White Water Rafting
Many of you may remember the ongoing lobbying of my travel buddy – Suzy – to convince me to go White Water Rafting. Thanks to her hard work and the support from Perthdodgy, Baron and Ferndadez I was talked into it.
After our Elephant Park experience – we wanted to do the Bali Adventure Tour Rafting. It is a well run operation. We managed to bargain a very good deal with a tour operator near the Camplung Mas hotel. He reminded me of an Asian version of the actor who plays the younger brother of Nicholas Cage in the movie 'Gone in 60 seconds'........he even laughed like him!!! Anyway I think it worked out to $26US each I think for the afternoon ride.
We had 2 very buff rafting guides – Della and Ketut. Della was the guide in my raft.
After watching the video – we all looked like Michelin Tyre Men with our helmets and life vests, not a good look.
After several hundred descending steps we reached the rafts and boarded for a brief instructional session and we were off. It was a lot of fun, we got splashed, rit rocks, went under waterfalls and were surrounded by great panoramic views. No bridges to duck or boulders in the clacker value as Perthdodgy reported in his experience, but great fun never-the-less.
My arms were aching from rowing by the time we finished ready to climb the set of stairs back to the roadside. We were descended on by hawkers. I had only brought 40 000Rp with me to cover drinks etc. So was saved from the descending hawkers. On the other hand Sandy and Suzy, who had brought cash, made very slow progress up the stairs. I took a photo of them trying to get up the stairs with about 10 hawkers surrounding them.
Typical for me – I managed to find some way to embarrass myself. Taking great strides to reach the top I swung my arm and felt my palm hit something that felt like somebodies crutch!!! I looked over my shoulder – horrified to see – Ketut the guide from the other raft. I could have died!! I remember feeling my cheeks rush with blood and apologising quickly to him, I was so embarrassed I walked the rest of the steps with my arms folded looking at my feet!!!
Back at the restaurant base - I ended up buying a photo that they had taken for 35 000Rp and Suzy lent me some cash to buy some drinks for the kids. Our car wouldn't start – so we had to get a lift with Suzy's bus back to our hotel. It was a good day and definitely worth going.