trip report: krabi province, part II

Ah! I forgot to include my customary map of where we were in Thailand. Useful for those of you unfamiliar with the country (okay, me too)!


You know, I really am beginning to think that Thailand has more beautiful waterfalls per capita than any other country. You can't go anywhere in Thailand without running into waterfalls (okay, and monkeys). We visited the national park Khao Phanom Bencha during our time in Krabi and were refreshingly rewarded with no tourists in sight! The only other people at the park were children playing in the waterfall (who were amused by our antics, I do believe). The waterfall was enormous, with several tiers. The photos do not do it justice because there are so many levels it must be photographed from the air to get the full impression.

One of our Thai friends posed at one of the tiers:

The force at the foot of this fall with amazing!

Our friends pointing (probably at a farang).

On the largest fall of the falls, where the current was quite strong, there was a piece of bamboo put across the falls. I assume it was there for the purpose of being the goal of a last grab in case someone got pulled into the flow!!

Needless to say, its probably my favorite sign ever:

("Don't Entry")

I caught one of the kids in midair on this one (yes, those specks are kids).

More of our friends. Did I mention there was one who was about 10 years old and who had multiple tattoos?

There were also caves after a little walk in the park. It was a semi-surreal walk to them, with jungle on our right and karst filled with caves on our left. We were thankful for the boardwalk that was being constructed, as off the path was quite muddy (in fact, we were reminded of the alienness of our surroundings when we saw elephant tracks in the mud). We didn't see another soul the entire walk, minus a somber crew of Thais, presumably on break from constructing the boardwalk.

Also worth mentioning is the bar we relaxed at night in Krabi. We happened to be next door to "Smoody Bar," and it was mentioned in LP, so we thought we would check it out. Though we were the only people there for a long time, it was an extremely nice night, and we had the pleasure of meeting the nicest bar-owner I have ever met. "An" was probably the nicest person I have ever met, to be honest, and I highly recommend her classy and relaxing joint. Her hospitality wasn't limited to kindness in serving drinks or surrounding us with fans, or wai-ing constantly; she let Vanessa borrow a bicycle to go to 7-11, and upon Vanessa's return without what she was looking for, offered to drive her in her car to wherever she might need to go! We enthusiastically recommend Smoody; the people are certainly the nicest we've encountered! This is particularly rare because we were still in tourist territory, therefore we were doubly refreshed by her kindness and generosity.

Only one part more on this epic endeavor! Will post soon!