Rafting, One More Time

Last weekend I went rafting again, with a small group of friends. Alex arranged it all. It was such a great weekend!!! We caught the public bus to ShinCheolWon (신철원) in the morning where Alex had someone pick us up. We went straight to the rafting start point to get set up. We had use of the company's storage room for our bags and such. The boys had some fun adjusting their vest straps (there are 2 straps that go between the legs... resulting in showing off the package). Of course pics had to be taken. LOL. Once we were all ready, we carried the raft down to the river and had a little warm up (jumping jacks) and basic (very basic) training. Then we were off. Alex's English is very basic, but he did a great job of explaining things the entire trip. He's been practicing since the last rafting trip, when I met him. Hantan River is actually a dividing line between Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do, 2 Korean provinces. It is a beautiful river in a fairly deep cut valley. There are a few points that Alex pointed out to us along the way. There is Face Rock,Skull Rock, an old bombed army bunker, etc.The sides are iron and rock the entire way with little water falls everywhere. Between rapids, there are smoother stretches to just relax and enjoy the peaceful scenery and beautiful weather. It was fantastic weather!!! The river itself is clean and clear. According to Alex, it is grade A water and is perfectly drinkable as is.At one stretch between rapids, we had a chance to go jumping. The rock was ~3m high.... It seemed MUCH higher when standing up there, though (maybe since our eyes weren't right on the rocks??).Jumping was great. Alex literally flew on his jump!!! I asked him why we didn't jump the last time I went. I guess the company that organized the trip the last time only used his company for the rafting, and didn't want to do the jumping. REALLY??? Grrr. Last time I went we were all disappointed that we didn't jump.Anyway... At another smooth stretch, we got to take a little swim. Some water fights and dunking fights were of course, expected. Alex was SO funny. He dunked several people.The two Korean girls in the group had it the worst (though possibly the most fun). He grabbed them from behind and was flopping them from side to side. It really looked like they were just rag dolls, the way he threw them around. Then for a final dunk, he turned around with them and flipped them over his head. To others, he did a "washing clothes" dunk, in which he dunked several times (like using a washing board). He would always pull them up at the end and ask if they were okay. LOL. Once back on the boat, we played some games. There are many games to play on the rafts. Viking, Standing Viking, Shark, Titanic, etc. First we tried Standing Viking. You stand on the sides of the raft, holding yourselves up with the paddles. On "1" one side goes down, the other stands up. On "2" the sides switch, one standing up and the other going down. The raft rocks so much that one side usually ends up falling into the water. Only one of the guys ended up falling off. Ha ha ha. Then we did Titanic. As none of us girls trusted any of the guys, the two guys got to be Jack and Rose at the front of the boat. "Rose" stood on the edge of the raft and "Jack" supported her (him). Then everyone else paddles as hard as they can making the boat go in circles. Sometimes, Jack and Rose end up both falling in, other times, Jack pushes Rose or can't support her well enough so she falls in. On OUR Titanic, they both got pushed in. SO funny!!! Alex ran up the raft, pushed them in and then ran back to his seat pretending that nothing happened. LOL. Once we reached the end point, we carried the raft up the VERY steep hill and then walked up to catch our ride back to the start point. Then it was lunch time. Lunch was great. Rice, a spicy chicken dish, kimchi, veggies, and soup. A typical Korean lunch, but it was delicious. Once we all had our fill, it was off to the ATVing area. Alex, of course, had to take another group rafting so couldn't join us.ATVing started out with a bit of instructions - brakes, accelerator, clutch, etc. We had to follow a guide the whole time, but it was great fun. Up and down hills and around the countryside.[break time atop a hill][that is a grave - the Korean countryside is covered in little grave mounds, new and old. Koreans take care of their grandparents and family tombs. They take a day every now and then from the city to go into the country to take care of their family graves.]ATVing ended too soon then. We all would have like to have gone more (same for the rafting!!). Oh well. Next time. Back at the rafting start point, we showered (rather than waiting in line at our pension where only one can shower at a time, of course) and headed up the hill to the pension.We had a little cabin type room. Just one room, though, with a little bathroom/shower. I got the bed, the others had to sleep on the little mats on the floor. :) The pension is run by a cute little old couple. Alex was still rafting so we took the time to relax, and break out some of the drinks. I made Sangria (white wine, vodka/rum, pomegranate juice, white peach, blueberries, etc) for the weekend and there was beer and vodka as well. When Alex was finished he picked me up and the two of us went shopping for food. Meat, lettuce, mushrooms, potatoes, beer, soju, juice, water, plastic plates, wooden chopsticks, scissors (for the meat), a knife (to cut potatoes, and mushrooms) foil plates, cups, coals for the bbq, etc. all for about $70. BBQ Time!!! We got it all set up and Alex started cooking. Halaboji (grandfather) started the coals for us with his ummm... torch?? What a fantastic toy!! The guys were drooling. Alex then had to run - his boss needed something(??). The Halmoni (grandmother) saw that we were wrapping our potatoes in foil and took them to put in a little fire rather than making them on the bbq and she took care of them for us. So sweet!! We gathered around the bbq and ate as the meat was ready. Too hungry to wait. :D We ate until the first coals were out and waited for Alex to return. When the potatoes were ready, Halmoni brought them to us. SO good!! She also brought some salt for us to put on them and the meat. Alex then returned and he and Hal-aboji started the BBQ going again. I think we all ate too much!! Next to us, a large group of Koreans piled in and started up a bbq (fish). Later on in the evening, as people started heading back to the rooms for some zzzs, a few of them joined us. How I love random Koreans. If you talk to any foreigner that has lived in Korea, they will all tell you that one of the best things is the random Koreans that you meet. So fun. So funny!!! We even had one of them dancing to "Baby, One More Time." Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!! I laughed so hard that I fell back off the bench.... and stayed there laughing.
I want to go rafting again!!!!

Rafting

Last weekend I went on a river rafting trip with a few friends from work. We went on an arranged tour that included bus, lunch, rafting, and a BBQ afterwards (check the Facebook group EXCITING LIFE in DYNAMIC KOREA).It was great fun... well, most of it. I was sick on the bus on the way to Hantan, but was fine by the time we got there. Lunch was a sort of boxed lunch of either rice with bulgogi or rice with a few bits of misc. fried meats (chicken, pork cutlet, etc). Then we got all dressed up and ready to go... Or so we thought. We ended up standing around in our rafting gear for who knows how long. We were waiting for buses to come to pick us up. and waiting. and waiting. and waiting.[pic taken while waiting... borrowed from EXCITING LIFE IN DYNAMIC KOREA.]
Finally 2 little buses came and we all piled in, bumping helmets and paddles the whole way. The bus ride to the starting point was about 30 minutes or so (maybe??).
Once at the river, we split up into 3 groups of ~12 people. At least one Korean speaker had to be in each boat to translate as the rafting guides had limited English abilities. We got our group organizer in our boat. We were the "Blue Team" due to the fact that our helmets were blue. We recruited a few guys to join us. Our rafting guide was Alex. There is some discussion as to how we got him. It is said that we picked him. I have also heard that he picked us... will add more to this later, possibly.[pic taken by Tom, posted on facebook and the previously mentioned Facebook group site]
The rafting was excellent. With some white water stretches and some smoother waters (of which some we floated, some we paddled and some we had water fights with other boats), it was both exciting and relaxing. I'm thinking that it is quite possible that our boat ride was the most interesting with one of the girls providing entertainment most of the way. She was flirting mercilessly with Alex, who didn't quite understand all that was said (which is perhaps why she said as much as she said). We all had a great time, though. And she did eventually get pushed off the boat. :P
After the last dangerous stretch, all 3 boats pulled over to a little sandy beach to take a break and enjoy the water. We went sort-of swimming (with lifejackets and helmets still on), and also did some sliding off the bottom of an overturned boat. I'll probably have a scar left from that, as my ankle got a bit scratched on the bottom (the seams? the sand?). I didn't even notice until I was back on the beach watching the sliding and the blood running down my foot was brought to my attention. Oh well. All in good fun.
When we all got back into our boats to move on, the other 2 boats took off and we noticed that we had an extra helmet in our boat all of a sudden, and one less paddle. WHAT? How did that happen? Needless to say, it was decided that our flirting friend would be the one without a paddle. She moved up to the front to make a few poses and cause more laughter. It was sometime around then that she was pushed off. She loved it. Especially when Alex pulled her out of the water (though the under-straps of the lifejacket got a tad uncomfortable).
On the boat ride, my friends and I tried to convince Alex to join us afterwards to share some maekju (beer) and soju. Unfortunately, he still had work to do. We found out that he is from Jamsil, which is fairly close to Apgujeong, so we said he should meet up with us back in Seoul.
Once the boys from our boat carried our boat up the slope to the buses, I got Alex's number and we all piled back into the little buses and headed back to our end point, where our tour bus was parked and where our BBQ and drinks were waiting.
The BBQ was great. The maekju and soju were great, too. :) I'm not even sure how much was drunk. What ever was left was shoved into bags and taken onto the bus for the 2 hour ride back to Seoul. Needless to say the ride back to Seoul was quite different from the one to Hantangang. I cut myself off at on point, but my friends kept on. Not the best move, as a few of them don't remember much after that point.
Once back in Seoul, some of us headed to a rooftop for some more drinks and a little rooftop party. It was good but short lived. Then eventually the remaining 2 of us went out with a trio of Koreans (one was her boyfriend, the other two were his friends) for some noraebang. Gotta love the Korean singing rooms. :D
I guess I could mention that while my friend (who actually has a boyfriend) was flirting with Alex, he had his eyes on me... Anyway, I sent him a message while on the bus, and he responded fairly quickly. We had an ongoing text msg conversation for the rest of the evening. He then came into Seoul on Sunday evening just to meet up with me for a drink. We sat at a soju tent restaurant talking (with a lot of help from his Korean-English dictionary that he stopped in Suwon to pick up). I think I got home at around 5 or 5:30 Monday morning, only to have to be at work at 9. For those that know me on Facebook, that kinda explains the whole "is TIRED" thing. He went all the way back to Hantangang Monday morning, as he is training other rafting guides this week. Normally he lives in Suwon and works a a personal trainer and PE teacher during the week.
To see more pics, check out the Facebook group I linked to above.