A Perfect Day

Last photo before my camera fell into the waterfall
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Great night of sleep, woke up to an empty beach, and enjoyed my morning run with the rising sun. Had a delicious piece of Banana Bread for breakfast, made by the "local" German pastry shop. It was truly yummy! Today, Ninka and I were going to look for Thaan Prawet Waterfall, and then hike over to Bottle Beach.

As we started on our journey on the treacherous main road, we ran into a fellow named Andrew. He was just about to head to one of the waterfalls we visited yesterday, and after hearing our unenthusiastic review, he opted to join us!  I love that! Meeting fellow travellers, and now we're a team!  Andrew's from England, left his job as a radio host, and is taking a 6-month trip around the world! He's already been to Egypt, Italy and Hong Kong! Ultimately, he's going to Las Vegas for the Poker Tournament,,,maybe I'll meet up with him!

It is only 10 am and the sun is scorching! No matter the amount of sunblock, my shoulders are frying! I've got my Prada messenger purse, with all the necessities - sunblock, hand sanitizer, band aid, lipstick, lipgloss, camera, cell phone, mints, calculator, and a bottle of water! No idea how long it's going to take us to get where we need to go! The Prawet Waterfall is fairly closeby, but due to the lack of signs and proper trail, it takes us longer and requires a bit of fancy rock jumping to figure it all out!  Andrew seemed like a fairly cool guy, easy going, funny, and just chill. He had so much fun jumping about the rocks! Felt like a kid again!  Ninka on the other hand, was a bit of a nervous nelly, and hesitant to establish the trail for us. She was afraid of getting wet...in her TEVA sandals!  So, I say, just go, "it's only water".  So, she gets across a section, and then it's my turn. Andrew is bringing up the rear. I clutch my Prada bag, and catapult! As soon as I take a step, my footing slips on the wet rock. Crap! My foot hits the water, and I'm bent over! The big liter of water falls out of my bag, and into the water! No prob, so I take a step bag, bend over and motion to pick it up, until, my camera jumps out of the bag, and falls into the water too. Okay, I need to prioritize, and pick up the camera first! So, again, bending over, and the next thing I see, the cell phone is in the water! Oh man! One by one...keys, mints, lipstick, kept coming out of my bag! What the heck! All I could do was stand there and stare. Andrew, the sweetie that he was, jumped into the water and started retrieving my belongings. While doing so, he also loses his water bottle!  Oh darn, I feel bad! His bottle actually slips downstream!  Afterwards, we all just sat on the rock, as I tried to dry off my stuff. We had a good laugh. What can I do? I thanked Andrew for being my hero, and we shared my water for the rest of our journey! And we barely met 10 minutes ago! Good times!

We found our way out of the waterfall, and back onto the main road. Next Stop: Bottle Beach! It looked close, but what do we know? For the next 2 hours, we walked, and talked, and laughed, and drank water, and walked a lot more! It seemed like an eternity. The heat was not so kind, but thankfully we were good company and kept each other upbeat. Andrew even told us there was a cobra snake at the beach last night. The dogs were barking like crazy, and the locals came running with shotguns! Andrew sounded truly frightened by the whole ordeal!  Yikes! I would too, I mean we were hiking! Aren't there snakes here too??

Finally found civilzation at Bottle Beach! It was so beautful! Yet, another place I would like to stay. Calm, blue waters!  After a much needed lunch break, Andrew and I were dying to get in the water! Ninka was hesitant, cuz she didn't want to get too much sun. We found her a spot to hide in the shade, and off we went! It was great fun, and soooo refreshing! We shared our Bangkok horror stories, and he had the same con story! Only, he was smart enough to not get conned! After some time, we swam up to a long-tail taxi, and asked if he could give us a lift back to our beach. We were not looking to hike back! He gave us a nod, and damn we were so thrilled! We hollered at Ninka to get ready, and let's go!

What an absolutely exhilirating boat ride, the best 15 minutes ever!! There was another couple, and the 3 of us. Andrew and I were so giddy, and laughed so much on the ride! It was fast, and water was splashing all over our faces. The couple and Ninka were pretty boring. They didn't look like they were having such a great time. When we looked at the mountains, and realized how far we hiked, we were stunned. As we rounded the final turn back to our beach, we noticed huge plumes of white smoke coming from shore. Chills climb up my spine. Oh no, there was a fire, is everyone okay? Where did it start? We all just stared in silence, as we couldn't get back to shore soon enough. As we get closer, however, we notice people are still laying on the beach, as if the fire behind them was not happening!  What is wrong with these people? RUN!!!!  Run for your life! Later we found out, it was the locals burning their garbage, and it was a "contained" fire. Are they kidding?? Could have fooled me! I couldn't help but think our ozone layer is depleting fast if they continue to use this as best practices!

Afternoon was our alone time, so we can regroup, and just chill. I gave Andrew my hammock and cintronella sticks, since I would be leaving the next day. I figure he would appreciate it and put it to good use!  We sat on my porch and talked a bit, and was thrilled with his new gifts!  I went for an afternoon swim, and napped on the beach. Ninka hung out at her bungalow researching her next destination. Andrew read the back of the Da Vinci Code, and fell asleep swinging from his new hammock.

After dinner, we went to the bar, and played a card game called, Teaser, and threw back a few beers. It was a fun evening, fairly competitive, since we were all trying to represent our country. Of course, Ninka the Dutch, was trying to be neutral, while Andrew the Brit was only sometimes an ally to Sandy the American. Our allegiance flip flopped frequently! After 4 hours, 5 big bottles of beer, countless songs by Halloway, of course, as usual, the American prevailed!! We suggested Andrew reconsider his upcoming entry at the Las Vegas Poker Tournament, since he came in dead last!

It was almost midnite and the bar keep had long gone to bed. It was up to us to shut the place down. Ninka's bungalow was in the same place, so she disappeared into the night. It was just Andrew and I, so he walked me back to my place. The stars were so bright that evening, and it was the only thing lighting the night.  Thank goodness he had his little pocket lite, because it was pitch black! And why did he have to bring up the snake story again? He freaked both of us out. Quite the gentleman as he walked me to the door, and thanked me for a truly perfect day, and gave me hug goodbye. He was sad to know I was leaving the next day, since we got along so famously! He left an impression on me, and it was perfect day indeed.  I'll get over the camera.