My First Time Ever

I have always wondered how cruising down the river on a raft would feel like. From the documentaries, white water rafting seemed like a kind of crazy sport that only crazy maniacs would bother attempting. Putting one’s life at risk, hanging your life on a thin thread, like dangling a carrot in front of the God of Death, tempting him to see if he could take your life away. Touch wood. But, that is how it seemed to me at first. Taunting the devil. Disrespect for life.

Nevertheless, when my life became out of control for the past eight months, I decided I had to do something drastic to change my sense of direction. I had become a workaholic. Working on weekends, until 5pm; and working until 10pm on weekdays, even bringing back heavy files to work on my personal laptop. No time to shop, talk or eat. Work had been filling my mind 24/7.

I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. I ran simulations in my head when I walked; understanding theories when I was in the LRT; thought about the sensitivity cases to run when I was eating; generating virtual syntax in my head when I was talking to my mom. When I couldn’t get anything right, I just got frustrated and felt like strangling people around me. Everything that did not go according as planned irked me, even if it was a small matter, like saving files that could not be saved because it was corrupted by the auto-saved feature in the Microsoft 2007 feature.

It came to a point when I realized that this had to stop. I can’t let work control my life. Not when I was still young and had a lot going for me. For one, I need to widen my social circle. At 26, I can’t let my long-term companion be a 12”x12” LCD screen which churns out non-interactive results.

So, I decided I had to do something out of the norm in my life to return me to my normal life. I had a few options initially. For instance:

1. Taking the hot-air balloon ride - This was out of the question as the date coincided with the day that I had to be out of town.
2. Bungee jumping - I don’t think they currently offer this service in Malaysia
3. Sky diving - Same reason as Option 2.
4. Scuba diving - Sounds extremely appealing. Nevertheless, it is an expensive hobby to take up.
5. White water rafting - This seems like the perfect sport. Not too challenging, not much energy would be burnt. Not too hectic.
6. Hiking - I have a few places in mind. Yet, there’s no partner willing to indulge in this activity at that particular moment.

Finally, after a heated debate between my heart and head, I chose the 5th option - white water rafting.

Destination

So, on the 4th of July, we set off early in the morning. I waited at the Kelana Jaya LRT bus-stop for almost half an hour before my friend arrived to pick me up.

As soon as I sat in the car, it suddenly dawned upon me that I hadn’t bothered to know where we heading! So, I asked the friend, “Where are we going to, Tim?”

“Why?! Slim River, of course!” Tim answered rather too jovially.

Slim River? Wow! I ‘ve heard of it, but I’ve never been there before. I usually pass by these two terms, this name on the reflective, green signboard, whenever I drive home on the North-South toll highway. I have never thought of turning in for a visit though.

Yeay! Goody ! Goody! I’m finally going to visit Slim River!

We arrived at Slim River about 9am, an hour later after we started our journey. As soon as we arrived, I was requested to sign this ‘Death Indemnity’ form. I was scared to death. Once again, I began second doubting myself. Am I making the correct decision to do this? White water rafting?

“Aww.. come on, Jean!” I told myself. It can’t be that hard!

With gritted teeth, I grabbed the nearest pen , tied my hair into a bun, and signed the indemnity form. I threw my glasses in the car, emptied my pockets of coins, keys and dollar notes, and put them all in the car. Then, we climbed into the four-wheel drive, was driven 15 minutes on a long , winding path of muddy track, in the middle of the oil palm estate. Out of the window, we saw hills, mountains and healthy trees, actively absorbing all the sunlight, creating alternative forms of energy within them. The air was fresh, with occasional pungent smell of exhaust fumes emitted from the 30 year-old jeep. Ah.. this reminds me so much of the time I was in Mulu Caves! Trekking 11km in a day.. wondering if I'd ever reach...

Experience

White water rafting is a sport that seems risky, at least to me. To put oneself in the middle of the raft, cruising in the middle of the river stream, where the flowrate of the river is highest, seems like the most silly thing to do on earth. I have heard of the life raft overturning, people thrown into the water and drown, just like that. We never know what will happen. It is a high-risk activity.

Certainly, I argued with myself quite a few times for a few days. Should I? or Should I not? I plucked several flowers and peeled of its petals, deciding to go or not to go? Until all the flowers in my garden were de-flowered, and bald, as if all its flowers had been harvested for perfumes or tea.

Finally, I decided to go. After going through such a stressful cycle, I really need to let it all out. So, I paid RM 168 and signed up for my first ever white water rafting experience.

My sole aim was to release all the pent up energy within me. I did not even bother to enquire about the venue, date or time. I was desperate.

Safety Briefing

As soon as we arrived, the organizers set about pumping air into the inflatable life-raft. Then they laid out all the personal protective equipments onto the red, plastic mat and asked us to take one of each. Ten minutes later, they gave a very interesting safety briefing , complete with demonstration.

First, they advised us to tighten the safety helmet at the strap, so that only 2 fingers can go through from one end to another. If the hat is too tight, one might suffocate in the event of falling into the water. If it’s too lose, our heads might hit something hard if we happen to drift across the river. Never happened, but we just can’t stop rumours just because you want them to start!

Then, they demonstrated to us the proper ways of using the life-jacket. To save a person who has fallen into the river, we must pull the black label at the back of the jacket. The incorrect method would be to wrap our arms around the neck of the poor fellow and heave him up from the water.

After which they taught us various simple commands commonly used during white water rafting, like ‘Over-left’, ‘Over-right’, etc. They even taught us the proper way to sit in a raft.

After half an hour of stories and laughter, we were all as joyful as a lark. We were going to start white water rafting now!

Row, Row, Row Your Boat...

Stepping into the raft that's floating by the river bank is easy. All you have to do is put one feet on a big boulder, and another in the raft. What comes after that, is conquering your fear. For me, I was imagining the worst.

The fact that it had just rained the night before didn't help to ease my worries. The river water was flowing really fast, gushing down the steep slopes. The river was muddy, murky with bubbly white foams on its surface. As soon as everybody was settled down, I chose my spot, right at the rear end of the raft.

Since it was my first time, I thought that we were going to navigate through the river streams ourselves! and the guides will just watch from the river side. If our raft capsized, they'd just throw a life buoy, or a string to us.

So, imagine my relief when 2 guides climbed into our raft and said with full authority, "Rafting is a serious matter. When I say ' over-left', all of you must move to the left. When I say 'over-right' , all of you must move to the right. If I say 'paddles up', all of you must move to the centre, and put your paddles upright. Now, let's practise. 'overleft!' "the guide shouted and the five of us huddled to the left side of the raft. 'over-right!', and all uf us slided to the right. We practised a few more times by the river bank. Until all of us felt comfortable and confident.

"K. Now paddle front!" d guide commanded. All of us eagerly moved our paddles to the back... creating a forward motion for the raft.

"Wow! This is fun!' I thought! Suddenly, the boat reached a dangerous point. we had reached a boulder which was about 2 and a half meters above the water height of the next bend. "Oh no! How are we going to proceed?" I thought.

"All of you, move to the front. This will create a strong force at the bow, and the raft will just drop down." the guide explained.

"What? Oh no no no no no no.... ! " I thought . "This won't do. I don't want to get wet! Not in this hot and cold, unpredictable weather! Besides, what if d raft overturns? What if d river water is deep?"

Nevertheless, crossing was the only option we had at that time. We couldn't climb the big boulders as others, neither could we jump out of the raft and swim through the river.. So, we had to get through this exercise, no matter what the cost.

True enough, as soon as we hurled ourselves to the front, the raft did indeed dive downwards and landed on its flat end! boy, was I glad! Then, we continued rowing our raft to the front. Not long after, we came across a very, very steep slope ( I suppose that 's what you call it in layman's term.) I was so afraid that our raft will overturn, that when we 'cruised' past it, I screamed my lungs out. I thought I was going to drop down, down , down forever! Fortunately, we were all still sitting upright when the raft once again landed on the bubbling waters!

The following rapids were equally challenging! We had to duck from obstructing branches and sharp leaves. We dropped frequently from a few 'high' rapids. I shouted as long and as hard as I wanted! even though sometimes, the situation did not warrant it. I screamed nevertheless.

The Unexpected Ending

When the journey finally ended, I just couldn't believed it! I thought it was going to go on and on and on until our arms were tired! Yet, when we arrived at our final destination, I still had lots of energy to continue paddling the raft. I did not even feel a single bit of exhaustion within my veins. Hence, I was truly surprised when they asked us to step out of the raft.

To be honest, I was reluctant. I never thought that it'd be this fast. I was told that the whole white water rafting journey would last for 2 hours. Yet, we finished our course in just one hour! I can't believe it! Its just too fast! I still have lots of pent up energy , stress!

But, all good things come to an end. No matter how much I have begun to like white water rafting, it has got to end somewhere. This, is where it ends. Now, I am refreshed! ready to jump into the ring of fire anytime!

Slim River

Slim River is located in Southern most part of Perak. It is one of the cities that is closest to Kuala Lumpur. Although I've stayed in Perak for 26 years of my life, and I have never been to Slim River. So, imagine my surprise when I arrived at Slim River and saw that white, hot steam evaporating into the air!

Oh wow! There's a hot spring here! According to the locals, this is one of the hottest hot springs in the world. On any given day, the temperature of the water may reach 105 degrees celcius.

The thing that struck me most the fact that the it seemed as if the lake did not bubble at all areas. The heat seemed to be available at the centre of the lake! I wonder why...

As we walked on the bridge on the lake, my eyes turned to something pink and furry on the left. I adjusted my vision, zoomed my sight and zeroed in on that pink, furry thing. Upon close inspection, I realized that it was a pink pig boiled to death! Oh! The poor creature!

My speculation: I think the pig was cold the night before, since it had been raining cats and dogs throughout the day. So, the only warm place he knew was the hot spring. So, this pig came to the lake. Cold and shivering, he decided to immerse himself in the warm body of water. The heat enveloping him, like a blanket providing warmth to a baby in winter. It was so comfortable that the pig fell sound asleep not long after.

Soon, it stopped raining. The temperature of the lake rose. Yet, the pig did not stir an inch because he was too deep into his sleep. His body had gotten use to the warm temperature of the water bath. By the time the temperature rose to 105 degrees celcius, the pig's soul had already migrated to heaven. What we saw by the lake was its pink, empty shell, void of its soul. What a serene way to leave this world, wouldn't you say?

Click here to view the video on white water rafting at slim river.