Bali the Sixth: Rafting

Perhaps because SCUBA diving hadn't gotten us quite wet enough, we also signed up for white water rafting. To my understanding there is only one place in Bali that offers rafting, and they have signs all over the island. They also offer elephant rides, but seeing as you weren't allowed to trample anyone or anything much we took a pass on those.

As you can see, you don't get a sweet hat or weapons when riding the elephants either. How are you supposed to strike terror into the hearts of your foot-traveling inferiors?

At first we were looking at the dry riverbeds of the desert half of the island on the ride over and wondering where they were finding their white-water, but sensibly it turns out that the rafting is on the western, jungle half of the island. So there was a two hour drive to get there, like anything on that half of the island from Tulamben. The facility was on the cusp of a deep, very jungle-y valley and was substantially off the main roads.

After arriving, they hooked us up with our own private rafting dude who was probably younger than us and some reasonably non-sketchy floation equipment and helmets. The starting point for the rafting was way down in the bottom of that valley and we walked fairly scenic switchback dirt/mud paths down to the bottom. At the bottom the guide selected a raft and made sure it was fully inflated using a compressor that looked like a leftover prop from an Indiana Jones movie or the kind of fake equipment that you see waiting in lines at amusement parks. At this point we were using a waterproof disposable camera that cost $1 per exposure, so I don't have a picture of their vintage hardware.

Rafting starting point

The guide gave a pretty basic but understandable safety lecture, and we were off down the river. The waterway seemed pretty much made for rafting - a narrow (<30ft), mostly straight channel with regular drops of three to six feet, which keep it interesting but not scary.

Their river looked pretty much like this.

The moisture level was somewhat enhanced by the guide, who had a bit of an act going on where he was clowning around, deliberately spinning the boat backwards, splashing water on us in exaggerated accidents and so forth. I probably wouldn't have missed it if it were absent, but he seemed to be enjoying his job and a certain amount of the fun was contagious.

The boat was travelling backwards when this was taken, for example.

About halfway through there was a dam with a pond behind it where the water got calm and the rafts all stop to give the guides a break and let people stretch their legs. The guide recommended swimming but the water did not look particularly inviting (meaning, the kind of water where parasites might swim up your urethra) and we declined. We saw a man collecting vegetation in the middle of the jungle during this break and asked the guide what was up - he said the man would probably be bringing it to his cow. I personally felt a bit sorry for the cow as the green stuff did not exactly look tender and delicious, but then again the cow is probabably used to it. Did throw me a little that having to go into the jungle to haul green stuff to his cow is part of this guy's daily routine. Again with the soft child of the first world bit.

Break time

The rafting after the break proceeded much as before, and was fun if not life-changing. At the end we walked back up out of the valley on a different set of scenic switchback muddy roads. At the top of the valley was a supremely ancient truck with benches in the back that took us back to the starting point, driving on a track going between a lot of rice paddies and other farmland before hitting actual roads again. This experience came with a buffet lunch attached as part of the price, so we dug in to probably the worst food we had in Bali, which was just medicore to decent instead of good to amazing. Not a problem. Overall, I would say I'm glad we did it once, but I wouldn't visit again too soon.