Oh, the Places You'll Go!: Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls...


The beautiful waterfalls at the "so-called" Templer's Park

Two of my friends (Lauren and Ela) and I have decided that Tuesdays should be "adventure day," so we've taken it upon ourselves to flip through all of our guide books, websites, and local magazines for touristy suggestions on what to see and do in these parts. We've compiled a big list based on what sounded like the most appealing suggestions to us and have broken it down into a few different categories, including, but not limited to the following themes: Nature/Sweaty/Outdoorsy Adventures, Cultural Adventures, Culinary Adventures, Shopping Adventures, and my personal favorite, Miscellaneous Adventures that could be a combination of any (or none) of the above. And to further complicate things, we've categorized them even more into "City Centre" adventures, outskirts of town adventures, day trip adventures, and even weekend/extended leave adventures. Some of these are pretty tame adventures, but some of them are actually adventure adventures. Last week was an adventure adventure, but we didn't know know until it was too late. We wanted to go on a simple little hike through a pretty little park with pretty little waterfalls and have a lovely little picnic afterward. We should have known something was a little off when the website described this place as the "So-Called Templer's Park" about 20 km north of town. So-called?!? What does that even mean? Is it so-called Templer's or is it a so-called Park? I really don't know. Anyway, this so-called 20 km drive to the so-called park took a little over two hours after the so-called GPS directions led us all over so-called Malaysia. But fear not, because one thing we've all learned about living and driving here is that you never, ever, ever leave home without a full tank of gas....and without going to the bathroom first! Even if you know exactly where you're going and exactly how long it should take to get somewhere, the traffic is so out of control here that a simple 5 minute or 5 kilometer journey could actually take hours!! So, with a full tank of gas and a full dose of enthusiasm on adventure week number 1, we didn't let the wrong turns or the missed exits dampen our spirits in the least. Nope, we just kept right on going until we finally found the park and then hit the trail with both feet ~~running~~ walking (the running didn't come until later). It started out simple enough. A nice, wide, flat trail with beautiful trees on either side and the relaxing sounds of trickling water from the falls somewhere off in the distance. Butterflies fluttering all around us, birds chirping overhead, rays of sun bursting through the canopy trees. A simple hike through the pretty park right? Uh uh. After we had been walking for a little while, the trails began to get a little more narrow, a little more overgrown, and the butterflies, birds, and rays seemed to have disappeared. Again, having already traveled so far just to get there, and for some reason convinced that this trail made a full loop, we weren't about to turn back. Yet. We were going to make sure that we were really in over our heads (as opposed to just kinda in over our heads) before having to swallow our pride and turn back around. We came to a couple of dead ends along the way, had to limbo our way under some of the branches and shrubs growing over the trail and waded our way through a stream or two before finally reaching a point where we literally couldn't have gone any further (not without a machete or chainsaw anyway). The trail had become so overgrown at this point that we were finally convinced we had somehow gotten off course.....or that the so-called course just hadn't been traveled by anyone in, well, years. So we turned back around, crossed the same streams, limboed under the same branches, and bypassed the same dead ends that all tried to stop us the first time around. Only this time, I felt a little something "poking" me in the ankle. What I originally ~~thought~~ hoped was just a thorn actually turned out to be......are y'all ready for this....a leech?!?!?! Wanting to remain calm, I quickly reached down and swatted it off of me and then looked up and saw one on the back of Ela's shoe in front of me. I walked up there and kicked it off of her so I wouldn't freak her out by screaming that she had a leech on her (yeah, so going up there and kicking her seemed like a much more normal thing to do). :) Anyway, we're all starting to hyperventilate a little bit at this point so after making it to the next clearing, we all stopped, kicked off our socks and shoes, pulled up our pants, and did a frantic inspection of each other to see just how many of these blood-sucking leeches had gotten a hold of us.I think I won. I had a couple of 'em on my ankles, a couple more on the back of my leg, and a couple more than are forever engraved in my ~~nightmares~~ memory of our "simple hike" that day. I'm not sure if it was the loss of blood from all the leeches or just the whole gross factor of knowing there were leeches on us that left us all feeling a bit light headed, but we were definitely feeling a bit queasy by this point! So we high-tailed it out of that place and made it back to the car in record time (or what I imagine to be record time for anyone trying to get out of there), and hosed off, wiped down, and did another thorough inspection of each other before finally regaining enough composure to sit down to our nice, civilized picnic lunch, complete with smoked salmon, cheese, fruits, sandwiches, juice, and even real plates and silverware (thanks to Ela's proper Picnic Bag from the UK)! All in all, not a bad adventure adventure!!