Snippets from Abroad 015

Exploring a waterfall:

At the entrance to this area I was appalled at the 100 baht that I as a foreigner had to shill out in order to see something as simple as a waterfall, but I have underestimated the size of the thing. Not like it's this majestic monstrosity, roaring very high or wide but it's a rather nicely made path through the jungle along ten numbered steps that the water allegedly takes from some higher point to some lower point I have already left behind me. I am the only person I have seen so far and the sign said that this was step six, counting upwards with me climbing up the mountainside while the water has been descending to my right. Now the path ends. I have brought no water and haven't drank in ages, something that is always dangerous in tropical environments. I may or may not be hungry too, but that is hard to tell with the Doxycyclin in my bloodstream. The onward path is blocked by a bamboo barrier and a sign in Thai telling me it's out of order and, being a good German, I respect the signs authority without anyone being here to enforce it. I stand in the water of one of the pools, the current dragging on me up to my knees, where I have rolled up my pants. Five meters away from me on one side, the water goes down about three meters, five meters to my left it comes cascading down some rocks. The path on the other side goes on up, I can see that, but without going deeper into the water, which I have spent the past ten minutes testing by walking around in it, I cannot get across. I could go back two steps of the waterfall to a bridge but I would have to wait for my feet to dry in order to get into my shoes again because I have seen what kind of little horrors (and ants) crawl around on that jungle-floor. A decision is made and I wade through, having all things water-damageable in my carrypurse, I nearly slip twice but I make it to the other side. I feel great but I need to take off my pants and remove my underpants because those won't dry on my body and I hate getting a cold in hot weather. I sit down on the rocks in the sun to dry my pants and my shirt. Then, fearing a sun-stroke, I tie my soaked underpants around my head like a bandana. In fact, people I later meet along the trail don't even notice that they are talking to a guy who is wearing his underwear on his head. Whether the joke's on them or on the guy who has seen too much Bear Grills I don't dare to decide. But After an hour of hiking through the hot and wet jungle air, I reach the last of the waterfall steps and feel like a king.