The national park is popular among Thais and rarely visited by foreigners. A strange contrast but the explanation is simple: there is no public transportation from major travel destinations to the waterfalls. You only can get there from non-touristy Saraburi City. As for Thais, they usually come there on their own cars. The location makes Chet Sao Noi waterfalls tempting for weekend visitors from Bangkok: it's only around 3 hours to drive from the capital of Thailand. Besides, you can combine Chet Sao Noi National Park with nearby flower fields and farms.
Chet Sao Noi National Park on Google.Maps
Most Thais visit Chet Sao Noi National Park to chill out and have a picnic by picturesque waterfalls, some of them take swimsuits with them to swim in natural pools (clean, I swam). There is also a circle path around the river but most Thai visitors don't explore it.
The map of the round path around the waterfalls
The entrance fee is 100 baht for a foreigner.
The park isn't large. During the day, it is crowded with swimmers and eaters. It seemed devoid of tranquility then - at least, this was what I found when visited it for the first time in December 2018. But in 2023, we came late when many visitors had already departed, and the vibes were pretty different.
Not that much people at high tier waterfalls. As for the lower ones, they were completely empty to our pleasure.
It was not rainily cloudy, but the sunlight was scattered by translucent veil of clouds.
That gave the place an atmospheric evening look.
Banyan trees growing right from the river were especially spectacular.
I loved that faded light. No harsh shades, no blinding glare on the water.
Kingdom of jade.
It looked the spirit of jungle left earthen holes and crevices to return to the beloved river.
The slightest microdose of shrooms, and the roots would start moving.
Nature magic, ready to act.
There were still many people at higher tiers of the river, and it felt strange that they preferred to swarm, swimming and eating at the same place, instead of descending to this beauty and merging with nature.
It began to get dark. We silently followed the path to the upper bridge...
More images and stories from Southeast Asia are ahead! Check out the previous ones on my personal Pinmapple map.
I took the images with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G on Nikon D750 on December 5, 2023 in Chet Sao Noi National Park in Saraburi and Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) provinces of Thailand.