Thursday, February 25th, 5:00 PM
At orientation we decided to play sharks and minnows at the
hotel pool. A version of tag that people usually stop playing at a much younger
age. We all had a blast but I sustained a minor toe injury: a bruise at the
base of my big toe nail. Now, months later, the bruise has almost completely
grown out of the nail. I suspect that it will do so at about the same time that
we leave Tak and head out to explore the world on our way back to the United
States. I thought that was a pretty funny coincidence.
This past weekend we finally made it to a destination that
we have wanted to visit since we heard that we would be placed in Tak: Thi Lor
Su, Thailand’s biggest waterfall. It is located in Umphang, a district in the south
of Tak province. Despite the short distance, it is quite hard to get to. We had
to take a van to Mae Sot (a 90 minute drive) and then get a song taew to
Umphang, a 5 hour endeavor.
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| The view from the bottom of the falls |
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| We also celebrated Molly's bday at our favorite Western restaurant in Tak last week |
On Friday night Clay, Melanie, Nadia, Molly and I headed to
Mae Sot right after school ended. That night we met up with some friends there
and had an awesome dinner at a Canadian restaurant. We then went to grab some
drinks at a nearby bar. We took it relatively easy since we had to get up at 5
am to catch the first ride to Umphang. We got to the bus stating around 5:45
and ended up getting on a song taew around 6:30. The ride was a rough one. A
song taew is a pick up truck with a bed that has been converted into a
passenger area. They are designed to hold about 12 people. For much of our 5
hour journey through mountainous, windy roads the vehicle was packed with over
20 people. I spent about two hours hanging on the back ledge of the truck.
Despite all that the views were spectacular and I got to see even more from my
vantage point as I was able to look out over the truck. The weekend we had was
well worth the travel.
Nadia made all of the arrangements for the weekend, and the
rest of us are so grateful that she did. When we got to our cabins, they had
lunch waiting for us. The food they provided was delicious all weekend. We got
a package deal that included meals, lodging, and all of our activities around
Umphang. The first activity was a river rafting adventure. We all expected to
get some exercise paddling after sitting on the song taew all morning, but when
we got there we realized we would have two people join us to do all the
paddling. This was great as it allowed us to take in the breathtaking sites,
and jump in the river at will. It was truly amazing to float down a river with
the Thai jungle on one side and a cliff face over a hundred feet high on the
other. We got to stop and soak in a hot spring that was just off the
river, and even tried some Thai moonshine.
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| The hot spring |
Once Sunday morning arrived it was finally time to get to
why we were there in the first place: visiting Thi Lor Su waterfall. Again we
woke up early and got to the national park before the crowd rolled in. After
braving another bumpy road all that separated us from the waterfall was a short
hike. Even outlaying pools on the hike were stunning. The multiple tiers of
blue-green water rushing through the Thai jungle made me think of an Indiana
Jones movie. It was truly stunning. We had a blast climbing up and down the
different levels and swimming in the pools below the falls.
On the walk to the falls
The pools before the falls
At the middle tier of the falls
Monday morning we woke up to catch the sunrise atop a local peak. After that we went to a small temple had some downtime before making the long journey back to Tak.
Visiting Thi Lor Su was the last major trip we will do while
living in Tak. One of the first places we visited was Phu Chi Fa. This trip
reminded me a lot of that one. Both sites were pretty difficult to get to, not
listed on most travel sites, and were extremely beautiful. I am so glad I got
to bookend this experience with so much natural beauty. If you happen to go to
Thailand time spent getting to and exploring those two places will be time well
spent.
Over the next few weeks we will proctor exams, do a small
amount of grading, say goodbye to our students, pack our bags and move on to
the rest of our travel plans. This weekend we are getting together with a lot
of friends from orientation which somehow seems like it was long ago and just
yesterday at the same time. It sometimes feels like I just got here, but when I
look back on everything it seems crazy just how much we have done in the five
months or so that we have been living in Tak. I am excited to literally make my
way around the globe, but it will be sad to say goodbye to the little life we
have built here in Thailand.
P.S.
If anyone is thinking about going to Thi Lor Su you should consider staying where we did. The food was excellent, the activities were great, the people were friendly, and they even had karaoke.
phone: 055-809-104, 081-281-5323, or 092-545-1533
email: suksathean@hotmail.com
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