Whitewater Rafting - The Best!

In addition to cultural performances, you can take cultural classes in Ubud – dance, art, cooking – so what did I do? Whitewater rafting! It might have been the best thing I did on the entire trip. I love whitewater rafting! It was on the Agung River – 11 km of class II and III rapids. Fun, fun, fun. I was in a boat with five Chinese women, who must have been inspired by the Olympics. They were laughing and having a great time and even though I didn’t understand what they said, I laughed right along. We all said, “yee – aow” (one, two) to stroke in unison – so I learned some Chinese! Fast-moving river, not a lot of downtime between rapids, beautiful scenery. Of course, for most of it the camera was in a waterproof bag, but I snapped one pic when we took a break, and I bought the touristy shot of all of us that a photographer takes while you’re in a rapid and then develops in time to sell to you at the end of the trip. If I’d had another day I might have done it again – I want to go whitewater rafting again soon!


Back to the hotel for a little rest (just a little) and then to the Ubud Botanical Gardens – not in any of the tour books but in a Times article on 36 Hours in Bali. The walk was farther than I thought; the garden had had some flood damage but was still nice. To avoid a long walk back I took another moto – but where the previous day’s ride was fun, this was a little scary, so that’s it for motos. A little more shopping – more sarongs and some clothes – to complete the square of main streets of Ubud.

Then I had a driver take me to the furniture town. My sister wanted me to buy her some Indonesian furniture for the new apartment. My South Africa host had some beautiful Indonesian furniture, but I was a little nervous about buying furniture for someone else in another country – I did send a cell phone picture, but still! Then again, if she didn’t want it I would have taken it – I don’t have much furniture in storage, and I liked what I picked out! I waited out some afternoon rain on the sleeping platform and then ate dinner at Three Monkeys, another fine Ubud restaurant. As stated earlier, Bali probably had the nicest restaurants on the trip – combination of Indonesian and the more familiar, with just the right ingredients and spices and exquisite atmosphere and presentation.