Champagne & Cocaine

View Album

Get your own

The weirdest part about being in a new place, is when you become acclimated with your surroundings. You quickly discover that everything that once seemed so far away and so foreign, has slowly transformed itself to the usual and familiar. When I first arrived in Lampang and shortly after I purchased Bixby, I passed several of my weekends exploring the city and surrounding area. One such previous weekend, I found myself following signs for an allusive “waterfall.” I continued to follow the blue signs, but fearing that Bixby would run out of gas, I had to turn around before I reached my mysterious destination. This weekend, I had the opportunity to finally complete this previous trek with a few friends. We made a trip to Chae Sourn National Park.

This national park is known for it’s beautiful waterfalls, and it’s amazing hot springs. The weather was less than picturesque, as it rained most of the time we were there. It’s a bit of a catch-22, because the waterfalls are most beautiful when they have a healthy supply of water. The only time there is a healthy supply of water in Thailand, is during the rainy season. Therefore, in order to fully appreciate the beauty of the park, you have to go during the rainy season, when chances are you will be getting sprayed by the waterfalls, as well as the falling rain. Nonetheless, it was still an amazing experience!

We first arrived and immediately decided to check out the walking path to the waterfalls. I immediately dreaded my choice in footwear. Not thinking things through, I wore flip-flops. I quickly discovered that my nearly thread bare Reefs are not the best option for walking up and down paths made of stone and covered in moss. There were a few close calls, in which I almost ended up in the waterfall. Fortunately, I managed to stay on the correct side of the path.

After our walking tour of the falls, we decided that we would take in a Thai massage. I wish I could encapsulate the beauty of this experience. Imagine getting a massage, and you look out onto the mountains. There is not a sound, except that of the rushing waterfalls behind you. It was pure nirvana, and any description will surely not do it justice. To put it most simply, I could have stayed there forever!

Once we finished our massages, we decided to rent a hot springs hot tub. The park uses the hot springs as individual Jacuzzi huts, which can be rented out for your pleasure. And what a pleasure it was! The five of us rented a Jacuzzi hut, threw on our suits and enjoyed the natural relaxation of the hot springs tub. It was the perfect thing to follow up our blissful massage experience.

Before we decided to end our day of relaxation, we decided to partake in a albeit odd tradition at the park. Apparently the Thai custom is to buy eggs and hard boil them in one of the many hot springs. Well, when in Thailand, cook food any way you’d like – and so we did. We bough a basket of 5 eggs and took them to one of the near-by hot springs to boil up. The park suggests 17 minutes to boil and egg. Imagine, 17 minutes later and we still had some rather runny eggs. After an additional 10 minutes, we decided to scrap the idea and head home! It was an AMAZING day, full of peace, friendship, and fun – I will definitely be going back again!