Thailand's World Class Whitewater Attracts Top Pros
During The monsoon season (July to October) Thailand's lush jungles becomes a white water adventurers dream, with heeps of small creeks and drainage's pumping from the seasonal rains.
Thailand and S.E.Asia have not been know for its whitewater .. only until a few years ago has Thailand's White water started attracting both novice and experienced whitewater paddlers from around the world.
S.E. Asia's white water was "discovered" back in the 1990's when A white water outfit in Malaysia organized a multi-country white water comp. That was held in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. The competition attracted some of the the World's best pro paddlers such as Eric Southwick, Sam Drevo, & Nate Nash. The compitetion seemed to get off to a great start however when they reached Indonesia the government wouldn't pay up the prize money and all hell broke loose!
In Thailand there are literally hundreds if not thousands of runnable creeks and rivers. It seems that most of the "better runs" are situated in the North of Thailand around Chiang Mai, Chaing Rai, and Nan Provinces but there are some around Bangkok and the South of Thailand.
Recently there have been "crews" of paddlers coming over to paddle the world class white water. In 2006
some of the world's top white water pro's such as Steve Fischer, Ben Brown, and Thailand Local Eric Southwick where here to film an episode of "Focused" which was shot by Scott Lindgren & Nate Nash of SLP Productions.
The program "Focused" is reality based adventure series that concentrates on extreme sports and them in the action of making of paddling the rivers, getting there and getting away safely.. In the Thailand episode New Zealand's Ben Brown ends up braking his back on his first drop of the trip. Not too worry, Steve Fischer & Eric Southwick continue there Journey Through the jungle's of Thailand for some more serious whitewater adventures.
Last Year another set of paddlers came out, this time a younger group from the UK and NZ. Paddlers Josh Neilson, Will Clark and Sam Ward. These guys got about 10+ first descents on some incredible whitewater and waterfalls in and around Chiang Mai and Chaing Rai as well as in Nan.
To sum this all up, Thailand offers a wide range of Whitewater for novices and advanced paddlers alike, not to mention, great food, great people, cheap accommodation & Travel and a wonderful Culture.
See you on the water!
Jason Younkin is 32 yr old American who has been living in Asia for over 10 years now. He is an avid whitewater paddler and enjoys most other extreme sports. Jason is a Certified Rescue 3 instructor, as well as Private Pilot . He owns and Operates Siam River Adventures in Chiang Mai, Thailand