Our rafting adventure began with a safety talk and reassurance that we had the best guides and top of the line equipment. After being fitted with oars, life vests and helmets we piled into the back of the rafting company's songtaew and headed for the river. At the river, our guides pumped up the three zodiac style boats, loaded in our gear and with four "wild women" and one guide per boat we headed down the river for our two day, 60 km rafting expedition.
Since I know very little about white water rafting, I have no idea what number the water was, but I do know that we saw and experienced white water rapids. The scenery along the way was stunning with thick, lush green jungle dominating the landscape. Creature spotting included numerous gorgeous butterflies, dragonflies, several dark blue kingfishers, a tiny dear and a python. Unfortunately, we didn't spot any monkeys.
Our guides were excellent. They had us well trained to obey commands like, "go forward", "paddle backwards" and "stop". Taking pictures while on the river was not an option as there was never a time when cameras were guaranteed to stay dry.
The guides were also our cooks. Using a very large wok over open flames they prepared a delicious Thai dinner at our riverside camp. The riverside camp was very rustic. We slept on very thin mattresses under mosquito nets in a three sided hut. The toilet, of the squat variety was down a slope which made for challenging trips during the night.
The sun shone brightly for both of the rafting days. It was very hot and yet we managed to get cool when we were deep in a gorge as the sun seemed to hide behind the mountains. It was a wonderful experience; exhilarating and at the same time, very peaceful.
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