White Wave in White Water!

for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with me (pre-vanora), i’m a crazy outdoor sports goer! i love the rush of adrenaline when i undertake some massive physical challenge like abseiling, caving, hiking, camping, rock climbing, white water rafting, kayaking, flying fox, the like.

but of late, it’s been mellow. i’m not getting too old, as some cynics would chip in about now. i’m not losing touch, as the passion and craving seem more intense than ever. it’s just that with a new life, a new schedule and plenty of obligations, responsibilities and priorities, i feel every moment i spend should be spent super wisely.

well anyways, i just wanted a super lazy one week of hols… of course with all the eating… (thank God for Malaysia, and all the festive eating that comes with her!) and then my beloved, precious, angel of a mom, decided to give me a treat. she signed me up for a trip down the white waters of Sungai Kampar, when in fact, she wanted to go for it. wow, moms are super awesome. wat can i say? God is super awesome too.

to think i had missed these spectacular sports for sooooooo long. fri night was so excited, lying on the bed, waiting for my daughter to sleep so i could start packing. as i lay there, my mind started running through my mental to-do list: go online to print the checklist, pack stuff, make sure i’ve ample sunblock…

suddenly something, or someone jerked me. "gene, aren’t you going? did they leave u behind?" AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!! it’s 7 and that’s when they’re supposed to leave. no time to print the list. i took out my bag and put in whatever from experience i thought was relevant. filled my bottle of water, then rushed to bathe. no time for breakfast, (although i know full well, this is probably the most important step i shouldn’t compromise on!) i sped off to church, where the rest were waiting.

was apologetic, but the gang, being the gang, didn’t mind one bit… we packed our fidgety butts into the van and off to Gopeng we went!

navigator and first timer aunty lai kit was excited and eager to know wat this sport was all about. little did she know…

terence drove and his sweetie was just behind his seat, keeping him occupied with nudges and "sweets" this and "darling" that… so sweet!!

the three crazy ppl - deb, joanna and i were just yakkity yakking the whole way through. you see, deb and i have been through the KKB river, and Sungai Sedim, and now this one. never capsized or even been thrown off before…

jo on the other hand was totally a newbie, just like aunty lai kit, so they had no idea wat they were getting themselves into. i guess it only started sinking in when we talked about our past adventures. sungai sedim was level 1-4 (mod to advanced, 5 is most advanced), so there were a few exciting parts, which unfortunately they had to hear about in great detail.

then we finally arrived at meeting point.

that’s the van that was to bring us to the river check point. wow, the adrenaline started up already… wat a stimulant!

oh this is where aunty lai kit starting panicking just a little. as with every other outdoor sport coordinating company, participants were to sign a liability and release form, which legalised negligence of the company, in the event of damage, injury or death. cool!!

before i go any further, i have an important announcement to make: although by the looks of it, and sometimes how he behaves, Josh is a regular guy who just thinks he looks good in pink and likes Minnie Mouse. see, regular guy!

he’s trying really hard to pose regularly and as macho as he can, but well… the shirt’s a dead giveaway! in the back, for contrast is sarah… nice smile!

well the driver to the check point was norman, who was a sabahan. great bod i must say. in regret, none of the many cameras present actually took the faces of the people in whose hands our lives were in. they were excellent guides and saviours, which i would elaborate shortly.

anyways the moment we hit the base, we changed and slathered sublock lotion on ourselves. the guides were patiently waiting, and when ready we had a briefing on the safety measures, the dos and dont’s, and of course how the journey would be.

then it was into our rafts. we took two rafts: Petrina, Andrew, Josh and Sarah in one raft, and Terence, Aunty Lai Kit, Deb, Joanna and i were in the other. the guides in my raft was initially Sirin and Mac, but later Mac had to join another raft.

i have muscle wasting!!!!!!!!!! bilaterally i think. i couldn’t sustain carrying the raft with the others! which to me, is impossible. never have i felt things were too heavy, especially for these things! wow… major letdown on my side. anyways, mac was sweet enough to take my load…

hit the waters and we were so excited. of course the newbies were a bit frightened and worried, but we were all assuring, and our guide being the expert of Sungai Padas, they felt much relieved.

round the bend and it was all mild and good. we waited for the other rafts as we had to travel by pack. but little by little, the obstacles become tougher, and the water gushing harder. ten minutes into the journey and our raft lost two people. it was the first time a raft i had been in experienced something like that. Deb and Jo were overboard!

Jo got pulled up first but suffered bruises (that’s a normal phenomenon for her, she gets it all the time!), and a few laceration wounds. shaken but safe. just as we reached for Deb, we went down another fall. caught us offguard, but we somehow managed to get her up. thanks to our fantastic guide. He’s the MAN!

after a bit, it was another unsteady tumble and terence flung out and into the water. in a split second, so did i. but i hung onto the the safety rope and was pulled up instantly. ter on the other hand, relying solely on his personal safety equipment, drifted off under the power of the river, gaining distance away from the raft. Sirin tried to steer us toward him but he was too fast. finally, he got hold of a branch, and hung on for dear life till we arrived. then we pulled him up. it was no joke… after that no more falls, but it was nonetheless exhilirating, and to some, frightening.

halfway through, we stopped and were allowed to frolic for a bit so it was picture time.. btw the rest of the pics which aren’t here should be viewed at andrew’s blog site, the moment he puts it up.

then they told us, it was time to body raft! yay… guess who was first in line, as always… the german couple and i went into the water with a guide (sen i think) and he was teaching us some technique, holding each other’s lifejackets and forming a circle… we weren’t fully briefed but the current wouldn’t allow us to stand flat on the river bed, so swish, and down we went… submerged twice at least, but somehow managed… was saved by the raft… woohooo! wanted to do that again! it was fantastic! realised my shoes had decided to swim off without me, thank God they weren’t my adidas water mocs…

after a few minutes of recuperating, i decided to join the others. obviously the guides thought it a bad idea to run that stunt on the others, so they flung a rope across half the river which was pretty shallow and mild(blocked by a huge, solid boulder), then individually body surf down some rapids and grab the rescue rope. it took guts for most of them… but it was fun for me. not as much fun as the other technique, but not bad… they didn’t throw me a rope. rather they tried to but it was way beyond me. hehehe… so swam against the currents toward them… then waited. aunty lai kit and jo did fantastically well for beginners, even sarah and pet were just natural water babies. took pictures then it was back into the boat…

the bottom half, as always is the mellow part of the journey… mini rapids and less adventure, but more than enough for the rest. deb and i were a bit in wanting for more dangerous stuff, but since the newbies were shaken enough…

toward the end, we were just thinking of FOOD! all that water had made us famished. lo and behold the food that awaited us was wow! maybe it was cos we were so hungry, but the presentation tempting… a slice of watermelon, three slices of orange, a crispy fried chicken wing and a double decker melted cheese and tuna sandwich. complimented by a soothing icy cold can of COKE! Mmmm Hmmmm… we ladies had our lunch on a raft and tanned ourselves while doing wat ladies do best: chit chat!

there was a slideshow of all the pics taken during our adventure… excellent stuff. it was too expensive to buy, so oh well… t-shirts too were just too costly…

the guides just unwound with us and well it was a pleasure knowing them really. one by one we changed our clothes (no water so no bathing or even washing up!) then said our goodbyes. it’s definitely worth another trip.

on the way out, we detoured into Kampar town. the guide mentioned this huge pau with chicken curry in it, worth the stop. so we scurried, not wanting to stay too long, yet curious as to wat it was. after stopping for directions at least twice, we finally appeared in front of the shop. looked posh, so held onto our wallets a little tighter. gulp, here goes.

we ordered one. just one! and veg. their special so they say. it was HUGE… all nine of us, almost finished it. wow… then there were egg tarts which a few of us packed for home (we were too stuffed to eat anything!). i had to, it was calling my name! mouth watering i tell u!

then it was home time… almost everyone was so tired. except me, since i felt so light. guess too much ward work and classes and seminars finally did me good. alas, i can’t show them pics just yet. in due time, worry not!

well short but sweet version of wat happened. of course i’ll get lotsa comments from the people whose names i have mentioned here, but so be it. it’s more spicy that way! want more words? call me!

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