Danger

We were invited to go "Drifting" on the river. It sounded idyllic on a hot Canton day. Much to our surprise, we were trucked up to a top of a small mountain here in Shishan to a man made river and litterally "flushed" off the mountain in a small inflatabe raft. When they issued us helmets and life vests we should have known that this was not what we expected. This activity is not for the faint of heart and you are dropped down through a series of concrete water canals at high speed, bouncing off every turn and bend at whiplash like speeds. I was thrown from my boat and drugged along the concrete sides for a few very harrowing minutes, as the poor country staff attempted to rescue me by trying to catch me with 20 foot bamboo poles with metal hooks attached! I love China, but some activities are not only lost in translation but not for foreign friends. In the states we would classify these as category 5 rapids. Please be advised this is not for beginners and make sure your travel insurance is up to date (most policies don't cover extreme sports and in China...."drifting" is one of them!).