Hin Lad Waterfall

We got a taxi from the street, which I expected to be ok because it wasn’t a tuk-tuk, and the taxis are metered and regulated. We told him that we wanted to go to Hin Lad waterfall. He told us that he would take us there, and wait for us to take us somewhere else after, maybe the zoo, and then take us to the airport. I asked him how much it would cost, and he told me that I could pay him later. His English wasn’t too good, and I felt that there was something lost in translation. Oh well. When we got to the waterfall, I again asked about the cost of the trip, and he didn’t give a clear answer. In any case, since there were no other taxis around, we had to have him wait for us while we hiked up the trail.

The trail to the waterfall was not that grueling, as there was a narrow dirt path. We felt like it was a fun thing to do, and that we were doing something adventurous. Paola was reminded about her trip to the Amazon, where they had to trek through similar jungle, except without a laid out path. Because the path was not well defined, Paola kept asking if we were going the right way. I tried to assure her that we were, since we kept walking up hill, along the river that the waterfall must empty into.

Before getting to the top, we came across a retired couple who were walking down. They told us that we had about twenty more minutes to go. We really thought that we were doing a challenging hike, but when we saw this older couple going, and the lady wearing flip-flops, it no longer seemed like it was that hard. The whole way up, and then back down, which took about two hours, we only saw that older couple, and one other couple when we walked back down, so although I am sure lots of people have been here before, the isolation made it seem like we were on an adventure all alone.

When we got to the end of the path, there was a man who set up a shack to sell water and other drinks. There were a lot of big rocks in the river that helped us walk out and even across the river. From there we could look up and see the waterfall, passing through the path it has carved through the rocks. It was neat to see the waterfall, and turn around to see the river flowing down the hill. Taking the hike was a fun adventure that helped us see a different, more natural side of Thailand, and that was pleasant.