Adventures By Design

In which the travelers are guided by a mystery

Today was a great day, but pretty tiring! We set out this morning to go for a walk around the area. First we walked over to the golf course here and walked around it, something that our friend, Tom, from yesterday suggested as a nice walk. When we reached the halfway point around the golf course we stopped to consult our map and plan our next move. We stood there for a minute, trying to judge distances and directions, and when Ric looked up Tom was walking towards us! We said hello and talked for a minute, but we were heading in opposite directions so soon we went off our separate ways.

We headed off to the next town, Brinchang, where there was a Hindu temple, and a little further along a Chinese Buddhist temple as well. The Hindu temple was a big disappointment, but we did see a Hindu dog as we walked away, which more than made up for the lack-luster temple.

Next was the Buddhist temple, which was a little more interesting, and we could at least go inside. We got some cool pictures, including a few shots of some rather interesting characters from the walls around the main temple. However we always feel a little callous taking photos while people are praying or worshiping around us so we moved on pretty quickly.

When we left the temple we had some trouble figuring out which way to go. We knew which path we wanted to take on our map, we just couldn’t seem to find the path in real life. As we stood around looking lost an older Indian man came up and asked us where we were going. He pointed out the right way up some stairs and we went off. However, it was obvious that we still had no idea where we should be going, so he caught up to us and told us to follow him. At first we were apprehensive about following a complete stranger into a deserted and mysterious jungle, but we really didn’t know where to go, and he seemed like a nice guy so we went for it.

It turns out that the man was a retired guide who had been trekking in this jungle for the last 55 years so he knew his way around! Apparently he still walks in the jungle for 8-9 hours everyday and he often picks up random foreigners to guide along the way. He seems to really enjoy showing off his jungle and does it just for the love of it. He totally took us under his wing and guided us through the jungle all the way home. On the way Gin got to take a picture with his machete, and Ric with a branch from a banana tree. The man also made Gin a couple of bracelets with rattan that he harvested from the jungle, then cleaned and shaped to fit her perfectly.

Unfortunately, when we were still about an hour from home the skies opened up and it started to pour! On the bright side our new friend had several cheap disposable raincoats in his bag which he gave to us. Our feet and legs still got soaked but at least our bags and cameras were safe. We squelched along through the rain, reasoning that shelter isn’t really worth it when you’re already soaked and finally got to town. Our guide took us all the way through town, and then at the turn-off to our hotel waved to us, said “See you later,” and disappeared into the mist. We were a little shocked at being left so abruptly, without even a chance to offer him a drink or dinner. Later Ric wondered if he might have been a figment of our imaginations, but Gin had two bracelets to prove he was real… weird though, we never even learned his name.