Hot Walk to Huay Kaew Waterfall
Note: For those looking for Huay Kaew Waterfall park hours, they are morning until 6PM daily. Admission is free. Tell them Nik sent you. They’ll know what you mean.
J. and I are becoming fat f–ks, content to lay around eating manna and biding our time until our surprisingly soon departure to India. Recently, the extent of our walking has been around the neighborhood to find lunch and dinner. Today, we decided to go for a longer walk. The destination as usual was food, but this time there would be waterfalls involved too.
We’d heard good things about a restaurant in our area called Huan Huay Kaew. It’s about as far west in town as you can get, up Huay Kaew Road past the zoo, and tucked in a little pocket of development next to a series of small waterfalls. The walk there was sweaty: forty minutes along a busy street in the noonday sun. The air was stagnant and sticky with humidity, but not overly hot. The last park of the walk was uphill and passed a row of taxi trucks. Their owners each asked us if we needed a ride up the mountain to Doi Suthep. We shook our head no, sweat spraying off like water from a dog after a swim.
Laundry drying business or clothes horse.
An office with a little blue rowboat and mini pier.
Huan Huay Kaew is in an amazing location, but I don’t recommend it. We ordered red curry and cashew chicken. It was overpriced and lackluster. I’m sure there are jems hidden on the mostly Thai menu, but I’m in no rush to go back and find them. The upside was tart Thai lime teas which came in tall to go cups from a nearby coffee stand.
Sinister shed near the restaurant.
View from our table at Huan Huay Kaew.
After our meal, we walked around the the main waterfall entrance. The park grounds are well maintained an beautiful. The stream and waterfalls cut through the middle, rushing over broad rocks and boulders between two grassy banks. The pathways are paved. One leads to the base of the tallest drop in the falls, the other leads around to the top. We took the wrong path and tried crossing some boulders to get to the falls. It was an unsuccessful route and I dropped my half full cup of tea in the water. Bummed about the tea, we walked back and went down the right path. At the base of the falls, there was a steep trail that snaked between trees (with snakes) to the top of the drop. We ascended and rested a while on a large rock. There were many dragonflies in the air. J. christened the rock “Dragonfly Rock.” Frankly, I don’t know where that name came from.
The waterfall. I finally got a decent slow shutter speed photo.
Me scouting for a good rock to prop my camera on.
The flat area of the stream.
Chiang Mai seen from the trail.
In the distance was the abandoned building I mentioned in a past post.
J. sitting in the shade.
We hiked down, sat in the mist, then headed up the other trail to the top. I was now drenched in sweat, but the view of the city was incredible. Clear sky, sunny, little pollution. I took off my shirt for the descent. My jiggling fat hypnotized the jungle creatures. One was spooked by my pale glistening adipose and ran head first into a tree. Another puked up bile. Another didn’t see me, but if it had it would have done something.
After buying some waters, J. and I sat on some broad rocks and watched people, pigeons, and dogs play in the water around us. It felt much later than it was. We headed home.