No water in these falls

We were up early again to cover greater distances in the national park today. We'd even used our fridge to store breakfast to save time on what had become our ritual 7-11 breakfast.

We drove nearly 70 kilometres to Pha Chana Dai. We got a bit lost along the way at one of the turns. After a bit of a wait to see if cars would come to indicate the path, we managed to get back into a town and asked for directions. A kind Thai man got on his motorbike so we could follow him to the right intersection and wished us 'Chok Dee' (good luck).

It was nice to have no entrance fee at this section of the park, but not as great when the sign in the parking lot read that we were 8-14 km from any of the big attractions with only roads most unsuitable for scooters and 2WD cars.

We attempted the 2km walk to the smaller waterfalls. The landscape was desert-like and the path was only driveable for the large 4WD trucks that kept passing us in the opposite direction. We imagined the Australian outback would be similar to this.

The up, downs and heat on the walk wore us down. It didn't help that by the time we reached the waterfall, it was dry, not even a stream in sight. There was a lovely sign to show us where it should have been.

I got my opportunity to try out our scooter in the empty parking lot. It was easier once I got up to speed and it could balance. The turns were the trickiest bit. Ryan hopped on the back and I attempted the roads out which were great until I tried to pull off the road for a photo. The rocky section was a challenge and I nearly knocked the bike over trying to park it. It was Ryan's turn to drive again after that.

Next, we drove to Thung Na Mueang waterfall, also falling victim to dry season but at least with a bit of a stream. A giant climber, a large tree with knotted roots, was the most impressive part of that visit.

On the way back. we stopped at the big Buddha statue, visible from afar, which turned out to be a temple under construction and pretty vacant in terms of people. Not even a monk was on site. It would be beautiful when complete though.

We went back to town early and rested away the afternoon until the bike needed to be fueled up and returned. I went down to the river to take photos and Ryan joined me after, but not before he was solicited for a photo with a Thai family. It must have been the new haircut or the curls, but they were really excited.

We walked to the animal island to explore the rocks and climb to the viewpoints for some sunset photos. It was nice to relax and take the time to enjoy the sunset for once.

We tried one restaurant that told us they had no vegetarian options before going back to the steakhouse. We shared mushroom spring rolls and I had 'fried rice no animal' while Ryan had a pork steak. It was good especially since we had skipped lunch.