My "brush with death"

The Lonely Planet's "South-East Asia on a Shoestring" guide lists ten items which make you a South-East asian veteran, including being able to walk through a pack of stray dogs without flinching, find an internet connection in the smallest places, and being able to list more than one near death experience.

The flaming petrol tanker in Ulan Bator was probably one, and I now have another to add to the list.

In Tuk Tuk, the resort town on Pulau Samosir, the largest island-within-an-island in the world, we could see a waterfall outside town which we thought we'd walk to. As we approached the cliff locals pointed the way, clearly many tourists had passed this way before. The path got steadily steeper and more slippery and Steve very sensibly (as it turns out) decided to turn back. I pressed on although I was a bit wary when the path

The Americans struggle down

a difficult part of the route

turned out to be a stream bordered by a narrow row of rocks, cliff face to one side and drop to the other. I made it up without incident though and near the top the path looked even more precipitous, necessitating scrambling and climbing over rocks to get to the falls themselves. I would have turned back but then I saw a bag and two pairs of shoes which earlier climbers had clearly abandoned there to make the final climb easier, so I pressed on, also having to abandon shoes near the top, and met Americans Mina (half Iranian and repeatedly subject to demands for her hand in marriage on the streets in Indonesia due to her "ideal of Asian beauty" looks - i.e. pale skin) and Carolyn and their Indonesian guide Athan. The falls were nice and after a rest, we all turned back together. I was faster than the others so soon found myself ahead.

I must say at this point that I wasn't hurrying in a dangerous way, just walking briskly as I do. I am sure that what happened was just bad luck, if I had been walking more slowly it would still have happened. I basically stepped down from a stone onto the path with my left foot, and the wet ground crumbled away beneath my foot, taking me with it.

I remember thinking "I'm falling", then momentarily panicking, then it all stopped pretty quickly. I fell feet first, there was nothing at all to grab onto even if I'd had time to think of it. What happened was I fell onto a looped triple-stranded liana and basically ended up suspended in it, my feet dangling as I ended up straddling the liana like a rope swing. As I finished falling I collected myself and my first thought was that I was physically unhurt apart from a graze on my left foot where my sandal had been wrenched partially off and a scratch up the inside of my leg (I was wearing a skirt) where the liana had scraped up as it caught me. Then I realised I wasn't moving, the liana was holding

This is the very unimpressive cliff I fell down.

The camera really doesn't do it justice...

me firm and that it looked like I should be able to climb back up. Then I am ashamed to say I noted with pleasure that my camera, which was in my skirt pocket, was still there (strange how this was a concern when facing falling to your death!)

Below me the ground sloped steeply away down to the stream - if I hadn't become entangled in the liana I probably would have hit the slope about 2m below where I was, then rolled down the slope some way before hitting a tree. As it was I was maybe 3m below the level of the path.

I yelled "hello" several times because I knew the Americans wouldn't be far away, and I had a crazy idea that maybe their guide was carrying a rope (deluding myself that I was in safety conscious Europe for a moment). After 30 seconds their guide appeared on the path (ropeless of course) and announced that he was coming down to help. I knew that was going to be much more dangerous and that I could climb out myself so I told him to just wait at the top, I just wanted some helpful hands at the top to grab me if necessary.

Climbing out was easy enough once I'd put my sandal back on and swung around in my liana loop so I could get a foothold, and at the top Athan had a hand out to help me onto the path. I probably could have made it back alone but it was good to have someone there. Physically I was fine but the adrenaline was pumping and I knew I needed to get down to Steve quickly as he would be worried I had taken so long. As I continued down the path I slipped again - this time on a slippery rock as I hurried, but this was a calculated risk on a flat path, and there was no cliff to fall off at this point, so I just landed on my bottom feeling stupid.

When I got down to Steve he was about to call me to see where I was. I couldn't stop grinning, I was just so glad to be alive. Covered in mud though and people we passed later laughed at me which made me a bit annoyed. Later that evening we went to meet the Americans to buy their guide a drink for helping me but he is a Jehovah's witness and didn't want one!

I can't say for sure how close I came to something bad happening but I know if I hadn't become entangled in that liana I would have had a worse impact injury when I landed, instead of just a scratch where it caught me.

Not that muddy really considering I fell down a

cliff, but look at the grin you couldn't wipe off my face.