The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Our timing was not the best!

Yesterday turned out better than had been forecast. The morning actually had some sunny breaks! It really should have been the time when we could have gone on the boat tour, but more people seemed interested in the waterfalls so we made a plan to get four taxis to take 16 of us to see them.

But first, I had a fridge problem to fix.

I had turned our fridge off overnight the night before to melt the ice that had formed on the cooling unit. When it's really humid like it is now, I find that it builds up fairly quickly. Anyhow, I went to turn it on yesterday morning, and the burner would light, and then shut down.

We had a lot of rain overnight, and I thought maybe the electronic board had become damp. So I had a look in the back of the fridge, and it was pretty wet in there, but it was because the drain tank for the melting ice from the cooling unit had actually overflowed.

I fired it up again, and watched the flame. It was fine, but the flame sensor seemed too close to the burner. I got a screwdriver and bent it up 1/8" or so. Fired it up again, and everything worked fine. It doesn't make sense that it was working fine the night before, but not in the morning. And the problem wasn't related to moisture at all. Anyhow, everything is working properly once again.

We made arrangements for the four taxis to come at 1:00pm. They had quoted 150 pesos ($10 CAD, $8.25 USD) per taxi to take us the 15 kms (9 miles) one way to the waterfall. Then, the plan was to take the local bus back to Sihuapan to a cigar making factory for a tour, and then flag some more taxis (they are everywhere!) back to the RV Park.

When we arrived, the taxis asked if we wanted them to wait. No, we had explained we wanted to take the local bus. We had a hard time understanding him, but eventually figured out that the bus doesn't run on Saturdays. He said that for 200 pesos per taxi, they would wait for us at the waterfall, take us back to the cigar factory, and then back to the RV Park. Okay. Good deal.

We made it to the waterfalls just as the clouds were coming in. First stop was the mirador (lookout) at the top of the falls...

With all the rain they've had here recently, there is lots of water going over!

Then, as we started walking to the stairs to get to the base of the falls, it started to rain! Eventually, there wasn't much point in waiting and twelve of us started down the 244 steps. Really spectacular at the bottom, but tough to get photos without the lens of the camera getting wet!



The best photo I got was from under a little palapa shelter.

We made our way back up the 244 steps. One of our group is 78 years old and he was the first one up the steps! Yes, he did leave before everyone else... but still! At the top of the steps, what happened?

It stopped raining.

Our timing was not the best! Oh well. Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves anyhow.

The taxis then took us to the cigar factory, but it turns out our timing wasn't the best on that either. It closes at 1:00pm on Saturdays! There are no smokers in our group of 24 people, which is kind of amazing, isn't it? Anyhow, most people were not that interested in the cigar factory to begin with, but we've been and it really is interesting. We'll try and time things better for next year.

This morning looks better than forecast as well... we have plans to go down to the docks at 10:00am and do a two hour boat tour.

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Nice price drop on the 10'x10' Coleman Instant Screenhouse. Keep away from the bugs...


And in Canada...




22 comments:

  1. Too bad about the rain, but Mama Natura is a stubborn lady. Nice that you managed to fix the fridge.

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    1. It is a shame about the rain but at least it wasn't a steady rain like it had been the last few days. So with having breaks in it, it made it possible to go out and enjoy some of the sights here. :-)

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  2. Waterfalls are spectacular despite the rain on the lens. Beautiful. Too bad there is so much rain lately but it may help with the humidity. Glad your fridge is fixed. Enjoy your boat tour!

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    1. The waterfalls are even prettier with a blue sky and sun shine but they were still nice to see even in the rain. The rain isn't helping with the humidity, everything just feels damp inside the RV at the moment.

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  3. Replies
    1. It is beautiful here, we could easily spend a few weeks here exploring the area. :-)

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  4. The rain probably made those falls more spectacular than they otherwise would have been in dry season, so there is a benefit to the wet, I suppose. We did not have time to do them in Fall as the trip was 20 days shorter.

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    1. Yes, it most likely did! They we fantastic when we saw them 10 years ago but that was just after the rainy season would/should have ended. Not sure what they would look like in the dry season.

      We asked the ones that did both tours and almost everyone said they loved both but that the waterfalls aren't as easy to access on your own whereas with the boat tour you just have to walk to the lake and pick one up. Hadn't though about looking at it that way.

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  5. Beautiful photos of the falls. Mother Nature isn't cooperating very well.

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    1. No worries, it wasn't pouring rain the whole time so we were all happy with our excursion.

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  6. The falls looked well worth the visit even with the rain. Luck was with you having the taxis waiting to take you away.

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    1. The falls were definitely worth the visit and everyone enjoyed them even with the bit of rain that we had.

      Not really luck because we made the deal with them to wait for us. We actually would have preferred taking everyone back on the bus just for the experience though. :-)

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  7. Overall a beautiful journey in the rain and the minor glitches. Hope the fridge is working properly now. I would be in dire stress without a working fridge!

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    1. It is definitely nice to have the fridge working properly again. It would certainly make life more difficult without a working fridge but we would have managed.

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  8. Rain or shine, who wouldn't have fun? After all, they have you two as wagon masters and tour guides! Wish we were there.

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    1. Ahhhh, jeez thanks Chris! We like to hope that we are doing a good job showing them the REAL Mexico. :-)

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  9. Cigars stink anyway!!! Lol Glad the trip is going good.

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    1. Yeah, they do but it sure is interesting watching those guys making them!

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  10. It all worked out and you got some pretty good pictures. Plus the fridge is fixed, not a bad day after all.

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