Bali Escape! -Day 3-

June 28, 2014 JZ

Today was going to be an activity-heavy day as we were about to embark on a rafting adventure at Ayung River. We had a big breakfast before embarking on a two-hour drive towards the start-point in Ubud. The breakfast spread had changed from the previous day, but as we were in a rush, we were not able to try out all the varying dishes around, although I did enjoy all the dishes that I have picked out. Unfortunately, I was tired from yesterday, and I slept almost all the way towards Ayung River, so I cannot report much on the journey to the start point. As we reached the start point, we stumbled over to the office where we changed into our newly acquired aqua shoes and set off. We decided on the MEGARafting company for our river rafting experience, and it proved to be a worthwhile decision as we had the longest route down the river.

Funnily enough, our journey did not start with us getting into the boat, but rather a 300-step steep decline stretching all the way from the peak of the mountain to the base of the mountain where the river was awaiting. The decline took a toll on all of us even before we started the rafting. The Ayung River which we were about to raft on is the longest river of Bali, running around 75 kilometers, As we got into the boat, our guide was Made (pronounce Mar-Dee), who introduced us to a set of a commands, the most interesting being “BOOMBOOM”, which was short for “Hang on to the rope!”. The phrase stuck quickly to Ashley, as she enjoyed all the drops of the rapids around us.

The trip was to last around two hours, and the route was around ten kilometers long. As we started, all we saw after the first few rapids was a capsized raft in front of our own raft. A man on that raft was so shocked at the incident that he found himself unable to stand up on the river, and he seemed like he lost all will to continue. Soon after however, through swift action of Made, he was quickly extracted to his own raft.

Throughout the river, we saw many Ramayana carvings and dangerous rapids as our arms and legs ached in agony. Thankfully, there was a mid-way point, where our guide Made made a flower for Ashley out of banana leaves. He also made banana leave spikes for our helmets, one of his many acts that we enjoyed. Through our will and power, we finally reached the end-point, where we were able to swim in the cold waters of the Ayung River. Although I had a minor cut on my left hand, all of us came out uninjured and rearing for more.

We were greeted with a refreshing welcome drink and invited to a hot shower. Once we had a shower and changed out of our swimwear, we had a buffet lunch provided by the company. The spread was mainly local, with dishes such as Mee Goreng and Tempeh making appearances. We tucked in happily and agreed that this had exceeded our expectations for the provided food.

However, our ordeal was not over. We still had to climb over 200 steps to get to the car-park. After stumbling through the 200 steps with aching feet and shoulders, we finally were on the car back to the hotel for a well-deserved break from all strenuous activities before going for our dinner.

We had plans to go to the Jimbaran Beach for a sunset dinner, so we booked a cab around 5pm in hopes of catching the sunset. On our way there to the desired location however, our taxi driver recommended another location, Jukung restaurant for our dinner as it had free transport back to the hotel and the cost of all the food was around the same. We decided to head towards that location to enjoy our dinner. However, all was not to be.

As we arrived, we realised that it was a cloudy day, and we had no ways of clearly seeing the sunset. We were deeply disappointed, but still stayed for dinner, and we did not regret anything.

We ordered their recommended “Seafood Platter with Lobster”, which consisted of Lobster (no points for guessing), King Prawns, Calamari, Clams, Crab and Fish. We ordered Fish n’ Chips yet again for Ashley.

The Lobster was marinated very simply with a buttery taste, and was filled with meat, it was simple yet good tasting. The King Prawns were slightly disappointing to me as I found those from Kendi Kuning to be more succulent. The clams were mostly the same story, where the sauce was simply not as hard-hitting as yesterday’s. However, I did enjoy the fish and the crab, both of which were served with a very strong sauce which did not overpower the original taste of the fish or crab.

Ashley also enjoyed her Fish n’ Chips that she ordered, and I personally found them to be better than the ones from yesterday (albeit not sounding cooler). However, the star of the show was definitely the orange juice, which was sweet with a natural flavor. Ashley went through a whopping three cups of juice before she was satisfied.

During our sunset dinner, there was a whole barrage of entertainment that was provided by the restaurant. From a live band that came personally to our table to sing “I Just Called To Say I Love You” and “甜蜜蜜”, to a traditional Balinese dance and song, we were entertained by the liveliness and energy from the performances. We thoroughly enjoyed the provided performances.