An Irishman's Close Call

I recently went on a three day/two night trek up into the mountains outside Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. The first day we hiked up a mountain and stayed the night in a small hut among a hill tribe. We had a group of about twelve people and I think we just about put the village children through college with the purchase of some choice beverages. It was a beautiful place to watch the sunset and the approaching rain.

The next day we set out in the downpour slipping and sliding down the other side of the mountain before spending some time at a massive gushing waterfall in the jungle. This being the rainy season here, the rivers are all swollen although fortunately, the leeches stayed away.

We made our way to our lodging for the second night, anohter hut on the banks of a massive raging river. Wanting to cool off and remove layers upon layers of mud, we ventured a few feet into the river just enough to get wet and clean up a bit. As I was standing there, I glanced over and saw Dez, one of five Irish university students, out further than he should be. He was quickly swept into the massive rapids and he was down river and out of sight before the rest of us could believe what was happening. The other 7 people I was with had their shoes off in the midst of bathing, but I luckily had my shoes on. I sprinted as fast as I could along the banks, falling over rocks and onto the sandbars. I really didn't grasp the gravity of the situation until I paused running, looked down the river and didn't see his head above the water. I continued to run and scramble over the rocks on the side until I finally saw that he had managed to grab onto a bunch of bamboo poles in the middle of the river. I told him to hold on as he screamed for help. I grabbed another bamboo pole and stuck it out to reach him. By this time, our Thai guide Sing was there and he also had a pole. Using both, we managed to pull him to the side. He collapsed on the bank but he was conscious and alive.

There are certain situations in life that happen in fast motion. Something as simple as washing off in a river can escalate into something so far out of our control in a matter of seconds. I can't imagine how things may have turned out and I am certainly not going to spend time thinking about it. Just seeing his body cascade down the muddy water among the jagged rocks of the river and his head barely bobbing above the water was surreal. True, Dez was a lucky Irishman this day and the beer tasted a little better that evening.