Padas White Water Rafting!

...just a picture of how it will look like, but not us...

Rafting! (click here for more info).

Yes! It was the day! It was really an unforgettable experience for me. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity since two years ago. My friend planned to do this and asked me to join her, but it never became a reality. Until, yesterday (1 November 2009). =)

Actually the activity supposed to be on the 31st of October. And I was supposed to attend a friend's wedding reception (view previous post) on that very same day. So I was quite dizzy thinking of ways how I can attend both event. However, Him who seated high above, is really great and worked wonders upon us. The activity then postponed to the 1st of November and I am very grateful for that. Thank you!

So I joined 8 other Lifeliners to Padas; and as early as 8am we were supposed to depart already from Wisma Sabah. (But I was late! =.="') So we were on tourists' bus that morning and were briefed about the program/tour schedule. Afterward each of us were given one box of breakfast. Quite yummy - a bread + egg and a small banana and a drumstick. During the journey/tour, I was sleepy. And I couldnt even watch the movie in the bus because I sat at the last row and plus I forgot to bring my glasses. I'm short-sighted. Huhu. So what to do, just sleep la. Hahaha.

...in the tour bus...

To make this long story short, I just write out in point form whatever things that happened next.

- Passed by Crocker Range (wanna go there someday! x) hihi)
- Reached Tenom railway station
- changed clothes and applied sunblock
- waited at the Railway station, left all our stuff in the tour bus
- train came. A lot of people rushed in. No seats. Arghh. But then a lady gave away two seats. So I got the chance to sit. Whew~
- kinda sakai at first. this train is kinda different from KTM in west Malaysia. (haha. of course)
- got a few seats outside as well. Those are open seats. Didnt sit there bcuz it was sunny at first. But then it became windy. Regretted did not sit there. Can get better view.
- didnt sleep in the train because I was so excited and anxious throughout the journey
- sat facing the back of the train. looked out the window, saw a hill to my left and Padas river to my right. can see the landslide to my left.
- went through a small and short tunnel. Syok!! it was dark and eerie but BEST! *twice*
- Reached Padas 'Riverbug' White Water Rafting. (Wonder why it is called "White Water Rafting", when the colour of the river is not white at all. Just look at the picture above lah. LOL! xD)
- was briefed in detail by a river guide. Safety precautions, ways to save yourself, and many more were told. (I wasnt sure whether I can remember all those! =.="')
- After that very detailed explanation, we were split to 3 groups. Each group consists of 6 people and two river guides, except for a group from Hong Kong, which consists of 7 people and two river guides.
- we were advised not to take picture because of the condition of the river. It was high tide. And nobody from Riverbug takes picture too. Haiz... too bad... *shake head*
- paddling. warm-up session. very brief. Didnt even feel tired. Just that it was quite hard to paddle with the strong current
- was not even sunny. Oh sun! Come out, come out wherever you are... I applied a lot of sunblock loh just now. Dont wanna waste that. xD
- the two river guides behind us were explaining and giving us instruction. it was fun. one of the river guides looks quite matured (like late 20s), but he's just about my age. (Whuuuttt??? @.@)
- initially there were no rapid. we were just paddling in the strong current but quite calm river.
- then we reached the 1st rapid. it is called a 'Mickey Mouse'. This was where the FUN began! Yeh, water splashing everywhere; we were soaked wet and extremely excited; the rubber raft was almost overturned/capsized!
- after that we paddled through 'snake', 'headhunters', 'lambada', and many more rapids. Couldnt remember all the names. A lot bah.
- After 10km of paddling through a few different rapids, we stopped and went on shore to have our lunch.
- lunch was quite 'feng fu'. They prepared lamb, hotdogs, pumpkins, popiahs, cabbages etc. I ate with a great appetite because I starved! Not cuz I godot k? LOL.
- After lunch, we continue another 7km of paddling. but this time, no more rapids. Just paddling through calm river. Followed the current.
- finished the whole activity. Reached another place (somewhere near Beaufort I heard) and we got on a narrow sampan with a motor/engine. it looked like a sampan, but did not require paddling. kind of like speedboat/motorboat. But this one was narrow and long.
- was wondering 'huh, this is it? i thought got something even more dangerous than this.' in my head I thought we were going to paddle down a waterfall. Haha. That's ADVENTUROUS! or maybe it is more like a SUICIDE?? for those who is heart-broken? like what the riverguide told us. LOL.
- Reached another place in Sabah. The name of the place is weird, so I couldnt remember. It was another railway station.
- So we washed ourselves a bit and waited for the train.
- Train came and took us back to Beaufort railway and bus station. On my way, I fell asleep. Muscle didnt ache but felt very exhausted.
- Reached Beaufort. The tour bus was already waiting there. The place is familiar to me cuz it was my 2nd time there. Kind of miss to walk around Beaufort with Karen Yiow. Hmmm...
- After everyone was ready, the bus took us back to Kota Kinabalu (KK).
- Fell asleep in the bus. Reached Wisma Sabah before 7pm.
- In conclusion, I want to do this again! LOL!