Rafting in Ubud

Today's highlight was a 2-hour rafting tour on the Ayung River just north of Ubud.
Somehow, I wanted to give it a try, since I didn't do rafting in New Zealand.
Moreover, transportation and a lunch buffet were included in the price - how could I say no...

On site, everything was in line with the natural Bali standard: the Westerner's forehead was sweating nervously, but somehow, we trusted that the Balinese had everything under control.

And they did.

In our life jackets and with the paddle, our group squeezed into a fairly new-looking car and after a 10-minute drive, we stopped right in the middle of the jungle.
Our group consisted of two European couples, me, and our awesome nameless tour guide, whom I will talk about later.

We descended over 200 stairs (through the jungle - how insane is that?!) down to the river. There we met about 100 other nervous rafters, all bustling around the boats. Gradually, the individual groups started, so during the ride, we were actually relatively alone on the water.

After a super short safety check, we were placed in the boat and off we went!

We were such a bad team, I don't think any of us had ever been in a boat before, and because we approached the first rapid quite unprepared, it happened:

We capsized.

Well, we didn't capsize, but half of our team went overboard. In a rapid. With rocks!

By the way, I was part of the unfortunate half.

My lower back had an unpleasant encounter with those rocks, and I'm curious to see how the still-red spot will develop.
But my glasses fit perfectly the entire time! Thanks to Fielmann!

After this scare, we managed to balance ourselves and could slowly start rafting for real.
Our tour guide was like that. A damn sunny soul or he was on drugs, or both. In any case, he laughed the whole time.
'And then three suddenly fell into the water... Hahahaha'
'Oh, you hit your toe, hihihi'
'Attention, folks, now it's gonna be especially fun, yehee!'

Don't get me wrong - it was super fun, and I had an incredibly good time with our team and especially with him.

It got particularly funny when we encountered other boats; then the command 'Splash' came.
Interesting how adults suddenly turn into little kids in a water battle...

In very calm sections, we could also go swimming. Due to the life jackets, one automatically floated on the surface, and the current carried you forward - so you didn't have to do anything and could admire the jungle around you. Wonderful.

On the way, we made several photo stops, and some pictures will also arrive via WhatsApp today. I will upload them later.

But eventually, even the most fun comes to an end, and then we had to climb all the steps back up, soaking wet.
For that, we got something to eat, but it wasn't from gourmet cuisine.
Some small talk, exchanging insider information about Bali, and then we separated again.

Back in Ubud, I had to have a drink first (thirsty!!!!), and then I strolled through the market and bought stuff. There are really beautiful things there!
But since I have to get up ***** early tomorrow, not much is happening for me today.
However, tomorrow's blog post will contain a lot of information and pictures!