Mork Fa Waterfall

One of our first adventures out of Chiang Mai was an excursion to Mork Fa waterfall, about an hour’s drive away in the Doi Suthep National Forest.  Young Man had a scout campout up there (he went up on Friday right after school) and My Man wanted to join them for the day Saturday, so the rest of us decided to head up to enjoy the day up there as well. The trip up was beautiful and at the turnoff to the waterfall, there was a cute little café where we stopped for an early lunch. We ate outside overlooking a little farm and beautiful gardens. The food was great and the smoothies were even better!

After dropping My Man off with the scouts, Darling Daughter, Funny Guy, and I headed up to the waterfall. There are two ways to get there: the nature trail (which winds up through the mountain and is a bit longer) and the waterfall path. We opted to make it a loop, so we took the nature trail to the waterfall and the other trail on the way back. It was a great way to do it.

The nature trail wound through groves of bamboo and other trees and went past a little cave (known around here as the bat cave, though we didn’t see any bats).

 We explored the cave for awhile (it doesn't go too far back), then headed down to the waterfall.

First, we enjoyed a nice view of the waterfall from above. Then we followed the trail down to the creek and back up to the waterfall so we could actually get in and swim.

There were also a few bridges we had to go across that Funny Guy eyed very suspiciously. I had to go ahead to prove they were safe, and even then he clung to the railing the whole way!

Mork Fa waterfall is pretty, falling into a nice pool where you can swim (which Funny Guy did). It was pretty cold water though, and most of us didn't have a change of clothes, so we just waded in. 

While we were there, the scouts hiked up, so it was fun to see them. Some of the scouts braved the water for a real swim.

Others (I won’t point fingers here, but let me just say that Young Man  is definitely more worried about water temps than I was at his age!) were content to wade in and explore the rocks. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon picnicking and playing in the creek (Darling Daughter and Funny Guy worked hard on a dam and were very disappointed when we had to leave before it was completed!).

The park closed at 5pm though, so we hiked back to the car and headed out to check out the Buddhist temple we had seen on the way in.

It was one of my favorites (I think I say that every time!). The meditation rooms had beautiful paintings and statues. 

Funny Guy and Darling Daughter surprised me by wanting to stay for almost half an hour in one, sitting quietly, thinking and considering the art.

We were the only ones there (though we did see one monk as we were leaving) and it was undeniably peaceful.

In the middle was a huge staircase lined with three-headed dragons.

The view from the top was fantastic and we drank in the gorgeous sunset before heading back to the camp to pick up My Man and Young Man to head home.

Meanwhile, My Man and Young Man were having a great time at the campout and weren't ready to leave when we got there. I'm so excited that there is a great Boy Scouting program here. I read with the younger kids until the older boys were finished playing ultimate Frisbee and at last we headed home. Even though we had all done different things, it was a great day for us all.