Story of My Life: Kanchanaburi Tour: Beautiful Erawan Waterfall

Erawan waterfall, Kanchanaburi
Friday, 20 Nov 2015

Seperti yang dijanjikan, sebelum pukul 8am lagi minivan yang akan membawa kami ke Erawan dah sampai. Ohh, Tara Raft Guesthouse not included breakfast, so, kami semua makan apa yang ada sajalah. Simple breakfast, milo panas & makan roti with tuna & serunding. Sekadar alas perut. Lagipun lepas ni nak kena kerah keringat juga nak hiking Erawan. Seawal 8 pagi kami mula bergerak menuju ke destinasi. Driver kami tak pandai bahasa lain, so, agak susah juga nak berkomunikasi & tanya lebih-lebih. Beberapa kali juga aku terpaksa call Dao (the lady incharge), semata-mata nak confirmkan plan kami. Sebab kami takde guide. Pandai-pandai sendiri jer. So, after aku cakap kat Dao, aku akan pass kat driver, dia pulak akan cakap, kiranya nak translate apa yang aku cakap lah. Tak kisah lah asalkan plan run smoothly.

Perjalanan menuju Erawan agak lama juga, lebih kurang 1 jam. Dah dekat-dekat nak sampai tu, cantik juga view di kiri & kanan jalan. And we reached Erawan about 1 hour later.

Kami ada lebih kurang 4 hours to cover the all 7 levels. Kami perlu ada di parking semula around 1pm sebab petangnya kami akan ke death railway. Nak ke situ pun lebih kurang 45mins juga.

Since Erawan Waterfall is a protected national Park in Thailand, so, there’s an entrance fee of 300 THB for foreigners. And additional THB50 for parking fee.

Welcome

To me, Erawan waterfall is one of a must see place if you go to Kanchanaburi province. It has been said that these waterfalls are ranked as one of the most beautiful in Southeast Asia.

Katanya, these waterfalls received their name, Erawan, from Hindu mythology. At one time the falls had an appearance of a three-headed or three-trunk-elephant-like appearance resembling the Hindu God by the name of Erawan. In the Thai language the waterfalls are known as Namtok Erawa.

Permulaan trail...

Permulaan menuju waterfall 1 masih lagi rilex & leisure. Cuma bila dah nak masuk ke level 3 waterfall, barulah terasa macam tough sikit. Masa ni lah baru rasa the real hiking part. Tak target plak Erawan waterfall ni setinggi 2000m. Lansung tak buat research, hahaha. Normally, aku kalau panjat gunung je aku amik kisah ketinggian bagai tapi sebab pi waterfall je kan, so, jadi tak heran. Dah rasa macam panjat gunung, cumanya ada proper trail macam tangga yang menghubungkan antara satu level waterfall ke waterfall level yang lain.

Tak semua level boleh mandi-manda cuma level tertentu sahaja. Level 2, 4, 5 & 7 saja yang aku nampak mat saleh ramai mandi. Level lain hanya untuk sightseeing saja. And at certain level juga, ada tempat di mana boleh buat fish therapy. So, don't miss this oppurtunity. Feel the real fish spa in the middle of the jungle.

Waterfall Level 1 “Hlai Khuen Rung” at 500m height

Waterfall Level 1

Waterfall Level 2 “Wang Macha” at 600m

Waterfall Level 3 “Pha namtok” at 700m

Waterfall Level 3 from other angle, tengoklah tu banyak nya ikan

Waterfall level 3 hanya untuk sightseeing jer tak boleh mandi-mandi kat sini

Waterfall Level 4 “Oke Nang Peesau” at 1050m

Don't be surprised if you see big tree covered in sparkling dresses.
Some people here believed that Tree nymphs are the queens of the forest, and one of the way to please them is by adorning them with beautiful clothing, emmhhh.... macam-macam

Waterfall Level 5 “Buea Mai Long” at 1,550m

Waterfall Level 5 upper level

Moving toward the 6th level is increasingly strenuous. Anyway, we kept hiking and hiking upwards and reached level number 6. Not sure level yang kami sampai ni level 6 but the water level was a little low and not so impressive. So we stayed just for a moment and continued up to the final 7th layer.

On the way nak naik ke level 7, jumpa dengan Fad, Bai & Miza nak turun dah. Pantas betul mereka ni. Yelah, tak poyo macam aku & Eein amik gamba, hehehe. Anyway, kalau nak kepuasan bergambar, to all the waterfall lovers tu, bawalah tripod. Sebab aku rasa waterfall kat sini sangat cantik bila guna slow shutter. Maybe next time kena usahakan juga menabung nak dapat kan satu carbon fiber tripod.

This waterfall after we hike down from level 7, maybe part of level 6 punye waterfall

Going further up to Level 7

Finally we're here...

Waterfall Level 7 “Phu Pha Erawan” at 2,000m

The last or 7^th tier has a large pool at the bottom of the fall with beautiful turquoise color

The level 7 of Erawan Waterfall is a perfect reward for climbing all the way to the top. From the first level it takes about 45 minutest to an hour to reach the 7th level depending on your speed. Gagah juga kami semua sampai ke atas, hahaha.

Kami spend tak lama pun kat atas ni, after taking a few pics, rest kejap baru turun balik. Lagipun kat atas ni agak ramai juga yang mandi manda. Kami ada less than an hour nak kena sampai bawah ni. So, on the way nak turun tu memang speed up. Until we reached section for fish therapy. Area ni between level 4 to level 3. So, rest dulu sambil geli-geli kan kaki dengan ikan. Mula-mula tu memang geli tapi bila dah lama-lama tu rasa seronok pulak.

Kami sampai bawah just nice sekitar pukul 1pm. Masa tu dah kelihatan Fad, Miza, Adeq & Bai tengah santai duduk menuggu aku & Eein. Dan kami saing together ke parking area.

Ingat dah turun boleh proceed terus, tiba-tiba minivan kami tak boleh start pulak. Adoi. Nasib baik ramai orang yang ada kat sekitar tu datang menolong driver kami, siap tolakkan bagai sebab nak kasi start. Alhamdulillah, berjaya juga after 1/2jam berpanas menunggu. Kami tak terus ke death railway tapi singgah lunch dulu di restoran Halal. Tak jauh pun dari Erawan ni, about 15mins drive. Lokasi betul-betul tepi jalan. Pemilik kedai ni juga sangat baik tumpangkan kami rumah dia nak solat. Yang pasti enjin minivan kami terpaksa dibiarkan on sebab takut the same thing happened macam kat Erawan tadi. Macam-macam, perkara nak jadikan, so, sabar jelah. Yang penting, plan masih berjalan seperti yang dirancang.