second day in the forest

I would just go and have a look where does the trail lead that forks from the road going to the view point but Külli insists that we go and ask the rangers.

Of course that crates a lot of excitement. A boy who speaks some English is brought and we try to exchange information through Google translator. We are the first foreign tourists there this year. Last year there were 20 of this specimen. There is a 18 km long trail, one way. Too long and too dangerous. Then there is the trail to view point. And then there is a trail to Sapan waterfall through the forest. Tourists can not walk alone so we get a man named Oo with us. He multiplies swiftly into three men. The trail starts right by our house, at the right side end of the railing that marks the campsite and turns into a nice broad forest path. One man walks ahead with a machete and picks a few small branches from the way. We would have not needed a convoy for this. On half the way an arrow points to the right but we ignore it. The trail follows the river. Then the front man loses the trail and for some time we sledge on the steep mountain side, hanging on to lianas. Oo takes the lead and finds the trail above us. The trail reaches the double waterfall from yesterday from behind a giant rock. We make a few pictures to be polite and eat cookies. Yesterday it was sunny here, today is cloudy. Oo indicates that there are three waterfalls. A bit below is a single line on water but more below many streams fall over the cliff. This we really did not see yesterday. The guards must be wondering why we liked the last one the most. We have to drive back with a car. Everybody is very satisfied and although I clutch three hundred-baht-notes there arises no moment to hand them over so the entertainment was for free.
What the park folks don't realize is that when the tourists know where the trail is then they can go there on their own. We start again and this time take pictures of all the trees. Suddenly some commotion starts on the trail and a snake falls down the slope. Hopefully he didn't break his neck or something. After that more attention is diverted to the ground. This time we go check out where the trail with the arrow goes. Like it was to be expected it leads to the viewpoint road. We watch the view and go back the same way.
In the evening a carful of people come to camp.

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first day in the forest
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Nan, for the second time

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