The town was decidedly dead last night, so in the end I went to a shop and bought 12 candles, 12 mosquito coils, 10 boxes of matches and 2 Chang beers for about 1 pound 75, and had a seance at my cottage. Over breakfast today I bumped into an Israeli bloke I met in Muang Noi Neua in Laos, so together we attempted to make our intrepid adventure to the other falls. After driving down a dirt track so narrow that both feet were clipping each side in places, we quickly discovered there wasn’t actually a trail, and you’re forced to wade up the river. After about 40 minutes of this we decided to head back and check the details with anyone we could find that speaks English. The girl working in my guesthouse came to the rescue, she said “Ah, yes. There is no trail, you have to hike up the river for 4 hours – it’s better to go with a guide”.
Unperturbed, we headed towards another waterfall, once more having to drive 4 Km down deeply rutted dirt tracks, and then a simple 150m hike which turned into about 400m of hanging onto steep, slippery earth slopes about 50 feet above the rocks, trying to make it to the top. We got there in the end, neither of us dying in the process, only to discover the real track on the way down, which again leads you to wade up the falls themselves, but in somewhat more safety. The only slight snag is that the water seemed to be full of sewage, which is a little strange.
On finally somehow getting back to the bikes, the Israeli (who’s called Syri or something like that) discovers that him and his key have parted company somewhere, so I have to pillion him all the way back to town and back again once he’s obtained a replacement. I’m not sure who was shitting himself more, him or me.
Sappong tomorrow, probably..