Mae Sawan Noi Waterfall

Thailand

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We’re on our way from Mae Hong Son in Northern Thailand towards the south, along the border with Myanmar. In the city of Mae Sariang we stopped for a day to enjoy the beauty of Thailand. We’ve rented a scooter, unaware of all the adventures that were awaiting us. First of all, we didn’t check where the next gas station is and just headed to the highway. Little we knew – the way was as empty as our tank.

Natalia on our adventurous vehicle

Luckily, we saw a lovely, self-service automat in a wall on the side of the road, just as our tank was about to be empty. After several failed tries, we doubted in our engineering skills and walked around to ask for help. Two locals guys, apparently entertained by two gringos without a clue, came to help. They pointed on the light bulb and said:

No, no!

That was clear enough – the power is gone and so is our hope for refueling. They checked our tank, saw that we have like 30 ml left and started discussing whether we’ll make it to the next place or not (at least that’s what we read from their gestures). They agreed that we have no other option and explained us where we should go next. Luckily, it was only 300 m so with extreme eco-driving we could make it. The place was even better than the previous assembly in the wall. It was a cylinder with a hand pump serviced by a hen.

I'm not kidding!

As we don’t have problems with animal labor we’ve got a liter and continued to our destination – Mae Sawan Noi waterfall. There was another surprise waiting for us, this time a positive one. It was completely abandoned! Not like a totally wild jungle, but well maintained, with prepared paths and signs. Just empty as if the people forgot about that attraction months ago! Thanks to that we could enjoy a walk along the 12 levels of the waterfall listening only to the sounds of the jungle.

We could also do stupid pictures without embarrassment.

We found a perfect chill spot – with a pond to jump in and small trees to assemble our hammock. Steffen checked out how cold the water is in a very distinguished way.

Perfect parabola.

I decided to observe him from my hammock pole position. What’s even better – moskitos forgot about that place as well! That’s why we can call it an ULTIMATE CHILL.

Ultimate Chill

On our way back we wanted to check out the nearby hot springs. We were as close as 9 km from the destination when Steffen pulled over. ‘Something is wrong’. He was more than right – we’ve got a flat tire. Like completely flat, as if there was a huge hole in there. That day would be just too good – we went back with the hope to find a place to refill the tire asap. We found it as fast as the gas station in the morning. It was a police checkpoint. The officers were younger than us and as entertained by our visit as the guys earlier that day. Not only did they pump up our tire but also investigated it thoroughly making hundreds pictures in the meantime (probably we can find ourselves somewhere deep on the thai Facebook). The diagnosis was not very surprising – our tire is ripped and we have to go back to the city. But come one, the day was not over yet!

Sunset is approaching!

We returned our faulty vehicle and got half of the money back (free dinner!). Then we hiked a bit to enjoy thea sunset under a huge Buddha statue. This time without any surprises.

Statue of a huge Buddha on the top of the hill

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Thank you for dropping by!

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My girlfriend and I are currently traveling through South East Asia. While there are a lot of travelers around, we are trying to discover some places off the beaten path. Hopefully we will stumble upon a lot of other deserted places!

Best regards,
Steffen