Day 40 - Fri Dec 12 - Than Bokkarani National Park

Short distances in Thailand always take longer than I expect, even when we've got our own wheels.  A short drive which, in Canada, would take 30 minutes, can end up taking 2 or 3 times longer in Thailand - it varies depending on things like traffic or road conditions. Sometimes you get a four-lane highway, sometimes a two-lane.  (The most interesting is the 1.5 lane, which becomes even more interesting on a mountain road with two way traffic.)  

The roads on day 40 are well-maintained, flat and wide with generous shoulder lanes for two-wheeled traffic.   The Than Bokkharani ("TAN boke a RAN ee") National Park is only 50 km up Highway 4 from Krabi.  The trip there takes us more that 1.5 hours, which defies logic since we were going about 60 km/hour the whole time.  As usual, we're got started late-ish, so we're on a tight schedule to drive home before dark. 

There are two places we want to see today - a series of caves reached by boat, and a series of waterfalls near the park headquarters.  Since the caves involve more logistics (kayak rental, self-navigation, etc) we decide to head there first.

The kayak rental place turns out to be a group of people lounging on a raised bamboo gazebo near the water.  They're happy to see us - it's been a very slow couple of weeks - and are helpful, though disappointed, when we decide to just rent a sea kayak instead of both a sea kayak and a guide.  One man sketches out a map for us including two tributaries labeled, respectively, "to sea" and "don't go this way".  (He doesn't elaborate much on the latter but, needless to say, we don't go that way.)  The route is simple and involves staying left on the way out and retracing our route back to the river after each cave.  

As the map points out, this river is connected to the sea and so the river rises and falls with the tides.  My  geography is rusty but I think this makes the river an estuary.  The forest is a mangrove forest that thrives on the salty water, and hovers above the waterline for a few hours a day, like seaside waders who have hiked up their skirts and are about to dip their toes in. Some are suspended several inches above the water (you can make out a few on the edges of this picture:)

Our first stop, the Tube Cave (Tham Lawt, rhymes with "hot"), is also affected by the tides, since the river runs through and under the long arch of stalactites hanging above.  We arrive as the tide is still going out and so there is a generous space between the water and the cave's ceiling but I believe there are some times during high tide when it's not possible to kayak from one end to the other:

We kayak through, then turn around and let the slow tide pull us back through the cave, which is about 100m long - at the moment, the roof is around 10 or 15 feet high.

We take a left at the river and then another left to reach Tham Pee Hua Toe ("Big Headed Ghost Cave") which is about 10 minutes away in the kayak.  This spot is famous for the cave paintings inside, estimated to be about 2000 to 3000 years old.  The cave isn't accessible by water, so we hike up and walk around.

Except for a brief visit from a couple of German tourists, their guide and their boatman, the spot is empty and peaceful.  The boatman, a Thai boy of about 18, takes us under his wing and shows us around, directing us towards the cave drawings because we're clearly terrible at locating them.  The paintings are high up, either on or near the ceiling.  There is a fish:

... a few men...

...and some things we can't really identify:

The trip back to the kayak-rental gazebo is short, and 15 minutes after leaving the cave we're back at our scooters suiting up for the 15-minute drive back to the park headquarters.

The waterfalls at HQ are much less rustic that we expect them to be.  For starters, the park is tiny and takes only about 15 minutes to walk.  Secondly, the trails are paved.  You can see the edge of the pavement at bottom left here;

Pavement blends in well enough, is good for avoiding erosion, and makes it one of the few wheelchair-accessible places we've run into, but still...pavement.  I think this makes the waterfalls seem a bit fake, or too perfect.  Pierre is a pavist, like me, and manages to avoid having the sidewalk in most shots - this gives a much clearer idea of how gorgeous and natural these waterfalls are.  Each waterfall is only a few feet tall - there's one after another...

... often several in one spot...

...along with quiet pools of water:

It's a weekday, so there are only a few other tourists, all Thais, here to visit one of the cave temples or young couples looking for a private place to walk.

Photo credits: all P