pai

went white water rafting on the hong and pai river the other day. it was good.

first the drive to the starting place. strangers in a van. the drive takes 2 hours on bumpy winding mountain roads. some people talk. others don't.

we reach the begining and do the safety briefing. it's very brief. they tell us to save the paddle before the person and if you get stuck in a hydro, to remove your life jacket and get sucked down and swim out the bottom. some people laugh. nervously.

first day rafting is easy. even the 14 year old boy finds it easy. we stop for lunch and eat fried rice in a plastic bag. we raft some more and reach camp, where there is a monkey tied to a tree.

the camp is just some wooden hut and mosquito nets. some people tease the monkey before we hike again into the jungle to see a waterfall. it's lush and green and the water is so sparkling that you want to drink it in the hope that it make you live forever. we hike back. some people do some fishing. others bathe in the river. some tease the monkey again.

night falls and so does the rain. we eat dinner and sit around a fire under a leaf roof. the rain is heavy. we drink some beers and talk to the others. we exchange stories and ask questions about the countries we are from or are currently living in. the rain doesn't stop. time for bed. the hut sleeps 10. there are 8 of us in this one. the rain taps the leaf roof above us, but not a drip leaks through. i close my eyes to sleep and hope i don't dream of the landside flushing us all into the river.

morning. breakfast. back on the raft. we say goodbye to the monkey. the guide checks and rechecks everything. he makes sure the barrels are tied down and our life jackets fit. he makes sure our helmets are on. safety first. because of the rain last night the river is high and fast he says. safety first.

rapids. 30 of them. they knock us about as we twist and turn out of them. we crash and bang against the water. we bounce off waves and into eachother. we hit one of the other rafts and one of our crew falls in. he float in the rapid and approaches a big wave. he sees the wave as it comes to strike him. he closes his eyes and holds his breath. he ducks. the wave washes over him and he appears on the other side. it's calm for a while and we can pull him aboard. once he is on, we all laugh at him and he laughs too.

more rapids and we ride through them. last rapid. our guide says we can swim through this one. we try it. the water is not cold but fast. it is impossible to stop your foward motion. you can only paddle left and right. the river is relentless and throws you about as you float over the under the rapids. paddling now is useless so you just hold on to you life jacket and let the currents take you. and you always look out for the raft lest the river really take you away.

finally we reach our destination. we get in a van again and see a hill tribe village. then we go back to pai. we have a barbque put on by the white water rafting guys. we say goodbye and exchange email addresses. in the night we all disappear to seperate corners of the world.

tomorrow: chiang mai for 2 nights.