Sunday 24 August 2008

Sarika Waterfall, Nakhon Nayok, Thailand

Nam Tok Sarika or Sarika Waterfall, is one of the famous waterfalls in Nakhon Nayok province, in Thailand. It is located at Tambon Sarika, Muang District of Nakhon Nayok Province, which is about 15 kilometers east of the township, along Suwannason Road, not far from Khao Yai National Park. Its water stem from Sarika brook flowing from Sarika Mountain. The water falls from a high cliff which makes the current scatter and it has nice, lushes greenery that makes it a great picnic site.

To get there, take Highway No.305 (along Rangsit canal) passing Ongkharak district. It is about 110 kilometers from Bangkok. We left our place at 11am and reached our destination at 1.15pm as we stopped at a mosque on the way for prayers.

Passing Nakhon Nayok little town.



Road going uphill towards Sarika Waterfall



At the main entrance


Entrance fee: Local visitor: Adult-40baht, children-20baht
Foreigner: Adult-200baht, children-100baht
Opening hours: 8.00am-6.00pm

We managed to get the local fee as I spoke in Thai, asking for directions going to the site. If not, it would have cost us a bomb just to be there for three hours.





Walking trail: we had to walk 500m, climbing up and down the trail to get to the site.


Swinging on a branch of a tree


Finally reached the site.

Toilet cum changing room



Just look at how beautiful it is. Keiron couldn't wait to get into the water.



Presenting.... the Sarika Waterfall



Me, reading with my legs dipped in the refreshing cool water of Sarika waterfall.



A plate of nasi lemak, which I cooked, by the Sarika waterfall.




On the way back we stopped by at this stall to get some nam ma prao yen (cool coconut water). They are really fresh and cheap; 10baht each. I had one while Keiron had two.




We also stopped at a Muslim food stall along the way to the waterfall site, selling kai yang bbq chicken, pla duk grilled catfish, som tum (papaya salad) etc.


Che' Daeng, preparing the som tum for us.

Keiron really enjoyed himself playing with water like a lil' boy experiencing his first encounter with a real waterfall...though it was not his first time. I had to coax him to leave and we finally did at 4.30pm. He kept on repeating that he would want to go back again, and have nasi lemak there soon...

4 comments:

玉珍 said...

Lynn,

You are really enjoy your life in Thailand. Relax, cool but rich.

Yoke Chan

Anonymous said...

Hmm.. what an enjoyable day you had.

By the way, they really squeeze the hell out of foreigners, don't they.. 5x the original rate? That's the thing about going places if you know no one or not know the language.. Well, I suppose your Thai must be very2good for them to take you as local.. then again, your fair features could have fooled them ;)

LYNN said...

Well...not so good yet but I get by sometimes. i still have problems with the intonation as you know that Thai is a tonal language which has five tones unlike Mandarin with 4 tones only. The same word carries different meanings based on the tone of the pronunciation. If I dont open my mouth at all, yes I've always been mistaken as a Thai... and there were many occasions where the local people preferred to talk to me rather than Keiron as they thought that I was a local and Keiron's not.

Anonymous said...

I have just been to Sarika waterfall last Saturday and indeed it is a beautiful place. We climbed up to the 2nd tier of the waterfall and the view of the park from up there is breathtaking. There's even fish in the pool.