Na Muang Waterfall on Samui Island

In the interior of Samui Island are a number of waterfalls that can make an interesting change of pace when you tire of the beach scene. The most popular of these are the Na Muang waterfalls, so called because the rock face is purple.

The Na Muang waterfalls lie south of the island's central peaks, at about the midway point between the two coasts. A paved entrance road leads off the main street connecting Hua Thanon, south of Lamai, to Nathon. There are actually two tiers to the waterfalls. The higher tier requires some trekking, on foot or elephant, to reach.

The lower tier is 30 meters high with water cascading over a sheer rock face into a deep pool that can be nice for swimming if there aren't too many other people. Along the path leading to the waterfalls from the parking area are several souvenir stalls as well as some food stalls that can prepare 'real' Thai food at quite reasonable prices compared to many of the island's restaurants.

Just off the parking lot is a place where you can get an elephant to take you up to the other set of falls, or elsewhere in the interior. Further down the access road from the waterfalls is the self-styled 'Namuang Safari Park' offering elephant rides, monkey shows, and just about anything else to make a buck. Its a bit cheesy but might be good fun if you have children with you.

Wonderful Waterfalls in Phuket

Phuket three most famous waterfalls are not nearby the largest in Thailand and in dry season the waterfalls is not worth a visit. The largest waterfall named Bang Pae is only around 18 meters high, not exactly the worlds largest. So you see there is no need to vast a whole day traveling just to take pictures in front of a "big" waterfall.

A much better reason is to get away from the beach and sun if only for a day. But why should someone want to do that? It's easy to have a sunburn on the beach, so visiting a waterfall is your chance to let the skin heal and at the same time experience Phuket only remaining rain forest.

Ton Sai and Bang Pae is located in Khao Phra Thaeo National Park 22 kilometers north of Phuket Town on the way to the airport. Also found at Bang Pae is Gibbon Rehabilitation Project where they try to save pet gibbons that have been abandoned.

Walking up to Bang Pae waterfall from the parking lot take around 10 minutes. Under the waterfall is a small pond where many people take the opportunity to bath in cool water and jump from the waterfall out in the pond (don't try it yourself if you don't know what you are doing).

Ton Sai waterfall is on the other side of the hill not far away from the highway in Thailand where parts of the movie Good Morning Vietnam were filmed. This is a perfect place for picnic in the park, very pretty. Only a short walk from the parking lot. Or you can go hiking and explore the jungle around the waterfall. There are maps of the park and guides waiting to take you trough the jungel over to Bang Pae.

[Source from; phuket.as]