Thailand

It was a slow process, what with 6 of us, Buddha Mike, the new jungle guide with his rifle.  I was the last one.  By the time I got across and jumped to shore it was just at the verge of darkness.  The black dark of a thick jungle and no moon.  We now had a 20-minute walk in the jungle.  It looked like a good trail, well packed, cleared of brush, 8-12 inches wide.

We had 3 flashlights.

So, we got organized.  With our 3 flashlights between us, we sorted ourselves into threes.  The person in the middle had the flashlight, would shine the beam forward so the first of the three could get a brief orientation to the trail, then aimed the flashlight back somewhat to let the third person get a glance of the trail.

We were ready to set off.

With a loud click, the jungle guard cocked his rifle.

Michael explained.

• He says there are tigers out here.
• I need you to count off along the line from time to time to make sure everyone is here.
• Seriously??
• Nah, the guard guy is probably just having us on.
• Makes him seem more important, no?
• Yeah, well, it is his jungle.
• And he did show up with a rifle.
• And Buddha Michael is taking him seriously, like really seriously, eh?

Some 40 minutes later, we were still walking.  The jungle guide didn’t have a watch.  Turned out he really had no concept of time as we consider it.