Pai in the sky

Sitting in the back of the raft, I can see the wave coming as we carefully navigate a Grade 4 rapid on the Pai River. Garry, who is sitting in the front of the raft however, has momentarily averted his attention to a dancing bird on the shore. As the wave hits, he is thrown back, his legs slip out from beneath him and if it was not for Dutchman Dick, who was sitting next to him, we may have lost out right hand wing man. Dick couldn't even remember grabbing Garry's life vest and hauling him back in, but he was definitely the hero of the day.

We left on Tuesday with our Lahu (an ethnic minority group) guide Shadow for a 2 day trip into the jungle. We saw some small minority villages and visited a school, before making the trek through the jungle and along the river to our jungle camp. Shadow had to hack his way through the jungle with his machete - it was high adventure with treacherous cliff passes and several fast river crossings. (See photo left for idea of the path).

Our jungle camp was by the river, and Shadow cooked an amazing meal for us as we sipped Chang beers around the camp fire, before retiring for bed exhauted at 8pm! We didn't awake until 7am the next morning, just after our fellow adventurers Dick and Ann from the Netherlands awoke.

The morning started with the cheeky monkeys stealing Ann's waterproof camera and a mad chase ensued. We finally got the camera back - the monkeys had taken five shots, but broke the wind on button!

The rafting was awesome, with some really challenging water and stunning scenery. We stopped for lunch by some hot springs and the weather was glorious. Garry climbed up to the top of an 8 metre high rock and threw himself off the top into the river - very brave!

It was a great, fun, adventure filled trip. We all said we wished we could have kept going. The Pai River goes all the way thro' Burma and comes out near the Andamans!