Surveying the Wilds with Just a Pen, a Notepad, and 2 Shopping Bags (Part I)

From afar, a pretty aunty with spectacles was walking around aimlessly in circles near to the cave opening while looking up into the sky. She seemed to be in her mid-30s. Her spectacle was the frameless type and considered out of fashion nowadays as people prefer trendy frames from Korea. Behind the pair of spectacle was large almond shaped eyes with dark brown irises that sparkled with determination.

Of course, this lady is none other than our main protagonist, Hana.

Right now, she was energetically looking for direction by observing the cute birds flying in the sky.

In one of Arash's tutorials, it was stated that one should observe grain-eating birds' flight path in the evening to have a chance to find a water source. After finish looking for meals during the day, they will fly high towards a water source. If they fly low, they're going to return home after eating and drinking. It usually happens during dusk. It does not apply to birds of prey because these birds usually got their water source from the moisture contained in the meat they ate. Hence, they became thirsty very rarely.

Fortunately, a small area not far from the cave opening was clear from layers of tree canopies. At least Hana's eyesight wasn't impeded from the lush growth just a few meters to the front. Her hands were busy collecting kindling and branches while she moved around observing her surroundings. As a housewife, her skill to do simultaneous work at the same time was top notch.

Her first objective right now was to look for a drinkable water source and at the same time try to find suitable rocks to make a chisel.

It turned out, among all the utensils one must have in the wilderness, the number one most essential item to make would be the chisel. It must be a bit thick, with a sharp edge on one end. When attached to a short strong branch, it will turn into an axe or a hatchet, which would be good for cutting. When attached to a long branch, it could function like a shovel, which would be good for digging. As itself, it could be used for cutting and scoring. It's just that, in terms of cutting, without proper inertia from a swing, the strength backing it will be slightly lacking. Basalt rocks were said to be ideal for making chisel simply due to their high density and in abundance, which means, you can get them anywhere.

One of the tutorials said to get basalt rocks ideally from a stream or a river and try to shape it by lightly bashing it to other rocks from different angles. The main rock will fragment and chip slowly into a chisel. One just needed to persevere and did a little bit of trial and error.

Hana didn't even know how basalt rocks were supposed to look like. Arash explanation did not help much. She only knew they looked like gray rocks. She will just go with the flow and decide when the time comes.

Today, she was going to spend time preparing shrubberies for a proper bedding, collect enough tinder and kindling for making fire, and make a chisel before going to bed. All this must be done while looking for the water source. Time was quite limited for all these tasks.

[So many hard labors to do...]

Hana felt so dejected when she thought about it. She sighed lightly.

She checked her smartphone for time. It's already 4.00 pm . It's already so late. Surprisingly, it did look like its 4.00 pm, with bright blue sky sparsely filled with cumulus clouds, just like floating white cotton candies. She only had 1.5 hours to complete all the tasks. She was starting to worry.

Suddenly she saw a cute chubby-looking bird!

It looked like a song bird in Chinese paintings. Its feathers were fluffy whitish yellow, contrasting the extremely blue sky. Its wings have blackish highlights at the tip, complementing its black speckled puffy chest. The beak was scarlet red, with black beady eyes. Hana spotted the bird easily. It was diving lower and lower into the rainforest just ahead of her.

She kept her phone and quickly produced the notepad and a pen. While she walked quickly, she counted her steps and wrote direction of arrows in it. She tried her best to maintain a rigid direction so that she could retraced back her steps.

Hana was just like a clumsy bear. Her movements had startled a lot of insects and small animals. Due to her desperation, she did not even realize it. Very quickly, she already forgotten Arash's advice. She was very negligent of her surroundings, only focusing on the fast-moving bird.

After about half an hour's time, she was already gasping for breath. She slowed down to a stop when she saw the bird perched on a large rainforest tree with buttress snake-like roots, warily looking at her. It looked intelligent.

Hana grinned at the bird while making her most honest-looking face, "I mean you no harm lil birdy. I want to share your water source only."

She took out some crumbs of the tausa biscuit from her pocket and scattered them on the forest floor. It has never occurred to Hana that one day she need to curry favor with a little bird to gain benefits. How pitiful. Thank god she did not throw the leftover biscuit flakes.

The bird kept on looking warily at Hana.

Hana kept quiet and tried to stop moving in order not to startle the bird away.

After a few minutes, the bird hopped from the high branch and landed on the location of the crumbs and started pecked on them. She kept on standing still.

After a while, it flew away in a different direction. Hana followed the bird for another five minutes before she heard the sound of water flowing. It turned out that the bird had purposely misled her before.

Silently thanking the bird, she observed her surroundings for the first time.