I took a 2.6 km hike to Gua Telinga – a cave. It took a little over an hour. The first part of 800 meters was the toughest. It was extreme in steepness going up and down. Good thing the area was relatively dry and no rain had fallen in awhile.

From the start, the mouth looked a bit treacherous, but with the encouragement of other visitors who had already done it, I went in just following the popcorn-trail rope that was provided. The beginning was tough as I had to crouch down like a monkey, or bear with a backpack on my front so as to not get in the way as the ceilings were very low. As I was doing this my hands were not in mud, but more than likely, you guessed it, bat excrement! I could smell the urine, but the feces didn't have the typical smell. Perhaps the urine stench overpowered the fecal odors.

I explored about 3 different rooms until the rope seemed to end. So from there I just tried to find footprints and follow them. The ones I followed didn't get me to "the end" but into a large room full of bats. All the while as I had to get into rock climbing/bouldering mode, I had to get my back, shorts, chest, arms and legs all over the rocks to get around, resulting in a big mess of brown "coloring" all over my body, head excluded :-) Having a flashlight was mandatory, but there were some instances where the light came through holes and cracks. The bats were about 4 inches in length and possibly with the wingspan of 8 inches. They flew away if I was too close with my flashlight so taking pictures was a little difficult, especially trying to get close-ups. They screeched and provided a refreshing breeze when they flew around the cave.

I returned back to the guesthouse and returned to what became my most favorite place – the shower. I also washed all my clothes and even my backpack. I am grateful for the iodine pills I have. Without them, filtering water with my filter would take a lot more time and carrying it would be more of a burden than carrying a tiny jar filled with tablets.

Having informally made a reservation for a night walk with a guy at one of the floating restaurants earlier on in the day (The guy just old me to go and wait at the desk of a hotel, he didn't make a phone call nor did it seem he was going to send any kind of message to the other side of the river to make the reservation), I went to the place at 8:00 for my tour. The guy behind the desk at the hotel said there wasn't enough people so there was not going to be a night walk. He recommended for me to go to the receptionist desk and see if they have any openings in their 9:30 walk. Nothing. I was kind of upset. Behind me was a guy from Los Angeles, who also wanted to sign up. He recommended to just tag along with the 9:30 walkers. I didn't have the patience so I found a group with a guide (one with a huge flashlight) and followed him and his group. In doing so I saved RM 15. In this 60 to 90 minute walk we saw geckos (one as long as a foot and a half) spiders (one as big as my hand), grasshoppers, moths, glow-in-the-dark mushrooms that illuminate from rain water, and walking sticks. We would have seen a scorpion, but someone had disturbed its lair and it was nowhere to be found.