Believe me. It is not easy at all!
Who said that rowing is easy? I tried last week and I can tell you it is difficult. On the first day of Musi Triboatton 2013 competition, I was rowing for more or less around 17 km. The rowing I was doing was kind of similar with the rowing you do when you are rafting, but somehow it is not as easy as the kind of rafting that I’ve done in the past. This was freaking tiring! There were few places where the boat was pulled by the current. Lesson learned: Rowing is not easy! Especially in a river with calm water. The athletes called it the dead zone or sticky water.
On the top of the mother boat 🙂
The Musi Triboatton, by the way is the reason why I haven’t really caught up with writing! It was pretty tiring and exciting at the same time, well even though I didn’t paddle everyday, but the whole event was just too interesting to miss. I really enjoyed getting to know all the national paddling athletes, the local people who lived around the event venue, the boat man, the committee and the water police that always made us feel secure! They were all fun people and I have so many different stories to tell.
Banyuasin area
Oh wait, I should really tell you what this was all about. I joined the Musi Triboatton 2013, in South Sumatra, from 16 until the 22 November. It was an event that combined sports and tourism. The name Musi is taken from the name of the river that flows across South Sumatera. It is a nice river and there are a hell of a lot of people who live along the rivers bank. As for Triboatton, – yes, I do think this sounds a bit weird – it means there are three type of boats that were used in the competition. River boat, inflatable canoe and dragon boat. Besides that we were also cruising the Musi River with a speed boat (please, don’t imagine the real speed boat. Read more here) and a mother boat (jukung).
The opening ceremony in Sekayu
The competition started on Nov 18th and lasted for five days. The Etape 1 (First Stage) of the race started in Empat Lawang. Etape II (Nov 19th) took place in Muara Kelingi (Musi Rawas), Etape III (Nov 20th) in Sekayu/Musi Banyuasin, Etape IV (Nov 21st) in Banyuasin and Etape V (Nov 22nd) in Palembang. Overall it was a super fun and unique concept for an event. The good news is that this Musi Triboatton is an annual event (this year is the second year), so make sure to join next year around November. Just like me, you’ll be really grateful to get a chance to cruising Musi River and meet all the wonderful people.
Sunset and dragon boat is magical! I love.
[…] Boat. Like I told you previously, on my first post about Musi Triboatton, don’t expect this ‘speed boat’ to be a fancy speed boat that you usually see. I […]
[…] Musi River in South Sumatera. I did the same thing last year, you can check out the stories here and here. Besides the Musi river cruise, the other South Sumatera trip highlights was travelling […]