!