White-water rafting is a recreational outdoor activity which uses an inflatable raft to navigate a river. It had been something that I knew I had to try but wasn't really looking forward to, because I imagined it would involve a lot of cuts and bruises. Besides, it was meant to be a group activity, requiring at least two participants per raft, not including the skippers. I didn't have anyone to go with.
In April 2018, I found a company called Malaysia Water Rafting that would accommodate solo rafters at a reasonable rate (usually the only way to get cheap rates is to book in a group). They told me that I could join any group that would be rafting on that day. The fee was RM180, inclusive of equipment, snacks and lunch.
Our initial plan was to go to Kuala Kubu Baru, but when I reached the meeting point, I was told that the authorities hadn't given a clearance for us to go. There were several reasons why they might not allow people to go rafting. If it had been raining heavily the day before, for example, the water level might be too high and dangerous. Or if it hadn't been raining for several days, the water level might be too low and it could be dangerous because of all the exposed rocks. We would only know the verdict on that day itself. Long story short, we had no choice but to go to the Ulu Slim River which was in another state but wasn't too far away fortunately. The crew members gave me a lift in their 4WD.
Rivers are generally classified into six scales of river difficulty, starting from Class 1 for beginners with very basic skills to Class 6, which requires full mastery of rafting and even then is so dangerous it could be fatal. Ulu Slim is a Class 3 rapid, suitable for both beginners and experienced rafters.
We reached a camp at the endpoint of the river section that we were going to raft. There, I left my bag, signed the indemnity form, and met the group that I would be joining later. There were 10 of them, most of whom had rafted before. Based on our weights, we were divided into two teams. Mine had 6 people including myself. So, including two skippers, there would be 8 of us in a single raft. When everyone was ready, we were transported through the dirt road to the starting point on the back of the 4WD.
Before we began, we were given a briefing and demonstration on basic commands, safety measures and rescue techniques. Each of us were given a helmet, a life jacket and a single-bladed paddle. Then we did a trial run at the calmer part of the stream. They also made us do some body surfing down the river to train us to stay calm should we fall into the water. Only when they were satisfied with our performance did we proceed.
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| The safety briefing |
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| A group photo before we got into the rafts |
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| With the girls |
The real adventure started after that with increasingly faster rapids and steeper drops. There was not one boring stretch of the river. The instructions kept coming--to the left, to the right, to the back, to the front. We had to sit on the edges of the raft to paddle, but at steep drops, we had to sit inside the raft and held on to the rope around it. Several times we got stuck between rocks, and had to use our collective body weights to bounce on the raft to release it. Halfway through, we stopped for some snacks. Those who were feeling brave attempted a cliff jump into the river. I gave it a miss.
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| Body surfing |
Towards the end of our journey, since we hadn't capsized once, the skippers decided to deliberately capsize our raft--for fun. Everybody else seemed to agree with his idea of 'fun', except me, but I didn't say anything. All of us sat at the rear of the raft while one of the skippers stayed at the front. Then, he got up and ran towards the rear, tipping the raft vertically and dumping all of us into the water.
The rafting was over in about 3-4 hours. Most of my teammates said that it was more exhausting than what they had experienced before, because the water level was low and many rocks were visible, making it harder to maneuver the raft. One of the girls hurt her wrist after hitting a rock when she fell into the water. Apart from that we were all fine, save for some minor bruises. I was more thrilled than tired. It was a great team-building activity, because we really needed to work together as one to get to our destination, and ensure everyone's safety.
There are many activities in this blog that I tried just for the sake of trying. Some I enjoyed, and some I didn't but forced myself to keep on doing because I knew it was good for me--like hiking and running. I have run a marathon, but still haven't found the joy in running. I have hiked several mountains, but really don't understand why people enjoy it, when there are leeches and mosquitoes and snakes to worry about. I only do it for the view. But the thrill of white-water rafting was immediately apparent. It was exhilarating right from the get go.
