Erawan National Park, Kanchanaburi

After the elephant riding, we headed over to Erawan National Park.

They have seven different tiers of waterfall.

They also had BUSLOADS of Russian tourists.

It was so funny to have people assume you speak Russian and try to have conversations with you.

The kids at level 2.

This was us, I think at level 3.

Laura and I stayed at level 4 where there was a nice lagoon and big rocks that were
  perfect for sliding with Amelia, Lia and Madeline.
Jeremy and Ryan went on with the higher hike with Abby, Marshall and Katie.

Remember that fishy pedicure I told you about?
This is where you can get a free one!
(Note the shocked look on Amelia's face and blurry foot!)
If you aren't in constant movement, you're fish food!

She finally got in the water...the temptation of that rock slide was just too much.  We told her to keep moving quickly and they wouldn't get her.  Laura is laughing at Amelia's rapid swimming to get to the rock and out of the fish infested waters.  :D

Once to the other side, they climbed up to the top of the rock...

And this is JUST the anticipation!

SOOO worth the swim!

Cute little Madeline.  She's going to go, going to have fun, but NOT going to watch!

So much for Cody Lundin's theory that things in nature don't occur in 3's!

Not long after this picture, a monkey came by and stole our leftover lunch (half a bag of chips).  It was right behind me on a rock, very close.  He swiped them without us even noticing him and zoomed right up a tree with the bounty and tossed the empty bag back down to me.  I am SOOO thankful he took the chips and didn't take off with my camera bag and lenses!  After that, I was much more protective of my gear.  It's bad enough I let a lens cap float downriver at Khao Yai last year!

That rock slide definitely satiated her inner wild child!

Oh, and she eventually got used to the fish and sat (still even!) longer than I have EVER seen her sit.
She grew to like their little nibbles.

I think they thought she was quite tasty too!

She began to get a little chilly so got out of the water and changed clothes
before the others returned.

Meanwhile, the bigger kids and dad's were having a great time climbing over all kinds of obstacles to get to the 7th tier.

But they made it!

They ran into hungry fish too!

Some people took longer to convince than others, but eventually everyone was
fish food!

Jeremy's left foot completely covered in fish.  There were just as many fish at the 4th tier, but the water was shallow up here, so you can see the fish better on camera.

The top of the waterfall

Marshall seeing what it's like to be Tarzan...

When the other 5 returned, they took their turns at the rock slide.

What a great way to spend the day!

After we hiked back down to the bottom of the waterfalls, we headed back to the van where our driver had been waiting for us.  As we passed through the parking lot, we found a man selling pre-made Roti that we decided to slightly ruin our dinner with.  He had an ingenius business model.  Make roti ahead of time, only one flavor, stand by the parking lot, around closing time at the bottom of a nature made water park with no restaurants or businesses and just wait for your hungry customer base to pour out to their cars.  He just may be the smartest man in all of Thailand!

We had our driver take us to the floating market area of Kanchanaburi where we were spending the night.  We stopped along the way at a VERY authentic Thai restaurant that he chose for us.  While waiting for our food, the kids went to check out an outdoor fire that was right next to the seating area of the restaurant.  They watched a man controlling the fire.  At one point, he picked up a big fishing net and went over to some large bins and scooped out a few fish.  One of the fish fell out of the net and the kids let out a collective **gasp** just in time for the man to scoop the fish back up.  **sigh**.  He immediately took the fish and shoved it mouth open down onto a large rod in the fire and put a 10 gallon drum on top of it to smoke it.  Still alive.  Back to **GASP!!!**  The restaurant just couldn't get the "no meat" thing right so after having to send 2 separate orders of fried rice back because they contained fish, we finally gave up and headed to our hotel for the night.  This was also the place where I saw 2 little girls, bathroom door wide open, skipping the squat pot and just peeing on the floor.  Right about then, you long for the good old USA (And a shower.  And some hand sanitizer.)