Rafting-written by Neil
On Sunday, we took a trip that I had been waiting for a long time. After my first experience of rafting in Scotland last summer and the great time I had then, I was desperate to try it out in Korea aswell.
We met up at the bar at 8am. I was feeling the worse for wear a little bit after partying til the wee hours the night before, but I was desperate not to miss out on this trip, so I managed to drag my tired and abused body to the bar.
We set of on the journey a short while later, and after taking a slight detour due to the bus drivers lack of direction, we arrived at the North Korean labor party office a couple of hours later.
We were actually scheduled to visit here after the rafting, but it was good that we went before as our timing was perfect. There were a couple of hundred Korean soldiers who were visiting at the same time and were very keen to have their photograph taken with us.
Afterwards we jumped back on the bus for a short trip to the river where we would start our adventure. We split up into 3 groups for the rafting, and embarked in some warm-up exercises before getting into the water and acclimatising ourselves to the cold water, which in fact was not nearly as cold as I had expected.
Then we set off down the river. Our boat got stuck on a rock at the very first rapid we went down, and eventually we had to get out and pull it down.
The weather was pretty miserable, despite the good weather forecast that we had been reading for the previous couple of days, but it still didn’t dampen our spirits and the scenery we saw on the way down the river was very beautiful.
When we got to a clear bit of water, we played some games in the raft, which was a lot of fun.
This included a re-encactment of the scene from the titanic, with a girl standing at the front of the boat, a man holding her, and everyone else paddling like mad so the boat spins around until the girl falls off.
After the rafting, we got in the back of a couple of small trucks for the short ride to the shower/changing room. I think I was the only idiot who didnt bring a change of clothes, so I bought an Adventure Korea T-shirt although I already have one, and thanks to Jen for lending me her pants!!
Then we got back on the bus for a short ride for our lunch.
Then it was time to hop back on the bus for the journey back home, which was going great with no delays or traffic jams, until we were 40 mins away from Hwajeong and the bus broke down! However, we were all in pretty high spirits after the great day we had, and it only added to the Adventure! A few people managed to hitch a ride back to Seoul with Seokjin/SiUn’s help, while the rest of us waited for the replacement bus to arrive while sipping on a beer or two. When the new bus finally did arrive, we were in a pretty jolly mood and while some slept at the front, a few of us sat at the back singing songs and finishing our beers.
Then when we got back to Hwajeong it was back to the bar for some food and beer, before I managed to drag myself home for some much needed sleep after being awake for 36 hours!
We’re maybe going to try the rafting again later in the summer, after we’ve had more rain, so the water will be higher and also we will hopefully be blessed with some nicer weather for the next trip.
Please come along next time as it really is a great day out
