rafting in thailand

Last week I was Rafting on the Mae Hong River. It was pretty rad. I would have written about it sooner, however, my travels have left me far from Internet. The River trip was pretty sweet because they don't have anything known as 'liability' here. The guide 'Dan' gave little to no safety speech and could hardly speak English! Dan was a more experienced Guide however. we ran what I would consider clean lines through most of the Rapids. We would have flipped in one Rapids if I hadn't hysided in time though. We witnessed 3-4 other boats flip and many scared gusts not knowing better tried to stand up in the River. The River was a very intense two hour run. The Rapids were steep and narrow with many rock sives. There were numerous Guide prisons and very technical maneuvers. I would rate the River a constant class 4 with a touch of 5. I do have pictures and video of the trip but don't have the time to upload them here so I will do it @ home.

Hope everyone is well. Hopefully if my plane doesn't crash ill be home on the 2nd of august and be rafting on the 3rd or 4th.
-chaz

Last trip of the year for John- Black 7/26

We had a good trip on Saturday. I had a group of people from the Syracuse "Miata Club"- a bunch of people who drive Mazda Miatas. The water was big, about 5,900 CFS and we all had a real good time. We ran right, right, right at Knifes Edge, had about 2,100 CFs in the Gorge and ran Three Rocks and surfed the Cruncher. I was in one of our bigger rafts, a Maravia with real big tubes and my surf was just in and out real quick after a couple of swimmers. Erika, who was also in Maravia, had a similar surf, but for the people in the smaller NRS boats had real good, violent crunches. The people who had been there in the past were like 'let's surf, we did it last year, etc.' They didn't realize that the river was significantly bigger than the last time they went rafting with us. So we paddled 'em up into the hole and I don't think some of those people were prepared for the crunch.

We got the tsunami beyond Rocket Ride. That's when they release the rest of the flow from above the dam in two man made water falls just below Rocket Ride, so we were back up to around 6,000 CFS. The waves were real big in Square Rock and Shave and a Haircut. It was my last rafting trip for the year as I have to go away for a few months and al in all, it was a great day on the river.

I had to shoot back to Old Forge after the trip because it was my younger brother Dave's 21st birthday. So I said my goodbyes to all the guides and hit the road. I went to my brother Olin's house and had a sausage, peppers and onions sandwich and started drinking beer. We walked to Slickers, a good joint in Old Forge at around 9:30 and started it off right with a round of shots of Crown Royal. We drank a bunch of beer and both my folks ended up meeting us at the bar. So it was the whole family out partying. My dad bought a bunch of shots of Yagermeister for us. I also tried a Harvey Wallbanger for the first time- very similar to paddler's punch. Tasty! At the end of the night, we ended up going to Tote's and my little brother threw up a couple of times. I think he threw up on my sister Cae and Olin. My Dad jammed out on the harmonica with the band who was playing. Me and Heather left at around 2:30 ish and everyone else was still out. I threw up when I got to Heather's folks house. Good Times!

H2O, weekend of July 19, 20

This past weekend was pretty badass. I was over in Watertown to run the Black on Saturday and Sunday. Lots of good fun was had.

On Saturday, I had a bachelor party and I trashed them up pretty good, just like they wanted. We were the first boat to paddle back up into the Cruncher to surf (naturally) to show the other boats what they could expect. The river was running at about 2,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) and it was a pretty beefy surf. As soon as we paddled back into the hole, the three guys on the front right were gone. Soon after that when the boat spun, everyone on the left was gone. Me and only one guy (back right, in front of me) was left in the raft. We came pretty close to flipping the raft a few times and then we finally did go bottoms up on a big back surf. I wasn't even trying to flip the raft, it was pretty cool. We drank a bunch of beer on the tow.

After we got back to the shop, we drank more beer and myself, Erika Goodboat, Scary Larry, Brandon, Mary and the Cook Dave paddled a raft down to play at Hole Brothers. The raft surfing was kind of boring (we were in this giant 16 foot boat) but surfing on the boogy board was a real good time. At one point I pushed the Cook out of the raft and he swam way down river. I probably wouldn't have done it if I knew it wold be such an ordeal. We drank all of the beer we brought and paddled down to Vabnduzee street to Larry's truck. Erika and Alex then were going to dinner so I tagged along with them to the Texas Roadhouse. Last time I was at th Roadhouse was last year for a Guide Party. We basically tore that place apart and I'm surprised we didn't get thrown out. That time, it was really busy and we had to wait a while to sit and we were drinking at the bar (you can imagine like 15 guides squeezing around the bar and drinking heavily). I know we were upsetting some of the people around us as we were spilling beer and drinking and cursing and the like but whatever, we were there to have a good time. When we finally sat down we ended up throwing food at each other for a couple of hours and breaking basically every glass that was put in front of us. It was a good time.

This time with Erika and Alex was quite a bit more laid back. The restaurant wasn't busy and we got a table pretty quickly. The hostess said 'Someone will be right with you' and I said "thank you so much" she thought for some reason that I was being sarcastic and she was like "are you being sarcastic?" and I was like "what? no." but whatever, she was nice and we sat down. I wasn't really hungry (I really only came to drink) so I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu, a pulled pork sandwich. I was not really interested in eating and after my first beer and first shot of bourbon I was even less interested in food and more interested in the Maker's Mark and Sam Summer. I picked at my sandwich and poured drinks into my belly. It was a good time. After leaving, Al dropped me off at another rafting company down the street and I proceeded to drink quite a bit more with the General Chris Koll and those boys. I believe I even shotgunned a few PBRs. I left at about 2 to walk back to ARO. The combination lock on the door was incredibly hard to open as I couldn't see very well (both because of the drink and because it was dark). I eventually closed one eye and focused and opened it up after probably 15 minutes of struggling. All in all, it was a good night.

Nest morning the General woke me up at around 8 and we headed over to this little diner A&J's I think it was called. I usually go to Mo's but this was better and not as busy. After breakfast we headed back to the shop and got ready for the trip. The raft trip was broken up in half, about half normal people and half Syracuse University. I had a group of 10 people from the YMCA of Oswego. They were alright. At Knife's Edge I ran the meatiest part of Mary's Hole and swam half the boat, including myself. I was sure we flipped but, no, we didn't. We had a little surf at the cruncher, it was bigger than Saturday and harder to paddle up into. All in all, it was a real good weekend. I believe next Saturday will be my last trip of the year before I have to go away until November.

Black River- Death Trip Resurection Trip- Saturday 7/12

Yesterday I was on the Black. It was a great day on the river- probably one of the best ever with customers (as opposed to a fun run, with other guides or my buddies). We had a group of like 20 guys who were on a bachelor party. The General Chris Cole set it up. The guy who was getting married was the son of one of the original 'Death Trippers', a bunch of guys who used to do pretty badass stuff like 25 years ago and go crazy big. The Death Trips are pretty legendary stories at ARO.

Anyway, it was a private trip so we went pretty big- we ran True Path at Knife's Edge and also surfed the shit out of the Cruncher. I believe every single guy on the trip swam at the Cruncher. Chip, one of the other guides, flipped his boat while surfing. Great Times! We drank a bunch of beer on the tow too. At Hole Brothers, the third rapid on the trip, we surfed a bunch and Larry Lafavre popped his boat on some churt (super sharp rocks that are all over the place on the river). So we ran over to another rafting company and borrowed a boat. I was jealous of him once he got the boat because it was a sweet little 14 foot sotar and the rest of use were in 16 foot boats.

When we got back to the shop, after the BBQ, me, Scary Larry Lafavre (another guide- he'll scare you but hopefully not hurt you), Mary (the front office girl in H2O) and Brandon (a trainee in H2O) paddled the boat we borrowed down to Hole Brothers and surfed around and drank a bunch of beer. The Death Trippers and the other guys from the bachelor party and the General were down there chilling. We also were surfing with a body board- pretty good times. Larry, The General and myself then proceeded to drink a bunch of beer at a couple of bars. We even got the bartender to mix up a bunch of 'Paddler's Punch'. Paddler's Punch is awesome stuff, basically pure alcohol that tastes like juice (Vodka, Peach Snapps, some other liquor, Orange Juice and a splash of Grenadine). We had a great time and I got a a sweet Death Trippers t-shirt out of it. Chaz would have enjoyed it, but I'm sure that Southeast Asia pretty rad too!

laos

I am i Laos. There is a pretty cool tourist thing here called TUBING. sorry for the caps but I'm too lazy to retype. any how tubing is basically sick. you go like 100 yards and arrive 2 a bar. they throw you a rope and they have a sweet swing. so one drinks then swings. the whole river has like 7 bars and each is more perfect than the last. the beer is cheap and if you ask nicely you get a free shot and cigarette. i am pretty drunk now and am about to hit the town but i assure you ill fall asleep @ the bar b4 the night is over. again i don't have the chord to upload the pics but i assure you they are sick!!!!

Thailand

Hello all from Nong Chai Thailand. I have no idea where I am or what the F is going on here but it is a pretty rad trip so far. Spent a few days in Bangkok the capitol of Thailand. It was a total party town. I met a decent amount of world travelers and got pretty drunk with them at various venues. Everything is extremely cheap here. I purchased a killer pack from Lowe Alpine for like 52o Baht which is like 12-14 dollars...I think this pack goes for like 99 back in the states.

Although I'm having a lot of fun seeing the sights here, I'm pretty bummed I missed the fourth of July weekend in Old Forge. It is the first time i have been out of town for the fourth as long as I can ever remember. Sorry to all of you who I let down.

wish I had a chord to upload the sweet pics I have of things but I don't so you will all have to wait till I get home.

Well I hope all is well I have to go eat some supper before I shrivel up and die...plus the Internet cafe charges like 90 cents for an hour and I don't want to break the bank.