Finding Peace in Turbulent Waters

To give you an idea of how remote our rafting trip was, we had to take a 5 hour flight from Dehli to Dibrugarh (Assam), overnight in Assam, take an 8 hour ferry up river to Pasighat (Aranachal Pradesh—where we met up with the river guides and our rafting gear), overnight in Pasighat, and then drive 8 hours through winding roads to Pingkong (Aranachal Pradesh), where we set up our first camp and eventually launched the boats on the Siang river the following morning. Basically, if I had traveled directly from my apartment in Vancouver to the Siang River, it would have taken 6 ½ days to “put-in” (extremely technical rafting term for the first launch of the rafts).

If I were to just tell you what we did on the rafting trip, then it would be a pretty regular schedule for 6 nights/7 days of rafting and camping. So, here it is: 6:30am wake up call to coffee, chai, and breakfast, take town tents and pack dry bag, launch boats off beach by 10am. Paddle, paddle, snack, paddle, hit a rapid (Class 2), paddle, find gorgeous beach to dock for lunch and fill bellies. Then, paddle, paddle, rapid (Class 3), paddle, bigger rapid (Class 3-4), paddle, find even more spectacular beach to set up camp for the night. Unload rafts, set up tent, collect firewood, start Happy Hour, build fire while guides cook up a delicious dinner, sit by fire with some rum and attempt to discover the secret of life from the guides and rafters. Asleep by 8:30pm. Repeat as desired.

While the rafting was great and exciting, what made the trip so memorable and amazing was the group of 13 people we were with for the 10 days. We were a journalist, a travel writer, a probation officer, a novelist, a windmill technician, a chemical engineer, a vintage BMW collector, an entrepreneur, a yoga instructor, a corporate developer, an educational technologist, and a post-MSc trying to find herself. As you can imagine, conversations were never dull, and everyone was genuinely interested in each other. Everyone had a story to tell—some great insight or quote to offer about living your life, a good laugh to share at the end of the day, and a great attitude about the constant presence of sand and lack of showers.

So after 6 nights of camping and living out of a shared 40 litre dry bag (affectionately known as “Mom” because my sister and I were teased that we were hiding another family member in there), we ended the inaugural River India Siang River trip back at the base camp at Pasighat. The next morning, after hugs and email address exchanging, we began our journey by ferry, flight, and four-by-four back to our respective corners of the world. At the end of the trip, we all felt a little more peaceful, more cultured, more insightful, and more adventurous.

In fact, I would not be too bold to say that it was a life-altering experience for everyone on the trip, and one that created wonderful memories of melding personalities, gorgeous scenery, and a greater appreciation for remote natural environments. As my life is propelled into the fast-paced world of balancing careers, family, and friends, I know that I will always cherish the memories of River India and be able to return to a time of serenity, insight, and exploration.