The following day we had planned to trek with B to the lake but the other people we were supposed to be going with pulled out. So we decided to trek to a waterfall which apparently was an 'easy' trek which loads of people did by themselves. Fine. No problem. Yesterday was a walk in the park (virtually) and the only note I'd made to myself was to look out for spiders webs in loos! We set off on a nice big path, negotiated contrete steps, so far so good.
It had been raining very heavily the night before, didn't really think anything of it, after all the path on the trek the day before was pretty wide, pathed with stones. All good. About 10 mins into our trek the path completely changed. Narrow, no stones, muddy and slippery. We had to negotiate our way over tree roots, under branches while looking out for snakes, spiders and anything else that could potentially kill us!! (Okay, slightly dramatic but you get my point!).
Let me just contextualise this for you. I was wearing a vest top and trainers with my trousers tucked into my socks (to prevent leeches, yes, that's LEECHES from attaching themselves to me). I can't say it was a great look but fashion means nothing in the jungle and needs must. Emily (and this still makes me laugh now) was wearing white toweling socks with trekking sandals. Definitely not a good look but again, needs must.
So we didn't exactly have the greatest treking gear on. Plus we didn't have loads of water. The path was really slippery in some places and although we kept bumping into people going the opposite direction to us, looking worse for wear (one guy and slipped in a lake and had been covered in leeches) and saying how slippery it was, it didn't deter us. In fact I actually thought 'wimps'. Let's just say the Lord works in mysterious ways!!
After about 1hour it started raining. We were low on water and the path was really narrow by now and very slippery so we decide to turn back. We come across a really narrow, muddy section of the path which many people had clearly slipped on. Just to add to it there was a 75 degree drop to the river below, peppered with 150 foot trees which no doubt housed many, many deadly creatures plus bamboo stumps. If you slipped and fell you would know about it. You'd either do yourself a massive injury from the stumps or you'd disturb spiders, snakes and who knows what else living in the trees.
I went first (on account my trainers had more grip - ahem!). Thankfully there were some strong, sturdy vines to hold onto. I made it.
Emily was not so lucky.
As she crossed she slipped. Her legs dangled helplessly as she held on to the vines for dear life. She has a nervous laugh. She began giggling uncontrollably. I started to shit myself. Only the vines she was holding onto and the vine wedged in between both butt cheeks were preventing her from falling. She looked up at me and said 'there's a vine up my bum'...'don't worry' I tried to reassure her 'it's saving your life!'. Bet she appreciated that! Thankfully she managed to hoist herself back up onto the path. We carried on walking in shock. Total silence. Very eager to get back.
About 15 mins later, Emily perked up with 'we haven't seen much of nature today'. 'Thank f*ck for that' I replied. Little did I know things were about to change.
There I was, walking along, concentrating hard on not slipping and trying to ignore various sounds, rustles etc. When I look down at the path in front of me and scream like I've never screamed before. Right in front of me was a black and red snake. It froze. We froze. Ever the optimist, I tried to reassure Emily (er, like I'm not properly shitting myself) that I didn't think it was poisonous. I have no idea where my sudden knowledge of snakes came from. Nor did Emily to be fair. I hate snakes. They make me shiver with fear. The fact that a live one was inches away from my feet wasn't the best moment of my life. After a minute or so it slithered away. We waited a few minutes then ran at a pace that would rival Linford Christy past the scene of the crime.
Eventually we got back to Riverside where we learnt the snake was in fact poisonous. Great. Emily nearly died, I nearly stepped on a poisonous snake. Queen of the jungle? I think not.
We left the following day for for Hau Hin and the beach! Don't get me wrong - Koah Sok was stunning, Riverside and the staff were fabulous. I loved the elephant trek and it was brilliant to do something different. Will I go trekking on my own again. No. Definitely not!
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