Waterfall Swimming, Geyser Egging... Mae Hong Son Loop 1

Not sure if its come across in any of my previous blogs, but from a very young age its been known that I am a little, well accident prone. So after much consideration and advise gathering from a plethora of sources it was decided NOT to hire a scooter to drive around Northern Thailand, and instead hire a driver with a local guide – a decision I do not regret.

After another long and leisurely shower in my hotel, I headed out to be picked up in yet another HiLux (are they made in Thailand?!) and introduced to the delightful Sunni (driver) and Winai (guide). Both from the same Karen Hill Village (which I’ll get the fortune to experience in a few days). They jumped out, shaking hands, grabbing my baggage and popping it and me into the vehicle.

First feelings? Complete and utter awkwardness, as if I was pretending to be something I wasn’t, some rich person being ported from here to there in comfort… I felt like I was cheating, not travelling the ‘right way’… upon realising that there is no ‘right way’ and furthermore that these two gentlemen knew all and more about the area, secret spots and most important of all – history! I decided I had made the appropriate (and safer) choice, chilled out a bit and started to enjoy the company of my companions.

We headed out from Chaing Mai to Pai, a few stops along the way. I enjoyed the forest canopy and the daylight flickering through the leaves as we wound, and I literally mean wound… our way up and into the hills. Apparently by the end of

the Mae Hong Son Loop we would have made 1095 turns, and not nice 45 degree turns, maybe 16 degrees at the best! I would certainly not recommend for anyone who experiences motion sickness…

At the same time, I completely understand the groups of motorbikes that zip zip zipped past us, enjoying the ebb and flow of the road… it’s a bikers dream.

But lets get down to business…

When I still thought that marriage was a viable and desirable thing, I used to say to my mother that I would be married behind a waterfall. She said it would be rather loud and no one would be able to hear the priest… quite likely to be fair…

NOW THAT I’VE SWAM UNDER A WATERFALL!

Yes a dream was realised. After some trekking with Winai, he explaining what village people used within the forest for food and shelter (meanwhile I was wondering if there was a point to this very long wander, given my last week of trekking, I was ready for a drive and drop kind of experience). When all of a sudden I heard a thunderous and continuous roar that can only be mistaken for a storm directly above or… a cascading waterfall – it was the latter.

My ears stopped working, no longer could I take in anything Winai said, to distracted by the utter heaven and delight and power and aggression and beauty of water thrusting itself over a rocky and ferned cliff…

Speechless and excited, and maybe a little accidental screaming of utter joy…

“Down?” said Winai

“Really? We can go down there?”

“Yes” said Winai, “Good for swimming”

SWIMMING!!!! UNDER A WATERFALL! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! IS THIS A DREAM?

I’d not been prepared to be doing the swimming today, nor seeing a waterfall, nor swimming under a waterfall, so I was just in bra, top and leggings… 

However, inhibitions are just that, inhibiting… and I was not going to let the mere fact that I was not water-ready to stop me from going for a swim under a natural waterfall… this was no Adventure World – this was nature at its best!

I left Winai in my dust (much to his delight, gave him a chance to light up a sneaky cigarette) flicked off my shoes, folded up my sunnies and wiggled out of my leggings and JUMPED free flat footed into the rainbow that separated me… from the waterfall.

Giggling and gasping, I half swam, half trod toward the bellowing beauty where the falling water met the pool…

I figured I’d be able to stand literally under the waterfall, but the closer I got to it, the more my lungs defied me. I couldn’t breath, gasping for oxygen or completely stopping the oxygenation process. 

It seemed my Flight or Fight instincts were setting in and mind over matter was no longer an option. Instead, I danced about in the pool, jumping and twisting and turning in the waterfalls off spray.

I could have stayed there forever. What utter bliss and joy… alone under the liquid stairway shadowed by aa ancient forest of leaves, shadows and breeze…

And yes I literally pinched myself, HARD… to make sure this wasn’t a dream.

We wove our way back out of the forest, along rushing streams and ferns and rocky outcrops, before travelling further toward Pai, but with one stop.

Pong Dueat Hot Spring is the largest ‘hot spring’ or Geyser in Thailand. The water is naturally around 99 degrees celcius and there are bursts of heat, gas and water every few minutes up to 2 meters high.

So, apparently… the geyser is caused by the water hitting earth that is heated by magma… so, a thin or non-existent layer of soil / land between the water and the earths core – very strange to contemplate! I’ve never really wanted to be near magma!

Either way, what a thing to see and be close to. For some reason I figured this was a connection to prehistoric times and so asked Winai what dinosaurs had been attributed to Thailand – surprisingly he didn’t know and looked at me as if no one had asked this question before… strange man.

Meanwhile, he had purchased some Quail eggs at the entrance and while I was wandering about the Geyser and reading up on the history, he had used a bamboo basket to lower the eggs into the bubbling brook of boiling water. Upon approaching him he handed me a couple of these naturally boiled googies and together we wandered further into the forest, cracking and peeling she shells and delighting in this simple delicacy.

And that’s Day 1 of Mae Hong Son Loop… Pai was fine, some will say it’s the most beautiful town in Thailand – I didn’t really sense that, but then – I had just swam and danced under a waterfall!

Tomorrow? Some Cave rafting and ancient sight seeing and… adventure.

Thailand… so small and so much!