ge kiang

As we all know, the Malaysian railways end their service into Singapore on the 1st of July and being the suaku Singaporean (and also being with someone who loves trains) who has never taken the train into Malaysia in her life, I took my first and probably last train ride out of Singapore two weekends ago and into...

Langkawi! Duty free island!

Okay to be fair, I didn't rumble out of Singapore on a train, I took the coach. I rumbled INTO Singapore on the train, but that's a story for another time. This isn't going to be a blogpost about the trip. Rather, it is a story about how I am no longer 18 years old and probably should stop being so gung ho.

See, there's this waterfall - the Seven Wells waterfall - that we went to see. It sort of looks like this:

The only thing this picture doesn't show is the litter on the ground, but still, nice riiiiiight?

To cut a long and slightly embarrassing story short, I fell down. I did not fall down climbing UP that waterfall, which would have lent me some street cred; I fell climbing DOWN a very small incline while making my way to a pool of water.

Note to all: When climbing in the vicinity of water, do not step on the parts of the rock that are green. It isn't discoloured rock, it's algae. It is very, very, slippery.

I was given this piece of advice before my fall, mind you. But no, climbing down that waterfall I was fearless. I felt like I was young and spritely again, like I was 18 and could beat the boys at the monkey bar. I was fuckin' Xena, I could do anything. I remember a teeny voice at the back of my mind saying "you think you still young? You're gonna fall." but in my adrenaline rush, I quashed it silent. I was, as mothers and grandmothers everywhere would call, ge kiang.

So yeah. Slipped, fell on my hip and slid down a rock.

Oh yeah, right before we got to the waterfall I had read a sign warning people that there are parasites in the water, and if you had a cut not to wade in the water, and if you were still sick after 2 weeks since your visit to the waterfall, you're gonna die go see a doctor.

When I fell I scraped my elbow exposing myself to the abovementioned killer parasites, but here is really what I wanted to show you. Behold, the bruise on my hip a day later:

Sorry no scale. Believe me, it was quite big.

It's a little bit leychey when you are on a beach holiday and your bikini doesn't cover the bruise at all.

Here's the bruise a week later:

Now got scale. Big right?

Yeaaa. It's pretty much gone now, but daym, that's an impressive bruise. Especially if you consider how tanned I am and therefore how most colours wouldn't show up quite as much.

Moral of the story? If given the chance I would definitely try to climb down the waterfall again, but I might take it a little slower this time. And avoid all green bits. In short, mai ge kiang lah!