12-Nov-2009 -- I felt a bit guilty for grabbing this confluence point knowing that the first attempt had to be aborted by something as mundane as a rumbling tummy.

We started early from Nan and had the marvelous morning view of the landscape on the way to probably the same parking spot as the first visitors used. At 08.30 we were on our way following a track/path towards the confluence through a relatively dense forest of trees and bamboo. The path "evaporated" after a while. The challenges came about an hour and 1.2 kilometer later when the GPS directed us down a steep slope. We were then about 650 m from the cp at an altitude of 672 m. The cp was at an altitude of just under 400 meters, down in a gorge. The terrain was not hospitable. The vegetation down the slope was not very dense, and the rocks were of a type that easily broke into small pieces. In other words, a terrain with difficulties, difficult to find good ground for your feet and too steep to just walk down without falling. And falling we did, so many times and so hard that when we were about a hundred meters or so down the hill we concluded this was too dangerous and concentrated on getting back up to safer grounds. The decent and ascent took almost three hours, and the nearest we had been to the cp was about 500 m. But at that point I had more than enough with clutching on to the rocks and scarce vegetation. To think of any GPS registration did not come to mind before we were up on a safer level. After another hour back at the car we inspected our injuries. Pierre had a good cut in his knee and I was thoroughly beaten and scratched. Back in Nan Pierre was taken care of by pleasant health personnel at Nan Hospital.

This approach to N19E101 should not be attempted, it is far too dangerous. The most likely approach will probably be along the river in the gorge, either from the west or from the east. But judging from the terrain it will be very difficult with steep river banks and the closest road more than six kilometers away.

Another perhaps more serious aspect is the potential of unexploded ordinance from the conflicts in the area in the late 1970s. I am afraid I did not see the warning below the report from the first visit.

This is by far the most difficult and dangerous attempt at any confluence point I have made. I did not sleep well, caused by sore and beaten limbs and bad dreams about the situation we were in.

PS. The elevation shown on the GPS is probably from when we started in Nan. The time is CET.