From left to Right, The 2008 Team: Adam Mills Elliott, Tang Jianzhong, Trip Jennings, Andy Maser, Travis Winn, Na Minghui, Wang Dongli 

Mekong River 2008

In June 2004, an Australian kayaker, Mick O’Shea, managed to complete the remaining unrun section of the river in Tibet. It took him three days to blast down 180 miles of river with dozens of Class 4 to 5 bigwater rapids. This is comparable to racing through the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in four days – not realistic. And, according to the Chinese, O’Shea did not have a permit and they wouldn’t have issued one to him because but this was not the type of boating they want to promote.

They have a strong interest in learning from and working with foreigner boaters and prefer that Chinese representatives participate in river expeditions in China.

In March, 2008, Trip Jennings and Andy Mazer of Epicocity and Travis Winn and Adam Elliott of Last Descents kayaked the section of the Mekong in Tibet that O'Shea had run in 2004, ending at Tibetan Terminator (31 21 22N, 97 46 01E). For a solo boater, one of the problems of claiming a first descent is documentation.

O'Shea's documentation is very weak, but another boater who met him a few days after he had left Tibet vouched for him. The 2008 team is not convinced that O'Shea completed the first descent of this remote section of the Mekong river canyon. Although they encountered some major rapids, there were far fewer of them than O'Shea describes in his online messages, his book, "In the Naga's Wake", and his video "Exploring the Mother of Rivers".

He only has one picture and doesn't match any of their rapids and only one GPS location, which isn't anywhere near the river. The first bridge with river access is near Yangjing, Yunnan, famous for hotsprings and salt mines, which are visible from the river and he doesn't mention (29 05 49N, 98 34 25E).