In recent years, I start to enjoy Stand Up Paddle (SUP).
With the paddling skill, I can easily get into the ocean (if it is flat), the middle of lake or the depth of river in the speed I love. There, the view over the world will be completely different from the land.
When taking this sport on the wide waters in hinterland, you’ll certainly “meet” different animals, such as sea snakes, jumping fishes, etc.
Two days ago, a gecko became my SUP buddy.
One day, I was in Panwa Beach of Phuket Island. Due to the boiling temperature, no one had sports on water except me, taking the whole coast alone. It made me very joyful. When I straightly paddled to the depth of ocean, I accidentally saw a grey gecko under my waterproof bag.
I was nervous!
I don’t like insect or reptile neither. I know gecko only eats injurious insect and never bites people. But its sudden appearance of “sound before shape” makes me grumpy. I am always scared by its sudden and huge CROAK. Gecko, in my opinion, is definitely delicately ambush, making me shocked.
In the next second of movement, I slightly moved my bag and tried to sweep the gecko lying on board rapidly to the ocean with my paddle. But, it crawled to my right ankle at the speed of 1m/s.
Ahhhhhh…….Ahhhhhh……
Through my capillary pores of my right foot, I immediately felt the pads of gecko’s four mini toes with tie-down strength. What could I do if it continued to flee upward into my diving trousers as I wear the short trousers?
After the idea flashed, I got all my goose bumps. I was not dare to move it with paddle anymore because I would fall into the ocean due to the panic. So I turned back and paddled to the beach. This ten-minute paddling makes me really uncomfortable. But the gecko probably took my feet as the spar in a pirate ship. It climbed on my feet and overlooked the surrounding ocean like it was ready for the treasures at any time.
The gecko was not afraid of the headwind and waves I caused in my full-speed return. It crawled to my knee. Ahhhhhhhh….. Even if I shook my foot hard, it was still there.
I could not help but dirty talk.
Fortunately, the beach was there.
I waved towards the beach manager and asked him to take off the gecko. He ran in half steps and said sorry with laughters. To me, his big black face with yellowing teeth was my savior I wanted to see the most on that morning. Then, he nipped the gecko with fingers skillfully and threw it to the ocean quickly.
Once the gecko left his hand, it moved like a Ninja. It swam for a second and crawled very quickly on the water. Then… it disappeared in a sudden swiftness.
After I confirmed it did not return to my paddle board, I adjust my mood to restart.
When paddling back to the ocean, I rethought of my SUP experiences, they were always memorable no matter in which waters. Last time, it was in Malcesine at the east side of Lake Garda, Italy. The red-brick houses built by the riverbank and mountain is the most charming part there. Malcesine is a famous tourists’ point of windsurfing, Wake Board and SUP. When the famous Austrian artist, Gustav Klimt visited Lake Garda in 1913, he painted the scenes of Malcesine. In such a beautiful place, I should have greatly enjoyed SUP there but I felt dizzy only after thirty minutes paddling. The waves in the lake that day were greater than the open water that I’d paddled before. Strange!
My favorite SUP experiences was two years ago in a small lake called Geyrischer Teich near Czech Republic in the East of Germany. It was my first time trying SUP. I rented equipment near the lake. The paddle and board I took looked brand new. I learnt standing in balance on the water and paddled, I didn’t fall into the water because I grasped the skills very quickly. I slightly established my confidence and this sport entered into my life since then.
Now, I look forward to finding some local lake or river in Shanghai suitable for SUP, I want to paddle with my dog!
Doing SUP with my dog is one of my birthday wishes this year. My dog doesn’t really like water but I’d love to show her the world beyond the land. When paddling with me, she would probably sit on the board with stiff facial expressions and stare at the land nervously. Ha!
If you have any great SUP experiences, please recommend your good locations through comments. I’ll try in my next vacations. Thank you!
壁虎與我
這兩年，我喜歡上「立槳划行」(SUP, Stand Up Paddle)。
只要憑著技巧左右划槳，我就能以自己喜歡的速度，悠閒地划到海上，湖心或是河流深處等，得到在離岸以外才有的另一種視角。
當然，在腹地廣闊的水域上進行這項運動時，會與各種動物「奇遇」。
一隻壁虎兩天前成了我的SUP buddy。
普吉島攀瓦海灘那天大概炎熱，無人進行水上運動，整個海岸又是我獨自包場。這讓我無比愉悅，當我向海心筆直地划行途中，意外看到一隻灰色壁虎待在我的防水包包底下。
我緊張了！
我不喜歡任何蟲或爬蟲。壁虎，我知道你只吃壞蟲、你不會咬人，但是你一貫「型未現但聲先到」的出場方式真的令我不悅。每次你突然且巨大的呱呱叫聲總會嚇我一跳。我不得不認定你習慣故意埋伏，令我要特意防備。
接著下一秒的動作，我輕輕把包包挪開，企圖用槳把趴在漿板上的壁虎迅速掃進海裡。結果，它以每秒位移一米的方式，攀到我的右腳踝上。
Ahhhhhh…….Ahhhhhh……
通過右腳皮膚的毛細孔，我瞬間感覺到壁虎四隻迷你但是又帶有箝制力量的腳趾墊。
我穿的是短的潛水褲。萬一它繼續往上竄到我褲子裡怎麼辦？
這樣的念頭閃過以後，我渾身汗毛都豎起來了。我不敢用漿再去調動它，因為我一定會過度慌亂然後栽到海裡。所以，我只好掉頭把自己划回岸邊。這約莫十分鐘的行駛真讓我難受，壁虎大概把我的腳當成海盜船的桅桿，攀著俯瞰四周海水的動靜，彷彿有金銀財寶出現時，它就會大顯身手、秒速奪標。
壁虎一度不未我全速回返的風浪，爬上我的膝蓋。Ahhhhhhhh…..我抖腳也沒用，它屹立不搖。
我忍不住開始飆髒話了。
好在，岸邊到了。
我用英語急忙招手叫海灘管理員，請他幫我把壁虎抓下來。他小跑步過來見狀一邊說sorry一邊大笑。只能說他那有點泛黃的牙齒襯著黝黑的大臉是我那個早上最樂意見到的救星。然後他彷彿訓練有素地用手指把壁虎掐住，迅速往身旁的海裡扔去。
壁虎一入水時，真的宛如忍者輕功，以迅雷不及掩耳的速度在水面竄走，咻…一下子不見蹤影了。
在確定它沒有回到我漿板上躲起來時，我才調適心情重新出發。在划回海心時，我回想，過去不論在哪個水域，每次SUP都令我印象深刻，記憶尤新。上次是在義大利加達湖的東岸Malcesine。這裡沿岸傍山而建的紅磚房為魅力所在。Malcesine是著名的水上風帆、Ｗake Board和SUP的據點。奧地利藝術家Klimt 曾經在1913年造訪加達湖的時候，描繪過櫛比鱗次的岸景。在如此的風光中，我應該無比享受才對，不料我在這裡SUP才十分鐘就感到暈眩，因為加達湖的風浪竟然比曾經去過的幾個海邊都來得大，站著划行一直被浪推前推後，忽高忽低，實在不可置信。
我最喜歡的一次SUP體驗，是第一次接觸這個運動的時候。那應該是兩年前在德國東部靠近捷克的一個小湖，它名叫Geyerscher Teich。我在湖邊租了設備，漿板感覺很新很亮、沒怎麼被用過。岸邊也沒人管，就自己學著在水上平衡站立，然後到處隨便去划。因為很快就站穩掌握技巧、而且完全沒有因為不平衡栽到水裡，我很快就建立了小小的信心。如此，新鮮的事物順利進入了我的生命，起頭美好。
我每次度假完回到上海，就會盼望有合適的本地水域玩SUP，因為這樣就可以載著我的狗到處划。
我的生日剛過。跟我的小狗一起SUP是今年其中一個生日願望。我的小狗其實不黯水性，但是我想帶她看看陸地以外的世界。她到時候一定會緊張地坐在板子上、表情僵硬、眼神直勾岸邊。
光是想到這個畫面已經讓我微笑。
你們如果有美好的經驗，請留言推薦世界SUP的地點給我，我下次度假會去試試。謝謝！
WuHahn 