So, the plan created over Jungle Juice and beer last night was that Thijs would jump onto a scooter and go explore “some waterfall” with Amanda from Canada, whilst Clara and I would attempt to hitchhike to Pyin Oo Lwin, via the Mandalay palace and Anesakhan waterfalls.

Stepping out of the hotel, we extended our arms like zombies and hopped onto a “chicken bus” – so called because you’re all stuffed into a cage-like tuk-tuk like chickens, and easily got to the palace. Good start:

We didn’t go in, as it costs $10, and we wanted to get to the waterfall that day, so instead we hailed a local and asked him to take us to the highway, where there’s only one way to go. Apparently, Western logic is nothing like Myanmar logic, and it took us ages to explain that we were hitchhiking, and didn’t want to go to the bus stop. We employed the Anglophonic Communication Protocol – if he doesn’t understand, shout louder and slower. At least the car was air conditioned:

Eventually we arrived at the highway, where we spotted a tractor approaching. He was going the right way, so we hopped on. Why the heck not, eh?

 Sitting on the rear wheel guards we got to see Myanmar up close, as pieces of it were kicked up into our faces. I also thought at one point that my spine had popped out the top of my head from the shaking and juddering, but it turns out it’s OK. The driver took us as far as the toll gate, then hilariously asked to took a selfie with us.

We flagged down the next chicken bus, knowing that there’s only one road from there, and coincidence of all coincidences, we found on-board Corinne and Yan, who we’d met in the hostel in Mandalay – seems we were to share a chicken bus all the way!

As we left, I felt like I hadn’t really seen much of Mandalay itself, but after walking around a bit and seeing a fair chunk from the chicken busses, I also felt like I wasn’t missing much. Plus the view from the top of the chicken bus as we ascended into the mountains was incredible:

As we shared a couple of beers and played cards with the local travellers on top of the bus, it made the whole trip over awesome.

In surprisingly good time, we found ourselves in Anisakhan and set about finding a stop for a toilet break and somewhere to leave our bags. Noting that there weren’t any hotels for >20 minutes’ walk, we opted for an ice-cream shop instead. Purchasing a chocolate ice cream each, we were entitled to use the toilets and leave our bags all afternoon, bargain! We got directions to the waterfall, started walking, found some people heading the same way on a bike, nearly died with 3 of us on the back of the moped, and arrived at the top of the waterfall road to find (to our amazement) Thijs, with Amanda from the hostel in Mandalay! They’d hired scooters and made it to “some waterfall” at exactly the same time as us, so we got walking together. Whilst the views are amazing, the 45 minute descent to the waterfall is a bit of a grind down a zig-zagging road, but we decided to spice it up by taking risky jungle shortcuts:

 We were thoroughly rewarded in the end:

The waterfall is really incredible. We enjoyed a good 30 minutes ignoring the “no swimming” signs, finding dragonflies, little pools, natural slides, giant spider webs and mountain crabs. Really, mountain crabs!!

Highlights included getting a free foot massage, including annoying “wish you were here” voice over:

And jumping into plunge pools, which you should also really try sometime!

Just as we were getting out, I overheard a local saying something about how this was the first of three waterfalls, and that it was possible to climb to the other two, including a jungle-trek shortcut to the top. It didn’t take much to persuade the others to get on board with this idea, and this is where things got really special.

We followed the guide up a nearly-invisible path to the top of the first fall, and I climbed a tree that hung over the top of the waterfall, getting a real kick from my precarious vantage point:

  A brief explore of this plunge pool and the guide started wandering up the centre of the next fall, saying “follow follow!”:

We all laughed. Oh, how we chucked… But he wasn’t joking. Gulping, then dumping bags and shoes, we waded the pool and scrambled after him. I grabbed my Muvi. Here goes nothing…

It was quite a challenging ascent up through the torrential water, slippery rocks and plunge pools of unfathomable depth, but we had an absolute blast, scrambling the next two falls to reach the top:

 From here, barefoot and soaking wet, we slid down a nearby narrow jungle path to our bags, still waiting safely at the second plunge pool, invisible to the oblivious tourists below. I had a brief moment of panic when I was bitten unexpectedly by a big, angry red ant, but the stinging went pretty quickly and I laughed it off to experience. Bitten by red ant – check!

The guide led us up a steep jungle path for a good 20 minutes, intersecting the zig-zag road near the top. It was steeper and tougher than the trekking at Inle, and definitely a more interesting way to get back!

Waving a quick goodbye to Amanda and Thijs (who said he would catch us at the hostel later), Clara and I grabbed our bags from the ice-cream shop (adventure win) and hitched a quick chicken bus from Anisakhan to our hostel in Pyin Oo Lwin, sharing with a local couple who invited us to try some local fruits and snacks!:

 Speaking to people at the hostel later, and at other moments during my subsequent days, I realise now that the Anisakhan waterfall ascent was one of those special experiences that very few tourists get to enjoy. That pretty much maxed-out the Adventurometer, and damn did I sleep well.