One of the craziest activities I did while in Thailand was go on a two day trekking expedition… After a day of hiking through the muddy jungle, sleeping in a remote village with no electricity, and feeding and washing elephants, the final part of the trip was taking a two hour ride down the jungle river on a bamboo raft.

The bamboo raft really fascinated me as it is made completely out of… you guessed it!… bamboo! Material that is a plentiful part of the jungle we were in.

The river is a dangerous place - you never know what’s going to happen (note: make sure to ask for a life jacket if you do this ride!). And one thing that happened several times during out ride was that the bamboo stick used to navigate through the river snapped or got stuck somewhere in the bottom.

But this wasn’t a huge issue! When that happened, our guides just pulled over to the shore and got a new bamboo stick!

There has been a lot of technology and innovation since this simple bamboo raft, but there is something to be said for things made out of items that are easily available in our daily surroundings. Tools we can use to fix issues we have on the way down, without needing professional help in an otherwise impossible situation.