Bamboo rafting aka Titanic Thai style!

Not sure what has come over recently. First I head out into the jungle. Next I have to pick my jaw up off the floor when I overhear myself saying I prefer squat loos to western one's (I know, I know), then I suggest bamboo rafting. Why? I have a massive fear of the water so why on earth would I actually pay to be so close to it? For some unknown reason I thought it would be a good idea.

I think I suggested it when I was hungover so my mind was slightly off key. Although thinking about it I do vaguely recall demonstrating extreme excitement when someone was telling me about their experience bamboo rafting. I'm prepared to admit I may have had one or three vodkas. I know for a fact the person in question made it sound almost idyllic. Floating down the river, the sun shining, water quietly rippling against the bamboo raft, great sceneary. It sounded amazing. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it (to a degree) but my experience wasn't quite the same...

I wasn't in the best frame of mind. Woke up with the hangover that killed Elvis and already there was a lot of self loathing going on. Me, Emily, Alice and Lucy arrived at the river and were given our life jackets. So far so good except I'm virtually doubled up with pain from the hangover and making moaning noises which did nothing to help the common Thai perception that western woman can be slightly odd!

The bamboo raft was exactly that. A raft made out of bamboo. I was already warned that when you go on the raft it would sink slightly. Ours didn't of course. It sank quite a bit. Having already been told by a tuk tuk driver in Chiang Mai that he was only charging us 50 baht instead of 40 baht because we were 'big, big girls' we were naturally slightly horrified that it virtually sank to the bottom of the river bed when we stepped on it!! The teeny tiny Thai man raft punter seemed undeterred and off we went.

I was....let's just say I was nervous and insisted on linking arms with Alice on the basis that if either one of us fell in it would be better if we weren't on our own. After about 30 mins I started to relax. That's when the great big dragon flies came swooming around the raft. Of course we couldn't move. We had no where to go. All we could do is wave them off but when we moved so did the raft. Great. Loving this. So relaxing. I had great big buzzing dragon flies darting around my head. I'm sreaming. We're all screaming. The raft punter Thai man was laughing.

Then came the white water rafting element which we hadn't signed up for.... or the 'rapids' as I like to call them. They probably weren't really rapids but they certainly seemed that way to me when I was bobbing around on a sinking raft.

The raft punting Thai man gestured to the rapids and told us to hold on. I actually thought he was joking. I laughed. We all did. All Thais laugh when they don't know what you're talking about which is most of the time in my case. We slide down and over the first 'rapid' - the raft bobbing up and down, half of it submerged underwater, four girls screaming as it slide over the first 'rapid'. The Thai raft punter man continued to laugh. He laughed a lot throughout the journey.

First one was okay. The second one wasn't so good.

We ran aground.

I don't actually think I've ever heard of this happening in a raft before. We were literally lodged over a rapid. Water gushing up against the raft. The bamboo sticks creaking under the pressure of the water, the rapid and us. The raft punting Thai man was laughing. So there we were four women and a small thai man stuck on this bamboo raft on top of a rapid. Then it began to rain. And I mean torrential rain. The raft punting Thai man soon stopped laughing. I was nearly crying. He was too when he tried to dislodge the raft from the rapid and nearly fell over in the process. Thankfully there was a guy on the river bank who came to help. Off we went. We were all laughing then - hysterically.

After an hour or so after the titanic episode was over and the torrential rain stopped I began to enjoy the scenerary. It was gorgeous. Surrounded by the jungle and paddy fields. Pai is beautiful. Very relaxed which is a lovely change from Bangers and Chiang Mai. Will definately be coming back here but not sure I'll be signing up for the bamboo rafting again!!