The weather in Texas has been so scorching hot it made me miss cooler weather, and I suddenly thought of our rafting tour in Hokkaido!
The rafting tour was one of the highlights of our Hokkaido trip, which we went on shortly before we came to Texas.
Even though the temperatures on land were close to 30°C, the waters were only about 15°C! Sounds like a welcoming temperature when I think about it now, but actually it was pretty cold when we were there!
Anyways, I’m jumping ahead. Let me start from the beginning…
Putting on our dry suits. These things are super awesome. Our bodies remained entirely dry despite plunging ourselves into the water (as you will see later…)
Taking a photo just in case, ya know, it’s the last photo we have together… I’m kidding la! It’s pretty safe. If you don’t do stupid things.
A short briefing on how to sit, hold the oar, posture to keep should we fall into the water, etc
Practising the way to high-five each other after surviving a drop!
… and off we go!
We started on the Shiisorapuchi River シーソラプチ川 which will later join to the Sorachi River 空知川. Many names in Hokkaido are derived from the Ainu language – Ainu are indigenous people of Japan (Hokkaido) and Russia (Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands) – Shiisorapuchi is one such name!
Passing under a bridge and leaning back for a photo :D
Our first drop!
High-5!
I didn’t know when we were on the raft, but when looking through the photos later, I realized that the guide at the back is quite hilarious! His poses are all very exaggerated and crazy lol. You can see some of it above.
Back in action!
I think this is the only photo in the entire CD that shows us paddling! I thought we’ll be doing a lot more paddling, but it’s always paddle 3 strokes, stop. Then the guide or the water current does the rest of the work. Super relaxed can? LOL.
Wheeee!
After making another drop, the guide asked us if we wanted to turn around and go towards the drop that we just came from. We were like, “Huh? What do you mean? OK!”
Don’t know what he’s talking about, but just say ok first. Find out later. Haha.
THIS is what he meant.
We were going against the current, and you can see the force and amount of water flooding the front pushed the raft under the water, while the back is entirely lifted off!
We stayed in this position for a good minute or two!
Even had time to pose!
Are you baffled why we could remain in that position and not get pushed along downstream even though the water was pummeling against the raft? We did too. The guide explained to us, and I would explain it, but I’m too lazy. I’ll just keep you guessing! :D
After this, the guide asked us if we wanted to jump, and we said YES!
Rule to having 100% of the experience: Just say yes to everything, even if you don’t exactly know what it entails.
Here, we have our first contender taking her jump
Excellent execution! A brilliant back two and a half somersault with two and a half twists! Will this land her a medal?
Next up is contender #2. Will he overtake Rin in the lead?
I’m guessing that’s a no.
After a bit more, we wrapped up our 40-min rafting course!
Played for a bit in the water and learned how to skip stones. The guide is a genius stone skipper. He skipped the stone all the way to the opposite bank!!!
Ended off the day with some photos:
All of us really enjoyed rafting in Hokkaido and I highly recommend it! We were still talking about it long after the rafting tour was over lol.
I also really like that they helped us to photograph our entire adventure, from start to end! We had to pay 2,000 yen for the photo CD, but it’s definitely worth it!
The company that we went with is:
Furano Alpine Visitor Center
Website: http://www.alpn.co.jp/english
They also have many other activities, whether it’s summer or winter (snow mobiles are super fun! And ice-hole fishing, anyone?)
2 Comments
The best ones are the tour guides having just as much fun with their job and knowing how to interact with their guests. I love those kind of people! Maybe you can start training for the next Olympic for the diving part. =P
Just in time for the 2020 olympics in Tokyo, huh? Lol