track our trek

we spent one lazy afternoon walking around town visiting museums and a temple & taking in the sights along the mekong and the nam khan rivers. there were fishermen casting nets, kids swimming and playing along the banks, and people tending tiered vegetable crops along the river's edge. it feels like a real step back in time. we stopped to have fruit shakes and watch the sunset at one outdoor restaurant. the next day we met up with julie and ensofia and took a slow boat an hour down the mekong to kuangsi waterfalls. the river is calm and flat, & the mountains on both sides are beautiful. it was a nice way to travel after our nightmarish bus ride! we docked the boat and took a songthaew up into the hills to the waterfalls. the water is bright turquoise and cold! there's no swimming allowed at the upper level, but people we standing under the falls in some places anyway. we followed some steep steps in an attempt to get to the top of the falls...after twenty minutes of climbing. we passed a couple of trekkers who said they had climbed up the other side & were on their way down...they said the views were breathtaking, but one woman had fallen in the water up to her neck while crossing the stones, so be careful! we made it to the top of the path after another 15 minutes and could see the path on the other side of the water. the views out from the top were obstructed by the trees there, and not wanting to chance falling in, we picked our way upstream about 30 yards & made our way across balancing on tree roots and holding onto trees vines. unfortunately, once we crossed one tributary we realized we were just in a swampy, marshy area and we couldn't seem to make our way back towards the path...that's right about the time i started thinking about the fact that we were picking our way through a tropical jungle filled with all manner of flying and crawling and slithering insects and animals we didn't know anything about! i saw a gross looking bug inching its way along almost end over end. "yuck, what kind of worm is that??" i asked...dp said, "oh, that's just a caterpillar." really?? in any case, we all got creeped out about the same time and decided to give up the chase & head back the way we'd come. after a few minutes of backtracking, julie noticed a couple "caterpillars" on her feet...turns out they were leeches! eeeww! we all kicked off our shoes and realized we each had a few happily taking meals between our toes...disgusting! we were able to brush them off pretty easily, but it was all we could do not to run down that mountain & jump in the pool at the bottom!!! here's the part where we pray that all those pre-travel vaccinations are paying off! jokes... once we settled down & rinsed our shoes and feet at the upper level (not to mention full body checks for ticks and any other leeches), we walked down to where we could swim...dp and i jumped in for a refreshing dip...after our sweaty hike through the woods, it felt so good to rinse off in clean water and float for a few minutes!...phew! no more jungle adventures for me for a while, thanks! i'm still itching just thinking about it!