The Sticky Waterfalls & Memorial Bridge

November 17^th, 2024 

Our driver, Sugar, picked us up at 10 am at the Panviman Resort, to take us to the small town of Pai, where we would be spending three nights.  Naomi was not looking forward to this trip as the last portion goes up and over a mountain and has over 700 curves, many of them sharp ones!  Unfortunately, she can suffer from motion sickness, at least from a ride like that.

 

A beautiful view near the Sticky Waterfalls.

Before the windy bit, we took a small side trip to Sticky Waterfalls.  These cascades obtained their name from the fact that the rocks are coated with calcium carbonate, which does not allow any algae to build up and provides excellent traction.

The top of the falls.

We took the stairs down to the bottom of the waterfalls and then, along with a number of other tourists, started walking back up the waterfalls…kinda ass backwards from the usual way that you navigate waterfalls.  The rocks were super grippy, even with water running over them…it seemed odd.

On our way down.

Now it's time to start back up.

You go girl!

Making our way up.

Climbing the Sticky Waterfalls.

The stickiness of the waterfall.

Naomi heading up.

Gushing water...

A few steep sections had ropes that could be used as there have been accidents here in the past.  We witnessed a few young women taking some spills, but that was because they were rushing up  the steep parts which did have the odd bit of slippery algae.

Getting to a steeper section:

This section did have a few slippery sections so it was wise to use the rope.  One girl beside me didn't, and was russhing up the slope, only to slip on to her butt and slide down 6-8 feet.

The view at the top.

After reaching the top, we took a short walk on a path to a spring, which is the source for the water for the Sticky Waterfalls.

Do you like my "Insta" pose?!?

Look at this wild tree, it goes up, over and back down another try that it grew with.

The spring that feeds the waterfall.

A lovely, pink dragonfly...I don't believe I've seen one like this before.

Back on the road, Naomi did fairly well on the snaky sections on the road to Pai and didn’t have too many problems with motion sickness.  We did see a couple of foreign men in their 50s or 60s who must have taken a curve too quickly on their motorbike.  We couldn’t see the bike, but there was a section of the curb missing and they were bandaged up thanks to a policeman who was there.  About a kilometer further down the hill, an ambulance passed us, heading up to give them more aid.

Enjoying our fruit drinks at lunch.

What a cheese sandwich Naomi ordered!!!

At a viewpoint near the top of the very curvy road en route to Pai.

Our last stop of the day was the “Memorial Bridge”, which was originally built by the Japanese in WWII as part of their attempt to create a land link to Burma.  The actual bridge was destroyed near the end of the war, by the Japanese, but it was rebuilt in 1970s.  Today it is not used for vehicle traffic, so it’s just a tourist attraction, although not quite as popular as the bridge over the River Kwai that I visited about a month ago, at the start of my Thailand visit.

The Memorial Bridge near Pai.

These ladies were great.  We offered to take their photo for them but then ended up joining in.  Their happy energy was infectious.

We were dropped off at the Reverie Siam, another fancy place that Naomi booked, but this one had the most character of anywhere we have stayed at so far this trip.  The motif was 1930s-ish with antique furniture in the lobby, restaurant and the room.  The lobby had an old, massive camera on a tripod and our room had an old school type telephone.  It was a quaint and lovely place.

In the lobby:

Our room at the Reverie:

The cool old phone.

Our view from the room:

That evening we took advantage of the free transport from the hotel on a big electric golf cart kind of car to go into town and check out the “walking street”.  It was the happening place in town with lots of foreigners strolling up and down the narrow road that was lined with restaurants, bars, pot shops (since that is legal in Thailand) and street vendors.

Our "ride":

Wise words...

Walking down Walking Street:

We settled on an Italian restaurant as we found out that the owner was in fact Italian.  It was a lovely meal and a good way to finish a travel day, and a good introduction to Pai.

Our appetizer:

Enjoying our pizza.

Tomorrow we will hit a few sites around Pai, including the Bamboo Bridge.