Chilling Falls

It's early in the morning and David, Sheila and I are patiently waiting on a cement wall for a co-worker to arrive.  He will also go with us on David's Birthday road trip to the Chilling Falls.  I ask the time, and it's 7:20 when we hear something in the near distant.  Moments later we watch as a man holding a purse hurriedly runs past us.   A Malaysian Police officer on his scooter speeds right behind him.  With our minds slowly at work we finally realize it's a police chase!  I've never  seen one of those before!  The man with the purse makes it to the bridge where the police officer suddenly stops his scooter and ends his morning chase.  The man with the purse gets away. We never could figure out why the police officer stopped so abruptly.

At 7:30 and a few calls later we decide to leave without the co-worker.  We imagine him sleeping peacefully in his bed after a late night of partying in KL.  The drive towards the falls takes us approximately and hour and a half.  Very close to our end point we pass up a large lake and stop the car in order to stretch our legs a bit.  We smile big and know it's going to be a beautiful day. 

                                                   

       As we arrive at the trail head, Sheila and I take a picture together.  David tells us to look like tough hikers, and so we do.  See above picture.  After 1o minutes of hiking and avoiding the mosquitos David receives a phone call from our friends Mariano and Vanesa.  They are 15 minutes behind and David decides to walk back towards the trail head to meet them there.  Sheila and I continue our hike towards the falls together which included a detour on the wrong trail, then back again on the correct trail.  Several river crossings later we arrive at the same time as the rest!    

 

The temperature of the water is just right and when you get closer to the falls it gets so deep  you are not able to stand up.   After a bit of swimming, water splashing, and watching kids throw sand at the rocks, we all get out to continue our adventure.  Close to us is a guide who led a group of tourists to the falls and we ask him if he knows where the trail is that leads to the top of the waterfall.  He points out the trail  but recommends us not to go there.  He pretty much says, "you will fall and die if you go up there."  He tells us the story about how one time, ten years ago, a person fell into the water and four people jumped after him and all drowned.  He said he never takes anyone up there and that there is nothing special up there anyway. This frightened some of us, but of coarse this makes me and David want to go up there even more!  We tell the rest that if it gets too dangerous we can always turn around and go back.  So we decide to go!  After a good climb on the steep hill we make it to the top and find our mecca.  We find ourselves alone, and our senses go wild.  We listen to the water rush past us,  hear the birds sing in the trees and smell the wonderfully fresh and cool air.  David even meditates on a rock with the waterfall behind him.  See how peaceful?