White water rafting

I have no pictures of this wild adventure and you'll understand why if you continue reading...I have been blessed with the friendship of a number of expatriate women; the benefits, if you will, are numerous. First off, friends who can communicate easily in English are invaluable in this foreign land. Gene was very worried that while he was at work and the girls were at school I would be left home alone to wallow in my loneliness. Thankfully, this has not been the case. Our internet, blog-writing friend, Tina, has introduced me to a bunch of women whom I've gotten to know over the past few weeks. Some of the ladies live in my neighborhood so we are able to meet for short outings, like coffee and conversation, foot massages, lunch, shopping, etc. They come from all over the world: the Philippines, Norway, Canada, El Salvador, England, Australia, Italy, the US, China ("overseas Chinese" mostly) so it is very interesting to spend time with them and share in our common experiences. Many of them also have children at the same international school that my girls attend. A few days ago, when I was terribly shaken and reduced to tears over bug situation, I sent a pleading group email and was almost immediately comforted by words of encouragement, offers of information and, the next day when we met for a luncheon of the official expats' club, gifts of repellent. I can only hope to be half as helpful to them and to others in the future.
Several of these ladies have drivers with minivans so we are able to carpool for "Wednesday Adventures." How wonderful they are to share with all of us! (Two weeks ago we went to see an ancient bridge and a traditional housing village--I have pictures of those so will write about that once the pics are downloaded.) Yesterday we planned to meet after taking our kids to the bus stop but I was not sure the trip would come to pass since it was raining. We went ahead with our plans and the rain stopped not long after we left. One of the brains of the operation, Pam, had researched a place that is about 40 minutes away from here that offers many so-called "tourist projects." I was initially under the impression that we would be kayaking, which to me is a slow and calm type of activity. Not so...we were actually headed for some white-water rafting, Chinese-style. Most of us grew increasingly nervous as we waited for the bus to take us "up the mountain," as this would appear to indicate that we'd be rafting back down the mountain. We were told that we would become wet "from head to toe" and should leave cameras, phones, everything but the clothes on our backs and the shoes on our feet in the care of the faithful drivers. Luckily, we had come prepared with a change of clothes, but we had no idea how wet we'd actually become. We rode the bus, along with about a dozen Chinese tourists, to the drop station. Along the way, a young woman spoke at the speed of light over the bus intercom, presumably about safety instructions, etc. Again, we sort of laughed along and made up our own translations like "try not to get killed 'cause we're not responsible" and other not-so-funny things. At the top, we were each outfitted with lovely yellow helmets, complete with scratchy chin straps, and thin, orange life vests. We were also told to take one long bamboo pole per boat. That's right, not an actual paddle that might offer some way to control one's own destiny to some extent, but just a big stick! Another round of instructions, basically, we were to have two passengers per rubber boat and were to face each other since the boat would be spinning around as we barreled down the river. Ummm, okay. I paired up with Olivia, a young woman from Australia whose husband teaches at XIS. We were about the last boat to shove off...thought we'd get a good look at this thing before taking the plunge!
We were shoved into a narrow channel and were off! Turns out there is a dam at the top of all this so that the water can be controlled somewhat. We haven't had much rain so the dam had been opened before we got there. About three minutes into the ride we descended down a rapids and were splashed to the point of filling our boat with six inches of water! Sitting cross-legged in a tiny rubber boat in questionable river water with two and a half hours of river-riding ahead of us was pretty daunting. The next fifteen minutes or so were pretty harrowing as we tried to figure out how to use the bamboo pole and remember which way to lean so as not to capsize the boat. When we reached a calm spot we tried to relax and enjoy the scenery and soon became more adept at working our equipment. Of course, we took on water every few minutes and were soon completely soaked. We were usually the last boat in the procession and we're pretty sure the river guide who was at the very back of the pack thought we were complete idiots! We got him to help us dump the excess water several times and were very glad for this since there was always another rapids up ahead to replenish the supply. Luckily we did not fall off the slippery rocks or fall headlong into the water. Still further along on our ride, we started to be able to notice when the barely-submerged rocks were upon us, though not after we each "found" them with our behinds. We started to yell to each other "lift up" when we saw one coming. (Olivia texted me later in the day to report a big bruise where she collided with a rock). By the time we neared the end of this journey, we were hot and tired and my hip joints ached from sitting cross-legged for so long, but reflected upon our success and the fun we had. We even saw some water buffalo toward the end of the river (remember the part about the questionable water?!). Another ride in the bus brought us back to the visitors' center where we were surprised and thrilled to find showers, complete with privacy curtains, warm water and shampoo! We also had the opportunity to purchase action photos taken from the shore and, unlike tourist spots in the US, they didn't cost a fortune. Just 10 kuai (about $1.45) bought two 5 x 7 copies! Too bad I don't know how to use our scanner...maybe some day you'll get the chance to see how lovely we actually looked bouncing down the rapids! If you feel so inclined, you may Google "fjdyp" and click "translate this page" on the google listing. Here you will see pictures of the rafting along with multiple other activities offered at and near this site. Plan your trips soon!