Padas White Water Rafting, Sabah...I am nearly a past tense

Some friends thought that we are crazy to do the Kinabalu hike on the day before we raft. They told me that I'd die from exhaustion and worst case scenario would be muscle cramp. Well, apparently we don't die from muscle cramps. We don't experience cramps at all...it's just that we almost give up at that moment when the clock struck 5 am. Our ride would pick us up at about 5.30 am to drive us to the Beaufort train station which is located approximately 1.5 hours away from Sabah town.

At that time, I pretty much regretted not bringing along any photography device - not even my phone; just to prevent it from getting stolen when I was rafting. The rafting center's staff told us that it'd be safe and our properties will be guarded but to what extent can we trust a stranger? The area where we were supposed to keep our belongings was just a compound with 3 rooms. Our stuff will be kept in one room - locked and guarded while the other rooms are the kitchen and the changing room. They don't even have a proper shower place, only an open space with 3 shower heads.

Back to the train station; it's really antique and the train works on a steam locomotion mechanism and some of the cabins are just wooden compartments with no seats. Photo-worthy in sepia/black&white if you ask me.

I was pretty thrilled at the idea of riding in the train- it was quite fun actually since it's my first time riding on such an old thing!

Antique huh?

It took us about an hour or so to reach the rafting center. We were briefed on the do's and dont's and then, off we go for our adventure! Water rafting was fun. Seriously! I love it even after my dramatic encounter. It was 3 months after my trip from Sabah and I would love to spread this message out to all who are interested in trying river rafting. Padas river is located about 2 hours' steam train trip away from Beaufort railway station and ironically, the water is murky rather than 'white' (or clear). None of us had any rafting experience and so my friends and I went with an guide/agent from BUSAT (http://www.ultimateborneo.com/2010/03/padas-white-water-rafting/). We could see the river during our train trip and we thought, okay...doesn't look dangerous or anything. Plus, the weather is too good to surprise us with a downfall or flood.

The lead instructor gave us a good briefing on the paddling methods as well as all safety issues that we should be concerned about. Then comes the paddling part. We went down to the river with our respective guide - whom we learnt that his name is Sham. We are a group of 4 and joined by another female caucasian. This is the cream of the crop because he started to chat with her and eventually asked if she would like to raft in a kayak since this is her second time rafting. He didn't actually ignore us but focused more on her. After some turbulent sites, he then asked us to test the water and jumped into the river where the current was almost nil.

We did and we had fun. So we didn't suspect anything when he told us about this 'body rafting' game when we waded nearer towards the endpoint. We thought, yea, everything should be under control since there are guards paddling in kayak who doubled as emergency lifesavers. We would never ever thought of the idea of jumping near a site with strong current because we are not very strong swimmers AND we are all new to rafting.

(Without suspecting anything fishy or dangerous)We (obediently) jumped into the water when he asked us to and yes, my girlfriend and I were nearly drowned. The site where he asked us to jump has a strong current and filled with smooth rocks. Waves kept crashing on me that I barely had the time to breath. Yes I was wearing a life jacket but that was not enough to keep me afloat. The current was too strong! I tried to position myself the way the lead instructor taught us but still, it was very difficult to stay in the correct position and breath. I merely escaped the rocks and the waves were already washing me towards another one. In the midst of all these, I saw a boat which resembled mine. So I tried waving but the guide on it either couldn't see me or were not bothered. It didn't move towards me at all! My girlfriend had a panic attack when she hit upon on rock. Thank god it wasn't serious.

I was finally rescued by my friend who is a better swimmer. However, we were unable to grab my girlfriend who was so near and yet so far. The kayaking lifeguards got her instead. We later learnt from others that Sham was supposed to either jump along with us OR maneuver the boat in front of us so that he could help us in case of an emergency. But guess what, he did neither and we saw him with the caucasian lady behind us. He had got the lady a kayak and was teaching her on how to kayak through the turbulence.

Please. Never take Sham as your rafting guide. He is just too inexperienced and if it wasn't for my friend, I would have easily been drowned or knocked unconscious in the water. Least he could do was to warn us on the current and asked for our level of comfort with water. I wrote in to BUSAT but there was no response (why am I NOT surprised?) and now, back in KL, I think this is the only way which I can reach out to tell others that, yes, river rafting is safe and enjoyable -- only with the right guide. If you have decided to take this trip with BUSAT - make sure that they don't assign Sham to you.