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Took a drive up (or is it down? - my geography sucks) to Perak over the weekend for white-water rafting in Sg. Kampar.

After we met with the instructor (who also happens to be the founder of the adventure tour operator we had signed up with), we were all herded like cattle into the back of a lorry which then made its way through dense palm oil plantations and narrow kampung roads.

When we got to the river, they made us put on life jackets and helmets. The sport may be cool but the gear sure don’t make you look cool. But hey, I’m not about to indulge in vanity where sharp rocks and my head are concerned.

Before you start rafting, they teach you how to assume the "white water position", that is what to do if you fall out of the raft during a particularly rough rapid. Basically, you just straighten your body like a corpse and let the rapids carry you to calmer waters, and then only should you attempt swimming back to the raft. Otherwise, you might drown and die. Or you might get sucked underneath the raft by the strong currents, then drown and die. 

At least that’s what our instructor said to us as the blood drained from our faces. "But don’t worry, no one with us has died before," she chortled.

The first three drops were an adrenaline rush. A lot of the time though, the whole experience feels like riding on bumper cars because your raft is constantly hitting or sliding up rocks, or getting wedged between rocks. It would take some skillful maneuvering from our guide to get our raft floating again.

Also, you get a lot wetter than you think you will. At the end of the three-hour session, I was not only soaking wet but I also realized that sneakers was a poor choice of footwear. It’s been a few days since the trip and I’m still trying to air dry them out. They probably smell funky by now. Oh crap.

Anyway. So yeah, after getting the hang of it, the baby rapids seem as threatening as a thumb tack. You start hankering for bigger, badder rapids. That’s so like me. Wanting to go to a more advanced level before I’ve even mastered the basics. Like when I learnt surfing. Eager to catch a big wave but ended up getting knocked off my board which then nearly came down on my head.

But after all, what’s an adventure if it doesn’t rough you up a bit?

This entry was posted on Monday, June 12th, 2006 at 10:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.