White Water Rafting Slim River, Perak

White water rafting has become an addiction to me and it I have official had my 4th white water rafting experience in two different rivers in Perak. One was at Sg.Kampar, Gopeng with the Riverbug crew and the latest one was at Slim River White Water Rafting or more precisely the rafting is located at Kg. Ulu Slim, Slim River.

Interesting things you may want to know about White Water Rafting at Slim River, Perak :

- The guides that we went with was with these guys http://www.thepaddlerz.com/ or better known as the Khersonese Expedition crew.

- The drive to Kg. Ulu Slim seems to take forever. Haha. That's how far it really is after you exited the toll at Behrang. Nevertheless, it was a nice winding, narrow road ride through the villages and oil palm plantations of course. This route would be even better if you are riding either on the motorbikes or bicycles.

- After you gathered and sign up your particulars at 'base camp', you get to board on the trucks. We chose this black truck / lorry and the ride was yet another adventure on its own. Totally off road muddy track, hilly, going through no where deeper into the jungle and more oil palm plantations. However most important of all is that  it is a super awesome route if you are riding on a quad bike or off road motorcycles.

- The whole white water rafting takes about an hour and a half, I think. But I thought it took longer time than that.

- We got to snack on some chocolates, apples and drink up at one rest point. That was a much needed break because I was super thirsty by then.

- There are a LOT of Rapids to look forward to at Slim River comparatively to the ones at Sg. Kampar. So on that note, if you must compare on the two rivers, Slim River has a lot more 'work' to offer and add on for your white water rafting experience. Hence, it doesn't matter that I've done this for the 4th time because every single rafting trip is different from the last and it is so much fun!

This is the most anticipated drop at Slim River - The L drop. I think we dropped at a 90 degrees angle and thankfully my raft and this raft above didn't flipped. A couple of other rafts flipped real bad and they were like hopeless little thing drifted, sunken for a few seconds by the mighty white water. It was good fun as well as nerve-wrecking to watch them flipped over their rafts since our raft was the first to made the run. * No one got injured during the drop, so all was well.

Also, did I mentioned that our sole, waterproof camera's battery died minutes before we actually hit the water to resume rafting? Yeah, it did and we were lucky enough to finally have a bit of battery on during this last and shot. ;)

In conclusion, white water rafting rocks no matter how many times you did it. I'm still addicted to water rafting and we shall see where else we will be 'rafting' in the future! So stay tuned on that one!

Strictly for the adrenaline junkie : White water rafting with Riverbug

You know what, if you are a true adrenaline junkie at heart, you will love to head on and do that crazy pumped up activity over and over again. It can never get old and that's exactly what I am (an adrenaline junkie at heart ) and  what I've done ( doing the things I love to do repetitively, haha). I can't believe it that I've done white water rafting at Sg.Kampar with the Riverbug crew for the 3rd time now! Like OMG!

[caption id="attachment_1121" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="You gotta lift the boat first before you can hit the water. Dang the raft is heavy."][/caption]

The real reason Sg.Kampar seems to be the perfect white water rafting destination for me was because:

1. It's near to home, thus it is convenient and feasible. Moreover it's an excellent day trip outdoor adventure for me.

2. After going for my second run of white water rafting at Sg.Kampar, I was asking for friends to go with me for white water rafting (wwr) at Padas, Sabah right after the whole gang came down from Mt.Kinabalu.  I was disappointed to find out that only Bullert was keen enough to go all crazy with me with this wwr and because of other issues, we decided not to go for white water rafting at Padas just yet.

3. I was doing some crazy planning for some fun outdoor holiday and on the itinerary I included white water rafting at Padas but I was let down again when we had to scrapped Sabah out from our holiday destination. Thus, to further not to disappoint myself and to quench my thirst for some kick of awesome adrenaline, I agreed for yet another round of white water rafting at Sg.Kampar with the Riverbug crew. This time around I was going with my sisters and my brother in law.

I can tell you one thing about any outdoor adventure activity which is every single trip is going to be unique, different and new to you regardless on how many times you have gone through the same river or track or jungle path. This time around I was literally praying to have yet another new experience for my white water rafting trip. My prayers were answered and I got this:

At one of the rapids, for no reason at all, I got thrown out from the raft and went straight on into the fast flowing white water. I remembered opening my eyes and saw water bubbles all over me. The next second, I was being tossed up and down like a helpless rubber ball scraping along the way rocks from the front and back. I also began to swallow more water and eventually was gasping for air so bad that I was literally making that deep breathing sound and I kept trying to breath until all the water spurted out from my lungs. In the split seconds, I saw our raft floating by me but I couldn't get hold of it until I turned and saw the kayak rescue guide on my side telling me not to panic and to hold the little steel at the back of his kayak. It scared me shitless! Haha. After being hauled back on the raft, I was finally breathing properly and it scared me the most not because I got thrown into the rapid. It was primarily because I couldn't breathe for the few seconds being tossed in the water. Imagine yourself not breathing? That's like close to dying! Hahaha.

Nevertheless, it was one heck of a ride and I loved it for the adrenaline and for making me close to drowning. A whole new experience altogether although I must say, it wasn't the first time that I had drowned and being rescued of course. =).

[caption id="attachment_1122" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Check out that Mat Salleh. He's expressionless. Haha"][/caption]

Another extra thing that we got to do besides the normal banana boat, body surfing and team body surfing, the Riverbug crew asked if we would like to have a go at kayaking. All the three members in my raft went for it except for me because I was still traumatized and shaken after the fall and the fact that I wasn't being able to breathe like 15 minutes ago. Haha. All in all, it was a fun day, good to see the crews back again and I'm hoping that soon enough I can get my ass trotting for white water rafting at Padas. Let's make that happen in this future shall we.

Check out the video below too!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjFFa4l0Oqk

I lurve white water rafting so much and Riverbug crew Rawks!

[caption id="attachment_543" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The gang before hitting the river"][/caption]

With the title all well said, yea, I couldn't resist the adrenaline cravings. Hence, I did go for my second white water rafting adventure over at Sg.Kampar yet again in December 2009. My first white water rafting at Sg.Kampar was super awesome and the second run was AWESOME-R! Hell yeah it is.

Despite being the second time I went there, it was yet another new experience for me! The river is alive you know, the environment and weather are constantly changing and so will the water rafting experience. This time around, I went with a couple of my old buddies and it was a pretty ad-hoc plan. Made some phone calls to the organizers who are none other than the Gopeng Rainforest people; the lovely David and wife, Janice. Called them up to arrange the schedule and I even forgotten to deposit some money earlier because I was too excited to go for the white water rafting. Haha. That's why, I think, David had to call me on the night before to re-confirm that I was coming all the way from KL to Gopeng the next day. Hehe.

Right, let's move straight to the 'big event'!

This time around we were late and the raft master was already waiting for us. The reason we were late because since we were all coming separately and we assumed that everyone knows we is Gopeng! Haha. Two of my friends actually misunderstood the location and they went to Medan Gopeng at Ipoh instead. LOL. The best part was when my friend was confidently talking to me on the phone saying that, " This is Medan Gopeng. This is Gopeng town la." Hahaha. FYI, Gopeng is a super tiny town or what we call it as 'pekan' and the only bus station it has is a pretty old-looking, very old school look-a-like kinda bus station. Even the buses are one of those old type ones.

Ok, being late - done, Next up was to listen to the raft master quick safety briefing. For some reason, we were noisy and laughing and we had to be 'shusshed' because there was another group listening pretty attentively to their raft master's briefing. Haha. I think Senz, our raft master was doing a real quicky on the briefing since we were very late but not late enough to have some cam-whore sessions with one of the Riverbug crew included. LOL.

I know this Riverbug crew from my previous rafting and this young lad got a handful of nicknames. The last time I went, I think people are addressing him as something else, but this time around when I asked of his name, he was telling me his name is JayZ. Haha.

Some of the things which was different from my previous white water rafting experience during this time around was we didn't go up until the 10km up river. Instead we only made it to the 7th km.  We didn't do body surfing at one of the earlier parts of the river because I was told by my raft master that the place that I had my body surfing before is no more safe. There's a lot of rough rocks underneath and it's pretty dangerous. Hell yeah it is. I did my last body surfing over that place before and bumped me butt straight on those rocks, but it was more fun and adventurous than the one we had this time.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Riverbug - whitewater adventure speacialist"][/caption]

We also ended up 'lepaking' at one of the river banks to jump from the tree and swam around the river. I was looking like an idiot , haha, while jumping from the tree into the river. One was because I've never jump from a tree into a river before. Two, I've forgotten to hold my nose before jumping and water went straight into the nostrils and left me coughing once I resurfaced. The best part, my friend Bulert told me this," Oh, forgotten to tell you before you jump to hold your nose. If not the water will enter your nostrils. " Duh! It already did, thanks man! Haha. Three, the tree was pretty high up and kinda slippery and there was nothing to hold on to before you get to the middle part of the branch, so I had to hold this kind, mat salleh's hand to get me across. LOL. I didn't know why,  but I was so dead on determine to jump from this tree so nothing was embarrassing at that moment.

All in all, the white water rafting experience was super fun and I got to do it with my super old buddies too, so that was  more the fun. Nevertheless, Riverbug crew rawks , always, and I even met my previous raft master, Max or Maxxy ( don't get me started with his full name, coz the nickname has got nothing to do with the real name at all..haha) during the drive back. He was driving the van this time and I'm glad he still recognizes me. Haha. We got talking a little and I told him about my Mt. KK trip this May and he was recommending his 'bro' who happens to be the guide, I think for the Mt. KK climb. So, if any of yous are interested to climb the highest mountain in Malaysia and Borneo, do comment and leave a message at this post. I can share with you the contact details.

P.S: If you ask me if I'll do another run of white water rafting again? My answer will be,"YES!". I'm looking forward for white water rafting at Padas, Sabah somewhere this year. I may have to scout for people who are an adrenaline junkie and don't mind to splurge for some awesome outdoor adventure fun. Mind you, Riverbug also runs the white water rafting experience at Sabah and Padas water rafting is claimed to be the longest 30KM white water rafting run in South East Asia. For more info you can visit Riverbug's website here or call them from the number here in the picture.

Riverbug Gopeng

Are you game for a White Water Rafting experience?

I know I'm game and up for it because you know what I've DONE it! My first ever white water rafting a.k.a WWR experience was at Sg.Kampar, Gopeng. When one of the Mat Sallehs who were about to go for their first WWR that afternoon asked how was it? I just had to say with full of enthusiasm, "IT WAS AWESOME!". And that got them all hyped up and excited!

[caption id="attachment_582" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="White water rafting at Sg.Kampar"][/caption]