Adventures By Design

In which the travelers meet a cool guy

When we were talking to Gin’s parents yesterday it was quite late in Canada, so they had to go to bed. Gin’s mom said that she would probably be available to talk the next day around 11am Malaysian time. So this morning Gin woke up and went to do some research on the computer until her mom came online. She fixed our Skype program on the Eee PC so now it should do video (though that hasn’t been tested yet) and did some research about our next destination: Kuching. At about 12, there was still no sign of Gin’s mom, so after a short conversation with her dad we gave up and went to have breakfast.

After breakfast we bought a map of the area that shows all the jungle trails. We had been warned that you have to be careful walking around on the trails, and that you should always tell someone where you are going (something we hadn’t done) so we chose what looked like a really easy trail and set out. According to our map we were headed towards a waterfall and a watchtower. We didn’t need to worry about the dangers of this trail: it was paved with bricks, and very well laid out so that it was almost impossible to get lost.

We arrived at the waterfall, but were rather disappointed by the sheer volume of trash strewn about the place. There were bags and bottles in the water, and larger pieces of garbage stuck in all the trees around the falls…blech! Without an idyllic view the waterfall really had nothing to offer us and so we moved on quickly, hoping that the watchtower wouldn’t be quite so disappointing.

We had to haul ourselves up a rather steep approach to the watchtower (I suppose it wouldn’t make sense to put it any lower), and when we arrived we were a little sketched out by the decrepit nature of the wood used to make the tower, but the view from the top was spectacular! We could see tea plantations, strawberry farms, lots of Tudor-style hotels and houses, and tonnes of jungle. We enjoyed the view, and the breeze for a while until the whole watchtower structure started shaking slightly. Don’t worry, it wasn’t collapsing, we were just about to have company. Gin looked down and saw an older man climbing carefully up the stairs.

When the man arrived at the top we introduced ourselves, and got to talking, and talking, and talking. We figure we must have chatted with Tom for at least an hour on top of the tower. After that we walked with him along some of the trails and back to town, where we stopped for a coffee and more talking. Altogether we must have spent at least four hours with him. Now, we don’t spend four hours talking to just anyone, so you must have realized that Tom was a pretty interesting guy. He’s originally from South Dakota, USA, but has been living in Thailand for the past 12 years. In Thailand he lives in the north near Chiang Mai in a little house that he rents for about $25 a month! (We are seriously considering retiring in Thailand now, maybe next year!) Before moving to Thailand Tom had a pretty full live: he joined Alcoholics Anonymous over 24 years ago and is still very involved in helping others turn their lives around. He was also in the Peace Corps in Honduras for a year and a half, as well as trekking to the Everest base camp among a lot of other travel. In between all this, and to pay for it, he eschewed his college education and worked as a long-distance truck driver. His interests now mostly involve reading, and staying healthy through good nutrition and exercise. He intends to live to be a hundred (he’s in his early sixties now), to go as a tourist to a space station, and to take advantage of nano-technology to possible live even longer.

After a nice coffee and some delicious roti (banana and coconut) with Tom, we finally had to say our goodbyes. However, he is staying in town for a few more days, and so are we, so we might see him again. After parting from Tom we went to pick up our laundry from the cleaners (4kg for about $2.25) and headed back to our hotel.