Rafting at Padas River

On 4th August (Saturday),me and my 10 colleagues and 1 student from UMS went for Rafting at Padas River.We departed from KK around 8:05am . On the way to Beaufort everybody were excited while enjoying the scenery along the road.

Arrived at the Beaufort Train Station around 9:15am, but we have to wait for the train to Tenom scheduled at 10.30am. So we just standing there and looking around, people goes by and I bought 1 bottle of Sprite and a junk food.The BUSAT (Borneo Ultimate Sabah Adventure Tour) guy passed the form to be signed by us. Ya..indemnity form 'Rafting at our own risk'..

At 10:00am the train arrived and everybody rush to get into the train. We are also one of them, but once we get into the train, the train is still busy of loading construction materials. Well, we are just watched and it was so hot inside the train. Luckily we did not go inside the crowded one, me and my friend Ulai just go next to the train door. We were standing with the local people. There are so many smell inside the train, I smelled salted fish'ikan Masin", patrol and more. Some of the local, they bought chicken from the town to bring home and they put it inside the box. I can hear the chicken voices, pity little chicken.

Then the train finished to load all the materials almost at 10:45am and last part the train should

do is to connect the train with other train. So we start our train journey at 11:00am.I can't

imagine I am inside the slowest train in the world. The train of British era, what a boring

ride. I was sleepy inside the train but i couldn't sleep. it was so noisy with the train horn

tut..tut..and the train brake, (you know the noise of Metal touching each other) so

irritating, and the noises of the UMS students laughing and talking to each other..i am just

enjoying the scenery of of the river along the train rail.

After 1 hour ride, we reach the ending point in Rayoh. The train stopped and waited all rafters

to drop their bags and things. In 10 minutes or maybe less, everybody is running to the train

again, fighting to get a seat. After 30 minutes on the train, finally we reach the starting

point, Pangi.

When we reach Pangi, we were given mineral water, banana, watermelon and Appolo layer cake. I

got 1 banana and a slice of watermelon before we start our rafting.10 minutes resting and

having a light refreshment we are all instructed to follow the guide to the river where we

will start our adventure. Before we are all go into the boat, we were instructed to wear the

life jacket and the helmet and also given a safety briefing by Mr.Arkin (BUSAT guide and our

rafting guide).

My Group.. From left: Amar, Arkin (Our Guide) Agnes@ ulai, Me, Jenny, Johnny and Alexs.

After the briefing, we were divided into 2 groups,me, Agnes, Jenny,Johnny, Amar and AlexS were

in 1 boat and the rest are in other boat (Hayati, Irene, wendy,Hooi theng,Chin yit and David

Chong). Everybody with their own guide, last group was us. So we get the most problematic

boat. The boat was not enough air, and got holes somewhere could not be found.before we raft,

the guide have to pump some air inside our boat.

The more excited part when we start rafting, yes..on the river, its start calm, everybody is

paddling with energy, the first rapid point are Head Hunter Rapid, just warming up rapid, its

start to bounce the boat, everybody says yeah..woooo..and still singing and enjoying. The 2nd

rapid, Scooby doo rapid..the water quite high, the last current/wave make me and Jenny thrown

at the back, next to agnes, so we were little bit hurt. But the most unforgettable moment when

we were at the cobra point. We start to think what next.the guide told us, this cobra point is

the most strong and usually the boat will capsize, well we were trying to paddle as hard and as

fast as possible, unfortunately our boat was capsized. All of us thrown into the deep brown

water.First thing in my mind when I was in the water, make sure no boat on top of me, I raised

both of my hand to make sure i can touch the boat and I heard blup..blup..blup..Suddenly I can

felt my body is going up when I heard the air or maybe the current of the water on top of me.

I flip my 2 legs to reach the top but suddenly I felt somebody pull my legs and again into the

water.

I can felt that this person is scary and panic, he hold me and try to grab me. I was thinking,

as long as this person keep on pulling me, I know there is no chance of us to go up. Then I

started to hold him back with my 2 little hands. I grab his life jacket and tried to bring him

up. I can't remember how many times he try to pull me and that makes me drink a lot of water.

Every time I reach the top, i try to shout..Please don't do thissss...but then..I am in the

water again..waited a few minutes, after we reach the slow current, we were finally float, but

again, he didn't release me, and I understand why. I just hold him and try to make him

calm. I keep on telling him, please, be calm and relax, try to lay your body..relax.. I saw

our guide try to reach us as well. He tried to reach us with the paddle. Every time we want to

take the paddle the current wash us just like he doesn't want us to be saved. luckily we manage

to grab the paddle and get close to the boat. Once I am in the boat I look around and i saw a

few more still in the water. I am keep on asking where is my other friends especially Ulai.

Thanks god, jenny and Ulai was at the side of the boat, holding the rope. I help Ulai to get

into the boat and then we help one hong Kong girl which is from other boat who was capsized as

well.

After the capsize scene, our boat was stuck at the shallow water. We couldn't move the boat to the water with current. one of our member was still in shocked. We take 30 minutes to get the boat to the water again. And we raft till the end without anymore problem. We pass the 4 more rapid point which are Merry-Go-Round Rapid, Break Point Rapid, Washing Machine Rapid and Lambada Rapid Each rapid will give you the feel of the motion as what the name means.Till we reach the ending point at Rayoh at 3:15pm. We only have 30 minutes to changed and take our lunch. The train will arrive at 3:45pm at the Rayoh Station.We manage to change our wet shirts and pants and take our lunch as fast as we can. But most important thing, we have faced and felt the adventure of rafting at level 3-4. YES..

Once again inside the train, i looked at everybody faces, tired and sleepy.It was quite only the sound of the train. We reach the Train Station at Beaufort at 5.25pm and back to KK at 5.55pm and reach KK at 6.45pm. We manage to take our group photo with our rafting guide but we did not get our Rafting action photo. will get the photo by this week to share with you all.

End of story..