On the morning of December 21, Thursday, Lee knocked on my door at around 7 a.m. and he apologized because he thought he woke me up from my slumber. He did not know that at 5:00 in the morning, I had already taken a shower, put some light makeup on, had coffee, blowdried my hair, and went back to bed. We secretly cooked noodles and prepared some coffee and bread in his room.

On our way to the tourist center, the accommodation house owner reminded us that we had to look for another accommodation that day because the people who booked the place would be arriving at 10:00 the following day. She did not need to remind us that. I was angry but I said yes with a smile, albeit a fake one.

We went to the tourist center, just a few meters away from our lodge, to register as tourists and to get a map of the whole place. No, we did not need a tour guide; we wanted to explore, get dirty, and get lost by ourselves. We did not know where to go and we just literally followed where our eager feet would take us.

We decided to look for the famous Bokong Falls. It was a lovely walk again, being surrounded by majestic pine trees and wild sunflowers. The little wild flowers on the roadside looked marvelous as well. It was around 9 a.m., the sun was bright and there was a nip in the air that made the walk even more pleasant.

We walked through a trail. For a brief moment, I wondered if we were really heading for Bokong Falls. Amazingly, Lee was also wondering the same so he asked a local for some more directions. After walking for some more, we could hear the sound of cascading waters and some joyful screams.  We just followed where the sound was coming from. Lo and behold—the mighty Bokong Falls.

There were some men who would go to the top of the mountain where the cascading waters were coming from and jump to the water down below. Lee and I had a great time watching and cheering them on, and in my case, screaming whenever the jumpers would do a somersault. Had I been wearing a pair of shorts and shirt, I would have loved to do the same.

After we got tired watching them, we just lay on the grass and absorbed some much-needed sunlight to warm ourselves. We looked like carabaos lying on the grass, oblivious to the heat and the people around us. We covered our faces with our hands and tried to sleep. We took a nap on the grass. Such a peaceful, serene moment I had with Lee. We woke up at around 12 noon and we were red. Read: Sunburned.

The walk back to our accommodation house was not as lovely. The sun was up and the trek was a rugged terrain of about three kilometers. I stopped for a while and leaned against the railing. WJL was quick to focus the old camera to my direction. He told me to smile, so I forged one.