21st February – Day 25

Song of the day: The Smiths – Ask
Alright.
I’m getting slack at this blogging business aren’t I? Sorry, we’ve been out and about all day for the last few days and by the time we get in I haven’t got time to do justice to all that we’ve seen.

On Sunday morning Hollie was having a browse on a Facebook group for Backpackers travelling around South-East Asia. There are over 10,000 members of the group and a lot of the posts provide really helpful advice about travelling. An English girl staying in Chiang Mai posted a message asking if anybody fancied sharing a songtheaw to the Bua Tong falls, better know as the “Sticky Waterfall”. The falls are about an hour and a half’s drive outside of Chiang Mai and don’t appear to be on any of the organised tour itineraries. Hollie and I had considered going on our own but decided the songtheaw fare would be too expensive between two of us, so the chance to split the fare was a welcome one. We met Becca and another lad from London who I didn’t catch the name of and took a songtheaw from their hostel.

The falls are tucked away among the forested slopes that take over the landscape after leaving the sprawling suburbs of Chiang Mai. The two young Thai lads who picked us up seemed pleased to be out of the city for a bit and encouraged us to take our time. I found myself thinking that it wouldn’t be a bad job cruising around in a songtheaw with your mates, ferrying tourists to scenic locations and pumping out tunes on the truck stereo. Our driver was wearing a Smiths t-shirt so he was certainly a man of taste. The name “Sticky Waterfall” is very accurate. It’s a steep climb of fifty metres or so from top to bottom, but almost all of the rocks have a mineral deposit on them, providing a rough surface which allows you to grip with your feet without slipping. We scaled the falls in about twenty minutes – with the shallow waters lapping at our ankles it was a really refreshing climb and by the time we’d finished we didn’t feel the physical exertion that we might have done if we weren’t soaked through. It was satisfying to look back on what we’d climbed every now and again, views over the valley were spectacular. We found our two songtheaw hosts sunbathing in the back of the truck, and after shaking off the haziness of an afternoon nap in the sun they took us back to Chiang Mai. The journey came to 800 baht or 16 quid – well worth the money, especially when split between four people.

Hope you’re well.

Tommy and Hollie x