....and up we got. We had breakfast and then onto the boat just after 7am to go to the Ox-bow Lakes for a boat cruise and jungle trek. It took about 45 minutes to get to the Lakes, which were covered in floating plants, making them seem very un-boatable. but we got through and disembarked upon a muddy bank. Now, when they said we were going jungle-trekking, what they really meant is that we were going jungle-trekking. It was quite amazing. We wound through dense rainforest, trees and bamboo sticking up sporadically from the squelching mud below. We tried to avoid the leaves where we could, as there were many leeches around, but at times it was impossible as we almost hacked our way through semi-dense undergrowth. We followed wild pig tracks for while, at times having to walk along broken branches for the quicksand-like mud. I love you boots. I love you. We went over and under fallen trees encapsulated in moss and moist from the rain. We saw a couple of birds and some sun-bear scratches, but nothing much. It was a pleasant but uneventful wind through the forest.
We got back and cruised along the river, and the boatman spied an orang-utan feeding on the trees on the riverbank, which was very cool. Our very own wild orang-utan, with no other crazy boats and tourists to jostle with. They are amazing animals, just peacefully stretching out and eating, swinging from tree to tree.
We got back around 10am and had a shower because we were saturated and muddy. We then realised, that apart from meals, that we had absolutely nothing to do for the rest of the day. We had also arranged to leave early, as I said earlier, as it was far too isolated. We were under the impression that we could wander around and walk, but you could not walk anywhere without a guide. Butt. Never mind, we were able to leave a couple of days early. But then we came to the dilemma of amusing ourselves. There is only so long that you can read informative books for, as both Chelsea and I discovered, falling asleep in the middle of the day. Even a pack of cards would be useful, said Chelsea. A glimmer shone in my eye. Excellent. I told her I'd make a deck of cards.
I chuckled to myself as I proceeded to make the most awesome deck of cards EVER. For Chelsea's amusement, the first suit was Weed. The Jack of Weed was a boy we all know enjoying himself, and the Queen was his girlfriend also having a great time. An incredible likeness for both of them, I have amazing drawing skills. The King, of course, was Towel-y. 'You wanna get high?'. I thought I was hilarious, and I'd like to state for the record, that so did Chelsea when I showed her.
The next suit was made for my amusement: Maths. The Jack of Maths was Leonardo Da Vinci (or Fibonacci, take your pick) dreaming of phi, the most beautiful number. The Queen of Maths was, clearly, me. The King of Maths of Pythagoras, asking 'You wanna get pi?'. Yes, I am hilarious. We were both in tears. We are funny, we swear!
The third suit was Booze, the Jack a homeless bum (politically incorrect we know, but funny nevertheless) drinking a VB (terrible beer), the Queen was a lovable woman with curly hair polishing off two and half bottles of wine, and the King was Chels and me enjoying pina coladas on a deserted island. Nice.
The last suit was Love. Although it appeared similar to the familiar hearts suit, it was a somewhat veiled attempt to get the most important vice into the deck. The Jack was a happy couple, the Queen was a very happy couple, the King their bedroom, which unfortunately, they didn't quite make it to....
I do apologise for the lack of censoring. You all know what I'm like, and if you didn't, you do now. Sorry.
So we played snap and uno for about 4 hours until dinner, where I had....soup. Awesome. Not rice. We sat up for a little while talking to a trio from Holland and some very friendly Malays who desperately wanted to get to know Chels a little better. They were very disappointed when she gave them absolutely nothing.
And so, to bed to begin our trip back to KK....
