Pa La Tha waterfall

Apr 3, 2011
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Umphang, Ban Kru Sun coffee shop again. Ford Falcon 500, condition not great.
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This day my gf Mio joined me again, we went down to Pha La Tha village, which is the last village when you go south on the 1090.
Crossing the river at the river is possible by a very sturdy bridge (not on the map), and from several trails go to different direction.
I was trying to go to the direction of Thi Lo Su waterfall (I heard there is an alternative route leading to it), but the trail became
so indistinct that it was really hard to follow. Everything looked like a trail after forest fires, we had to walk many times to find the
trail, again and again, so we just decided to get back. I'm pretty sure there was a trail going *somewhere*.
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When we got tired following the elusive trail, we went to see the Pa La Tha waterfall. It's not so big, but quite pretty.
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Enjoying a nice jacuzzi
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After the waterfall we headed further south on the 1090, until we reached Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Preserve Area.
I was a naughty boy and didn't stop at the gate, just continued through. We followed the shorter one of the two roads marked "unconfirmed"
and confirmed it :) All good doubletrack good enough for a 4x4 car. The one that they sent to catch us and escort us back to the office.
Where they told me I'm a naughty boy but luckily no further problems. Apparently you can come to that place and camp not far from the entrance,
but it's not allowed to go further, where it's dangerous because of tigers, elephants etc. Unfortunately Mio didn't really snap any good pictures there.
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http://heilong.razorscript.com/photo/2013/gpx/t00100_20130411_pha_la_tha_waterfall.gpx
 
Dec 27, 2007
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Brilliant! Looks like you had the falls all to yourselves. Interesting how strict they are about access to the Thung Yai Naresuan preserve. They actually came after you- very unusual here, don't you think?

I recall that Robert and Mike once "escaped" via the Thung Yai Naresuan road to Sangkhlaburi when conditions became impassable due to heavy rain and bottomless mud. But they linked up with a 4X4 expedition who arranged permits to drive thru the preserve.

Here's a pic of Robert in the back of one of the 4X4's:
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(I copied the above pic from Robert's fantastic ride report on Advrider: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=705863&highlight=umphang&page=2 )
 
Apr 3, 2011
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There was a group of Thai young guys drinking Lao Kao at the falls, of course they gave some to us as well :)
Yeah I think it's pretty unusual that they came after us. Of course, they couldn't really catch up, I only met them when I got to the end of the road and turned back. They sent a 4x4 pickup full of Thai guys actually, who didn't look very happy, and they ordered us to go back to the checkpoint, then they followed us back there, and at the checkpoint some other guys were already waiting for us, blocking the exit. I had a feeling we might be in for a fine or something... But then came an English guy, took some pics of us (and of Mio's driving license, I said I don't have any docs), tell us some info about the sanctuary and let us go.
To tell you the truth, I hate mud :) Crazy pic :)