Umphang Water Falls

We took a windy, vomit-producing road through the mountains to Umphang. It is nicknamed "Death Highway" because of all the dangerous curves (1,219 to be exact- I have no clue who could have counted these; my eyes were shut almost the whole way just trying to keep my coconut cookies and soy milk down). I did peek a little when the drivers played Michael Jackson's Thriller music video on the TV screen. This was a welcome distraction from the romantic love ballads they played when we first jumped in the van. It was actually pretty nice of them since neither of the drivers spoke English.

We got to the hostel and our room ended being a BED room literally. Two huge kind size bed s side-by-side took up the entire room with a tiny little walk way in front of them. We practiced our somersaults and cartwheels.
I locked our key in the door and tried to get let in. I tried to motion to the hostel owner what i needed. He motioned for me to wait. Ten minutes later he returned and handed me his phone. I was confused but answered the phone. It was an English speaking man who was able to translate for me :) After I had been let into the room, I took a shower in the toilet room (their was a shower head next to the toilet). When I opened the door their was the housekeeper gesturing no to me and speaking loudly in Thai. I have no clue what she was saying, but I think it was probably do not shower in the toilet. The language barrier is pretty funny :)

The next morning we took this great peaceful rafting trip down a pristine wooded area. It was beautiful. We dipped under a small waterfall to wake up. Shortly after we arrived at the hot spring. We all relaxed in the natural warm water pool. The guide (his name is Boom Boom) said "no men" as he pointed towards his nether regions. The guys thought about this for a moment and then began to laugh realising the guide was implying sitting in the hot water would make them infertile.

Our Thai fan club (a huge tour group of Thai older ladies saying they loved the 'big guy' and who kept ended up at every place we went) snapped many pictures of us everywhere we were: hot springs, waterfall, walking, etc. It was funny to have the situation reversed on us. We were the attraction.

We took this really bumpy dirt road (we had to wear masks, since we were riding in the back of a pickup truck) and arrived at a gorgeous waterfall. It was amazing. On of the prettiest things I have ever seen. Lush green vegetation, mist everywhere from the rushing water. We got to play in the falls for hours. We climbed up on the rocks, went behind the falls, and swam and floated all through the water right next to the falls. The mist was spraying our faces and we found some cool cave-like areas. Gorgeous and so peaceful. It was my favorite!! I wish we could have stayed all day.

Ben jumped off one of the cliffs; he'd been looking for a good spot to do it from all day. The guide told him the exact spot to jump from. He said it was exhilarating.

Later we stopped at a Karen hill village
and an orange grove. We ate really delicious fresh oranges.

The next day we set out at 5:30 am to watch the sunrise from this mountain top. Our Thai fan club again asked for our pictures and I was sure one of them was going to pinch one of the guys butts. The women were hilarious!

Later that day we stopped at another waterfall which was a series of steps. There were hundreds of hill tribe ethinic groups at this waterfall. Each layer of hte falls we climbed up had another traditionally dressed family in black clothing decorated with bright fabric accents, metal dangles, and fun hats. The adults were bathing and the kids were playing. We were quite a spectacle. Even a Thai man ran after us trying to get our picture as we passed him.