- "Do you want to go the chicken way or the tiger way?" shouted our rafts steer-man.
- "The tiger way!" was a roaring answer in uniform, lips smiling and eyes focused on whats ahead.
We had been on the raft about 5 minutes and passed through the first white water. Being out of practise I had found the experience pretty thrilling already, but the steer man declared that what we just passed through was -1. I was a bit intimidated. We passed through the second white water and had two people overboard. We all noticed how other rafts had passed through that rapid on the other side of the river ... answer came quickly "I'm the extreme rafting guide!" "If you don't like the extreme and want to go slow, you can switch to another raft." We all stayed put.
Soon after I found myself underwater, holding on to the oar. Someone was holding on to me which I found irritating, because I kinda wished to be free in my search for some oxygen. Never really figured who was clinging to me, but I found the surface and was pulled onto the raft again. After the first dip I was actually much less afraid and gave my best when the steer-man shouted "Forward!" "Forward, Faster!!" "Forward, Faster, Stronger!!!"
By the time we got to 3+ rapid, we had once got scolded pretty harsh for stopping paddling without his command and leaning in the raft holding on to the rope instead. He said we should only do it when he says so, we should trust him and when we go through the rapid we all need to paddle in order to keep the good way. Indeed after this call for order our team worked much better.
He came to sit between us in the raft again and explained how now more dangerous 3+ rapid is coming, where people have died, but we should not be afraid and do as he says. Just should you fall in, swim to the right, not left, because in the left there is a whirlpool and you can get stuck.
Screaming in exhilaration and passing forward the message from the steer-man in the back to the paddlers in front as the sound didn't travel long in the roaring water, we made through it safe and sound and so did the other rafts.
Once in calm waters our steer-man had a chat with his colleagues in the other rafts. This was a warning, as I got to know later, that he is gonna flip our raft, so the rest should be ready to pick us up as we flow down the river. Indeed soon enough there was a drop and we all landed in the water. Water was pretty calm so I just gave my roar to the first raft in sight and thought I will wait until our raft is ready to get on board. People tried to pull me up, but I was l ike "Naah...I'll just go on my own raft". It took quite some time though and then when I started to ask, whether there is any rapid coming (I was behind a raft and couldn't really see what's ahead), the steer-man of that raft started to shout "Forward! Forward!" "Faster, Forward!!".
"Uups," I thought and let go of the raft as I did not want to be hit by a paddle. Remembering the guidelines handed out before the rafting, I was making a decision between going down the rapid head first or feet first. I went head first. Wasn't too scary, just a bit, uhm, fast. And after that I no longer waited for my raft to come to me but let myself pulled up by the first willing team who was already reaching a paddle out for me to grab.
Finally our team was together again and everyone's mood was elevated. Well, one girl had been silent all along anyway, I hope she still enjoyed herself. I did and rafting is definitely something to be repeated.
- "The tiger way!" was a roaring answer in uniform, lips smiling and eyes focused on whats ahead.
We had been on the raft about 5 minutes and passed through the first white water. Being out of practise I had found the experience pretty thrilling already, but the steer man declared that what we just passed through was -1. I was a bit intimidated. We passed through the second white water and had two people overboard. We all noticed how other rafts had passed through that rapid on the other side of the river ... answer came quickly "I'm the extreme rafting guide!" "If you don't like the extreme and want to go slow, you can switch to another raft." We all stayed put.
Soon after I found myself underwater, holding on to the oar. Someone was holding on to me which I found irritating, because I kinda wished to be free in my search for some oxygen. Never really figured who was clinging to me, but I found the surface and was pulled onto the raft again. After the first dip I was actually much less afraid and gave my best when the steer-man shouted "Forward!" "Forward, Faster!!" "Forward, Faster, Stronger!!!"
By the time we got to 3+ rapid, we had once got scolded pretty harsh for stopping paddling without his command and leaning in the raft holding on to the rope instead. He said we should only do it when he says so, we should trust him and when we go through the rapid we all need to paddle in order to keep the good way. Indeed after this call for order our team worked much better.
He came to sit between us in the raft again and explained how now more dangerous 3+ rapid is coming, where people have died, but we should not be afraid and do as he says. Just should you fall in, swim to the right, not left, because in the left there is a whirlpool and you can get stuck.
Screaming in exhilaration and passing forward the message from the steer-man in the back to the paddlers in front as the sound didn't travel long in the roaring water, we made through it safe and sound and so did the other rafts.
Once in calm waters our steer-man had a chat with his colleagues in the other rafts. This was a warning, as I got to know later, that he is gonna flip our raft, so the rest should be ready to pick us up as we flow down the river. Indeed soon enough there was a drop and we all landed in the water. Water was pretty calm so I just gave my roar to the first raft in sight and thought I will wait until our raft is ready to get on board. People tried to pull me up, but I was l ike "Naah...I'll just go on my own raft". It took quite some time though and then when I started to ask, whether there is any rapid coming (I was behind a raft and couldn't really see what's ahead), the steer-man of that raft started to shout "Forward! Forward!" "Faster, Forward!!".
"Uups," I thought and let go of the raft as I did not want to be hit by a paddle. Remembering the guidelines handed out before the rafting, I was making a decision between going down the rapid head first or feet first. I went head first. Wasn't too scary, just a bit, uhm, fast. And after that I no longer waited for my raft to come to me but let myself pulled up by the first willing team who was already reaching a paddle out for me to grab.
Finally our team was together again and everyone's mood was elevated. Well, one girl had been silent all along anyway, I hope she still enjoyed herself. I did and rafting is definitely something to be repeated.
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