People said about the waterfall inside the jungle. But not many people going there yet. Simply because the track is quite rough. No developed path. Learning from the last time trapped in the mud and I almost lost my flip flop, I clearly needed a pair of sport shoes. Thanks to Nanik who borrowed me her shoes and it was perfectly fit. Other problem was I didn't bring trouser that cover up my legs. Well, show must go on. So short could still do.
Together with us were Scott - an American guy who lives in Simeulue for few years, some locals who get used to with the track and a little boy who's just got very excited to join. The track is 3km distance. Number is of course shorter than marathon 10K. But difficulties level… ahmmm. It's a real jungle, babe. At the beginning the track was pretty nice. Savana with some muddy spots. Remind me about mine sweeper game. We needed to guess which spot is hard enough to step on to or we get trapped in the mud. After savana, then river with bamboo bridge. Don't think of well-built bamboo bridge. It was only 3 bamboo's lined up together, but the other two seems fragile. So practically it's only 1 bamboo to cross the river. A real balance game. I like it ;). Cuz I'm quite good at balancing and stability challenge. Thanks to my yoga class!
The jungle is typically tropical rain forrest with canopy trees and lianas. We had to be very careful as there were a lot of trees with spikes, while the path was a bit slippery. If we got slipped we might accidentally touch them and gonna be very ouuuchhh--hurt!! Few times, there was no path yet. The local helped us cut the bush and trees and build a new path. After we walked for nearly 1.5 hours, then we decided to just follow the creek as we're pretty sure it'll lead to the waterfall. It was only 30cm deep. But sometimes we have to cross the one with 60cm deep. Wet all over then. Though it's also fun as we saw water lizard, dragonfly with interesting colour. Golden green -- not light green that I used to see. Another 1 hour river trekking before we finally arrived to the waterfall. yeayy!!! Couldn't wait to jump to the water and it was brrrrr… hahaha. pretty cold :D. Water fall is 30 meters high. I really want to jump from above. Just too bad, it's very stoney and the path's quite slippery.
It was sooo refreshing to soak in the cold water after tiring trekking. I even forgot that i had runny nose.
Just swim swim swim.
It's really good to have Scott with us as he has been here before. He knew what to prepare. Which is…yummy lunch!!! Home made fried chicken and rice. Complete with the sambal. Ah, purrrrrfect! We don't have plate, so we pushed the time machine and back to Flinstone era. Make use of leave to become our plate and tree branch to become our spoon. Naaaiiicccee!
We couldn't stay long as the sky got so dark. We had to leave before the rainfall. But then it was too late. Rain fell not long after we leave the waterfall. I was really worried about my camera and phone since my backpack isn't the waterproof one. Lesson learnt for next time. I think it's better to have a dry bag for my love of outdoor world. We made natural umbrella from leaves. But yeas.. we still got wet after all. Another worry was the water level increasing and the current became stronger. Pretty scary for me! I didn't bother to think about dirt, mud or anything else. As long as I could arrive to the other side of the river safely. Wet but safe. It was such a big relieve when we finally reach the village.
Time for a warm up. We took a short break. I was craving for hot tea as I shivered from the cold. Mike told me there's a nice cafe up in the hill with wonderful view overlooking the ocean. We drove there. And he was right. It felt like a big reward to have hot tea and boiled chicken noodle. I ate a lot. hahaha. noodle, cake, bean cake. A little greedy monkey for this time. I deserved this though, didn't I?
