Brown Water Rafting
Trip Start
Feb 25, 2006
1
129
148
Trip End
Jun 24, 2009
Chiang Mai,
Thailand
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Unfortunately, my friend lost a day somewhere most likely to Sangsom whiskey and forgot to leave a key at her place for me so I had to stay at Julie's for a night. I am very happy that I got to stay in a guest house here in CM that didn't suck. I also heard an excellent CD there that I have to find a way to get called Bossa N' Marley. It's a great collection of Bob's great works redone in a Brazilian Bossa Nova style. If anyone has it, please let me know. It's not something you can just find on Khao San Road.
My experience this time in Chiang Mai has been a lot different from my last trip here almost 2 years ago. I've been here for 4 days already and no one has asked me if I want to go on a non-touristic trek, abuse an elephant, visit "nomadic" tribes or go bamboo rafting yet. Today, Sheena a bunch of her friends and I went Brown Water Rafting down the Mae Tang River about an hour north of Chiang Mai totally on our own accord. Thanks for arranging it, Sheena. It has been pissing down rain for the past few days up here so the river was very high and fast. I was told that the river was going to be Class 3-4 which is exactly what I like, a little bit of danger, but manageable.
WEEEEEE!
Somehow, I got stuck in a boat with 3 Israelis, 1 of which annoyed the krap out of me during the briefing, when even though he'd never gone rafting, just ignored the guide and walked off somewhere. I said to Chris, if any of the boats flip over, it's going to be his. Unfortunately, the morning run people had flipped over and gotten a bit freaked out and hurt so they wouldn't let us go down the class 4 runs. We had to climb out of the boat and drive down to a slower section of the river which totally sucked. We tried to get the guides to take us down the section with just 2 boats of people that have rafted before, but they wouldn't budge. I'm not sure if it was because they knew better or if they just didn't want to piss off the newbies by not letting them go. When we got to the reentry point, I looked up at the river and saw a mean class 4 rapid that I was glad I didn't have to do with my crew of newbies. We started out with a big guy (idiot from briefing) and a smaller guy in the front of the boat and the big fat one and I in the back, but after the first set of rapids, the guide switched big idiot and I around because he said he needed more power up front. I was laughing so hard (on the inside) at this emasculating comment as this "dumas" was literally twice my size (and could probably squash me like a bug). I totally agreed because the idiot didn't have a clue how to or really a desire to paddle. I really have to wonder what kind of Israelis these guys were. Two of their girls chickened out when they saw the river and just rode down in the truck.
This is My Right Hand
I've never in my whole life met such a group of Israelis girly men. Most of the Israelis that I've met are just teeming with testosterone and ready for anything including the women. I figured they must be deserters. Definitely not Mossad material.Somehow we made it through the 2nd section of solid class 3/3+ rapids without flipping, but Sheena's boat wasn't so lucky. Fortunately, they were the last boat so there were many chances for the rest of us to catch the floaters. We were the first boat down and had to wait a long time for them. We saw the blue and white Crocs floating without their owners first and then some paddles before I saw Sheena spread out on top of their upside down raft. We took a swipe at grabbing on to their boat, but she bounced off us so hard I didn't have a chance to get a grip on her. We swooped up a German newbie floater a bit down stream and a few liters of brown water later, we had them all back safe and sound with only minor bruises and cuts. I tried my best to keep my mouth closed the whole way down. I can't even imagine how ill I would be if I swallowed a few liters of that water. I thought whitewater rafting was supposed to be clear running "white water" from mountain runoff streams. There's a first time for everything, but I'd probably say that the Germans won't be going for seconds anytime soon.
Traveler's Tip Julie seems to be full all the time so I'd say it's best to try to book a room in advance with them. julieguesthouse.com The rooms are better than your average concrete box. The walls are painted, the windows have screens, and the floor has a grass mat. It even had furniture in it. There is a nice garden and courtyard in the back.
