The Trek

The Meeting

People were quite happy that the college year was coming to an end however some would be worried about college coming to an end. I would be in the worried side of college ending because I would lose my chances to meet my awesome friends and overall would miss the college life in general. The main thing is that I would have to start working once I finish college and that is what I worry most. Well let's keep these all aside for now. For now, it was time to plan for the trip. My friends have decided to go to the hill top city of Maymyo. The main reason it's chosen is because of the fact that the place has a temperature which is a lot cooler than this Yangon metropolis and there exists a ton of beautiful scenery that is really worth to behold. 

Today I was going to meet with my friends at college to discuss about what we will do once we get there. I called my mate, Zack to ask where he is. My mate Zack is a seventeen year old boy who has a great personality and is super fun to hang out with. He has a vast knowledge of books, TV shows and movies which makes it even more fun to be around him. We once argued about which series is better, where he would side with "The Walking Dead" and I would argue the good points for "Znation" which both of them are zombie movies. I waited for a minute until he picked up the phone. He has this habit of not replying to people. . 

He picked up the phone and answered in a tired and sleepy voice. I asked, "where are you mate?" knowing the fact that he is still at home. He replied in a tiny panicking voice, "Hello bro, I am on my way!". I replied in a sarcastic voice, "Okay, I will be waiting in our class." The college logo was entering into my sight. The college building was getting close each second and the car was slowing down and I knew it was time for me to drop soon. I told my mom to pick me up by 2 pm, I kissed her cheek and said goodbye. 

I approached the entrance where there was a poster placed near the door announcing about the school trip. We were not following the school trip so I didn't read it. Domin was sitting in the lobby with Mia and Narnar, they looked like they were talking about something important. Domin is a young city boy, quite tall, energetic, and funny. He is a very great person to be around as he have the same likes as me. Mia is a girl having long colored hair, she has this unique look. She is quite energetic as well but not as much as Domin. Narnar on the other hand is quite optimistic and has the skill of solving problems really well. She is an affectionate person and looks for needs she could possibly fill. 

Domin saw me and yelled across the lobby calling my name out loud, "Anthony, we are here come!!!!" Most people in the lobby heard him yelled and looked at us. It was a little awkward but it was okay.  I slowly paced myself towards him and said "hi". He asked me about Zack about where he was. I sighed and answered, "Well, Zack said he's coming but I doubt that he is still at home getting ready to head out". Domin knows well about him, "I know right bro!", he exclaimed. As i am here, we decided to go into our classroom to wait for more of our friends to come. 

After a while of waiting and scrolling through the Facebook timeline to fill my boredom, Xaro came bursting into the classroom. She was breathing heavily and all of a sudden flipped her water bottle lid to take a quick sip of water. She was in a sport outfit which shows us that she just came back from playing gym a while ago. Xaro is one of the youngest in the group, however she is still capable of great things. She is energetic and mostly has a positive attitude. We called her to come and sit with us. Xaro spoke in a tired voice, " well guys, let's start discussing, and by the way where is  Zack, Sithu and Timothy? Domin replied, "These guys, well they are on their way here and will be here soon Xaro".

 "In the mean time lets discuss ahead guys and we will update our remaining friends once they arrive," exclaimed Xaro. All of us agreed and Narnar pulled out her notebook and I took out my laptop to create an travel itinerary. All of us searched for attractions in Maymyo and all of us shoot out places we could go. However, Domin came up with a place that is quite adventurous and in the same time really risky. "It is a hidden waterfall and once we could find it, it is true paradise", Domin explained. We all loved risky things and agreed to put the waterfall on the itinerary list. Narnar grabbed my laptop, opened Google, and searched about the waterfall. In just a second, results appeared on Google, "welcome to the twenty first century", Narnar said in a sarcastic voice.

She read it slowly in a low pitched voice; The waterfall was first discovered by the British in 1941 lead by an ambitious man named Captain Turner, he led his team consisting of men from the British Army and several Burmese men from Rangoon. The trek took two full days and the terrain was very risky full of narrow ridges which people could fall if not careful. Once they got there, Captain Turner radioed his commanding officer in Maymyo describing about what this hidden waterfall or "true paradise" holds. However the records of these radio communications were lost due to a Japanese bomb that hit directly to the commanding officer's building. To this day, it was only known that the waterfall contained healing properties which could heal diseases of all kind. Captain Turner and his men did not returned from this exploration and there were many theories on their disappearance . One theory includes Captain Turner and their men were ambushed by a Japanese patrol on their way down and taken prisoner never to make it out alive. Another weird theory was that they were eaten by violent native tribes.

All of us were skeptical about this story, however part of us believed that the story is indeed true. We all agreed to explore this "true paradise". Mia was on the other side of the room alone and her faced looked like she was seriously worried of something. I slowly walked towards her trying my best to not let other friends to notice and quietly asked her what's wrong. Her voice was nearly inaudible, her eyes shrunk slowly and she said, "I fear the worst Tony, I worry something really bad would happen to us. I hear stories about people disappearing while trying to find the hidden waterfall."

Deep inside I really wanted to explore the waterfall knowing that it is super risky and would even cost our lives. I asked myself, what could go wrong plus we have GPS to find our way back so everything would be alright. I looked into Mia's eyes and said, "Mia, I know how you feel about this and I understand but this is our chance to do something that could prove ourselves that we can achieve something marvelous, plus there are all these great people to protect you if something goes wrong". She seemed to agree with my points and, yes she really did. I asked her to return to the discussion. She took a deep breath, looked into my eyes and stood up. Then we slowly lumbered towards our friends who were making plans.