The stunning sound of silence (Back to the roots on the laketrip with jungle & cave hike)

When we arrive at the lake...it is just amazing.

If I think of a lake, I'd usually imagine that I could kind of see it's shape. But not this one. It's huuuuge. There is no end in sight and it feels more like a weird stock-still part of the sea...you hear nothing but the engine of the boat (hmm...ok, that is pretty loud...but even if it slows down)...you hear the water on the boat and ...silence....and the surrounding is just...there are no words for this awesome landscape.

The high rocks or mountains, whatever you wanna call it, combined with this giant lake... beautiful. And the water is so smooth, that after getting out of my stunning amazement, all I wanna do is jump on some water ski and ski until I can't hold myself to a rope anymore. But – actually it is great – there is nothing like that to disturb this beautiful nature. 

Boat ride through stunning scenery

So we keep on racing along the lake with the other boat of our group and suddenly drive into a little inlet and up to some floating bungalows. Lunch stop. Wait ... first: bathing stop :) We jump into this clear water. I expected it to be freezing cold ... it's not. It's perfect! So before we enjoy the most yummy fried rice ever, we have some Chang in the lake. Life can be tough...

We drive on. Up to some bushes in the lake and get off the boat at some muddy place. I get stuck and slip a couple of times with my flip flops, so I leave them (till we get back).

The hike through the jungle is back to nature and barefoot for me. Except for some thorns sticking in my feet it is the right decision and a back to the roots feeling. :)

So we make our way through the mud, have a little swim in some muddy weird warm water (people were kind of waiting for crocodiles to jump out of some corner, but luckily we had Ben with his slingshot with us, so he kept them all away...hehe...), make our way further on through bushes, over rocks, through little rivers and limbo dance under some trees...

Boat ride to the cave

Making our way through the jungle

Ben aka Crocodile Dundee lighting us the way (and "saving" us with his slingshot)

And I so loved the story of Bertus, when he walked through the jungle once and this little kid saw him and believed he was George of the Jungle... I can so imagine that, as he looks 99% like the Tarzan of the same named Musical in Germany (see picture to the right). Hey...maybe he should apply for that. He can sing, he fits in the looks and he will love the whole swinging over the audience and jumping around on ropes thing, I guess.... ;)

Arriving at the cave

Whatever...we arrive at the cave and turn our headlamps and flashlights on... as soon as it gets a little darker there are millions of bats hanging from the top of the cave. The spiders in there are pretty gross, but I do not see too many...just enough to say...wow...kinda big..., iiiuuhhh... :)

And then there is this horror movie scene, Bertus shows Tiff and me some bugs and we start looking around and suddenly we see that they are everywhere around us....creepy.

Bats hanging from the top of the cave

Creepy spiders in the cave

Making our way through the pitch-black cave

At some point we have to swim in some pretty cold water in the cave. Some of the girls get kind of scared. So I hold the hand of my roommate, so she won't feel left alone...even though it is pretty hard to walk through the tight parts of the cave like that and to hold balance. But I'd rather fall down than making her feel worse by letting her hand go. We finally make it out of the cave and I am glad to see light again.

The way back feels so much faster. And it is just nice to relax my feet in the boat when we jump back in it. We enjoy the rest of the drive to our bungalows even though we get quite soaked... When we drive upon them, it is just an awesome view seeing those tiny little huts floating on this amazing lake in front of the mountains.

Our floating bungalows on Lake Cheow Lan

The little huts, that we slept in

At this place, there is some bamboo stick in the water from the bungalows to a canoe, that we try to balance on. There is just one person from our group making it all the way over to the canoe without falling down and Ya (one of the guys from Smiley's), who is making it to the canoe and back without getting wet...wow...

Bertus trying to make it to the end of the bamboo stick...

Dinner is delicious!! I even try the fish, because it just looks sooo yummy.

Later some start playing sociables and some are chilling at the huts listening to Ben. This is the night Ben's guitar gets signed by some of us, so he will never travel on again, without thinking of this very moment :)

Nicole's glory night, when she played socialables

PS: I wish I brought my hammock here. That would have been awesome. Ben is the only one who thought of it. But even he is not having the pleasure of using it, as Nicole jumps in there at night.