A Visit to Wat Phu Tok and a Waterfall

Cimbing and Climbing ...
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I returned from my trip to Laos on Saturday. It was somewhat bittersweet getting my Thai visa - I now only have 30 days left of volunteering in Phon Phisai. I came back early to join a big group of Travel-to-Teach volunteers going to Wat Phu Tok on Sunday. Jack and Cindy, the Nong Khai Coordinator, had arranged for a bus to take about 20 volunteers to the wat and then a nearby waterfall.

Wat Phu Tok is an untouristed mountain wat with spectacular views. I'd been wanting to visit it for a while, but it is impossible to reach by public transit. The mountain has 7 levels, each with shrines representing different levels of enlightenment. After a 2 hour bus ride we arrived at the base of the mountain and started climbing the vertical stairs. And continued climbing and climbing the rickey wooden stairs ...

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On level 5 a few of us stopped to see the sanctuary. The area had the smell of incense and contained 3 large Buddha statues. I had read how travelers used to be aloud to sleep over night on the wooden floor, until a male and female visitor were caught acting "inappropriately." I, and my friend Ilona, took a moment to linger looking out at the amazing view, and then followed Jack's lead and took a broom to help sweep the sanctuary's floor free of leaves. I noticed a skeleton near the entrance. "What's this?" I asked Jack. He responded that a man had donated his remains - to remind people how everyone is born and everyone dies. By the time we finished there were no other volunteers in sight, so Ilona and I continued hiking up the mountain with Jack, his girlfriend Pim, and Thai friend Eric.

As we passed level 6 we could see a narrow horizontal walkway built into the side of the cliff. "Too dangerous," Jack said. We continued hiking up to the very top of the mountain. We took some pictures of the plain below, and then started our descent. As we reach level 6, again, we ran into a bunch of crazy 10 year old boys. Jack spoke to them for awhile, and then started moving to the walkway that went around the mountain (which 10 minutes ago had been "too dangerous"). When we questioned him, Jack responded with a grin, "oh, the boys recommend." Oh great. With some trepidation we start walking slowly on the wooden planks. The middle section was particularly, um - adventerous, with rotten wooden and bees nests under certain section, thus limiting where we could walk. I had a great feeling of relief when we reached solid ground again. As we started down the boys found these long vines hanging down that you could swing on. Jack and Eric also took turns swinging on the vine, each giving a loud woop. "Do you want to try?" They asked Ilona and myself. "Yes!" I heard myself say with enthusiasm. Ok, so there was a moment of panic as I grabbed onto the vine and swung off the rock. I too let out an uncontrolable "WOOOP"! It was incredibly fun, then Jack looked at his watch and realized we had only 10 minutes to make it down the mountain and back to the bus - ugh!

Our next destination was a nearby waterfall. Even though it is almost November the weather is still terribly hot. It was very pleasant to splash around in the waterfall. Walking over to the falls I was able to "gracefully" slip and fall on my butt. Luckily, no harm done, and I was by no means the last to fall that day. By the end people were having contests to see who could slide down the slippery moss lined rocks the farthest.

*** For some reason I'm having difficulty uploading pictures - I'll try again tomorrow***