Haanism

Woke up at around 6am this morning (23/10/2006), after a 5-hour sleep. Left Kulim at around 0645 and set off to Gopeng. Again I was driving early in the morning while the sky was gradually becoming clearer. I enjoy such feeling, just like when I drive from home to office every Monday morning.

We arrived at the Wan Corner coffee shop, the pickup point at about 0900. At around 0930, together with another 17 people going for rafting, we all sat at the back of a small lorry and were driven to the base, which is approximately 6km from the Gopeng town. That was the first time I was being ‘delivered’ in such a way. Felt like we were illegal immigrants or poor/pity labourers.



There were basically 3 groups of people: a 7-people group from KL, a 9-people group from JB, the smallest group consisting of Sharon and I. The person in-charge, Francis, asked us to get to know each other during the short trip from Gopeng town to the base, but due to tiredness of driving and lack of sleep, the slight boredom bred in myself made me didn’t feel want to speak much. Just provided simple answers when being asked questions.

Each of us was equipped with a life jacket, a helmet and a paddle. Before anything started we had to fill out a form. As a standard procedure, safety briefing was done before going down the river which covers the paddling commands, paddling skills, capsize drills, actions when overboard or river rescue.



We had 5 rafts for 19 people, and an experienced river cum raft guide was assigned to each raft. Sharon and I were in a 5-people group. Our guide was a small sized guy from Sabah (sorry, I can’t remember his name). We were thinking to have some practices before starting to raft, but due to some reasons that was cancelled. Therefore we went straight with the real raft.

It’s fun to say, we were the first group to have our raft capsized. That was the most unforgettable/exciting part for me in this rafting tour. We were still getting used to the guide’s commands. At a point where we were supposed to move left/right, before we could response promptly to the commands, the raft was already capsized. That happened in a sudden and of course, we were not prepared for that. Nobody in front of us had encountered that and we didn’t watch any ‘real scene’.


I’m not a water person. That was the first time I fell and sank into the water, and that was coz of an ‘accident’, not something well-planned. The feeling was really unexplainable – first time to have the entire myself in the water. Anyway, as I’m always a good student/learner, I remember what was mentioned during the safety briefing. We were told not to be panic while falling into the water, as well as how to get ourselves drifted in the water.

Then I just tried to be steady and made myself into the position which will help me to float. I was up and down in the rapids. I knew I was fairly near to the edge of the river and there were some stones. Later I saw someone, then another person who was also in the water, then the raft. I tried to grip the line at the side of the raft. At that moment, the red-shirt-guy (my raft mate) also did the same, but he was successful slightly before me. The guide helped him to get onto the raft, then both of them ‘saved’ me.

After I was saved, we continued to save another 2 people – Sharon and the shoeless guy (he took off his shoes before starting although we were adviced to wear lace up shoes). Mission was successful after some efforts. When I was wondering where another black-shirt-girl was, she had already been saved by the people from another raft.

All people were saved but we lost 3 paddles. They had drifted away together with the rapids up to grade 3. The grading is based on the difficulty of the rapids with grade 4 constant maneuvering of rafts is required to negotiate rapids. I reckon the grade of rapids more or less depends on the day’s weather and current, which is not really under the control of the organizer.

After having a short rest, we continued. It was fairly boring without a paddle because I was not paddling for awhile (the 3 guys had the 3 paddles left), till we grabbed one paddle back from the river. There were rocks/stones that occasionally made us stuck. During that time, the guide would go into the water and use his energy to move the raft to a better position. Sometimes we had to change our positions on the raft to make our weight gathered at a particular side.

Red-shirt-guy: Bang, kamu banyak kuat lah. Umur berapa ni? (our guide really looks small in size)
Guide: Dua puluh.
(Almost all people): betul ke?
Sharon: bukan abang. Adik baru betul.
Red-shirt-guy: kamu memang kuat.
Haan: walaupun saiz nampak kecil.

That was part of the silly session. The guide is a Murut from Sabah. He has been working as a raft guide for quite some time. He said he has just come to Gopeng not long ago and asked us where are we from etc. Quite a friendly person but I always could not get what he said the first time due to his slang. Sharon did a better job and she then told me what he was talking about.


When we all have really got into the mood, the rafting session came to the end. We were trying to ask for more although we clearly knew that it was impossible. However the guides said we could have a ‘body confidence’ session. Was not too sure what that means but just joined. Then I realized that was about doing body-rafting in the water - ride the continuous rapids with no rafting gear. Prior to that I found my lousy pair of sport shoes was already spoilt. It had become an open-mouth-crocodile. I just took the shoes off and had my feet naked. Before departing from home, I purposely looked through the shoe rack for any not-so-good old sport shoes, with the intention of throwing it away straight after rafting, coz I don’t wanna keep any wet shoes.

I then couldn’t really stand or balance myself well in the water, coz without wearing shoes, it was too slippery to stand on the stones, especially the big ones. If my feet could sense and step on a sandier space, things became better. I was holding the guide for some time, else I was like feeling drifted away by the rapids without the ability to stand firmly. Then the white-shirt-guy who sat beside me on the lorry but I didn’t talk to him much, gave me his hand. He then asked his friend behind him to give me a place so that I could hold his life jacket. The girl behind me (who then holds my life jacket) knows swimming and she was also giving me advice of how to drift correctly (should always be ‘lying’ straight instead of in U-shape). Thanks to these unknown people who were willing to offer help.


Doing body-rafting in a line was funny too. Some lines were finally ‘broken’ but we could maintain ours fairly well. After everything ended we took group photos, drank water and got up to the back of the lorry again. People have been high at that time. Most of us no longer sat on the lorry but stood up. Therefore we had to be aware of the plants. Occasionally we had to bow down a bit in order to avoid the plants.

I was standing too enjoying the narrow rugged road hence unsmooth drive as well as the wind. Was again beside the white-shirt guy and he was similarly standing. That was once that he ‘pressed’ my head down in order to avoid something. Sometimes I turned my head back and was not aware of something coming from the front. However I neither said thank you nor started any conversation. Something was going on in my brain that moment. When thinking back now I found I was a bit impolite.

When we arrived back at the Gopeng town, the hair was almost dry. We then headed to a restaurant to have lunch. We changed our wet clothes before enjoying the meal.

In short, I’m quite glad that I’ve experienced something new again today. Anyway, I’d say it was not as exciting as I expected. But by having the time of falling down into the water due to capsized raft, it was the beeeeeeeeest part. I was not doing something which the people near the dead end normally do – to think about the important people in my life – because I know I gonna be alright and that small thing will never kill me :)

I just can’t forget the time when I was sinking into the water. Was thinking that perhaps we could have that again before the session ended. But that’d be different coz it was done on purpose. The very excitement of every corner being an uncertain adventure really adds to the exhilaration of the rafting experience. I think looking forward for a dive, or to get a scuba-dive license before I really visit Cairns, will be a very appropriate decision.

This is just one taken using my camera after the raft together with my raft master and raft mates. The raft masters were quite nice. At least they didn’t try to tip anybody out of the raft.


Similar to skydiving, with trained and experienced river guides with you on the raft as well as reliable equipments, even non-swimmers are encouraged to join rafting. So if you are interested, just go ahead and venture out onto the rapids with irregular waves, without thinking too much. A sense of adventure is all you need. I believe that experiencing the thrills of tackling exciting rapids and floating down the clear water river will absolutely enhance and add value to your life experience.

There was no waterfall to raft through. I would not mind to try for another which is more challenging in the future. I enjoy the times when people were helping and saving each other when we were together confronting with a difficulty. Although we didn’t know each other well, we do not mind to give each other a hand. Even when seeing this from movies, I feel touched. So you can imagine how I feel when I experience it myself.