Up for a 7:30 breakfast at the cafe around the corner using the voucher from the hotel. I have the baked feta eggs, which are great.
Over breakfast we check in with our guide, Wayan, so he has all our details, and persuade him to delay this morning’s start by 15 minutes so we can go and buy some clothes suitable for white water rafting. The luggage isn’t due to arrive until late tonight, so we only have the clothes we are wearing.
After breakfast we walk around the corner to find swim gear. I have my eye on Billabong, but they don’t open until 9am. We try a local shop that’s already open, but it’s all smart casual, not river wear. So I poke my head under the Billabong roller doors and persuade the guy to open a few minutes early.
We all choose suitable swim gear, but there’s no footwear in sight, so we’ll have to wear our trainers - it’s 500 steps down to the river and we don’t fancy that in brand new cheapo flip flops.
Back at the hotel we gather our things and jump in the minibus, headed for rafting.
After a drive of 30 minutes or so, we arrive at Sobek Rafting and are immediately kitted out in life jackets and helmets. The river guides have been working here for 30 years and are laughing and joking; this should be a fun trip.
Once we’re ready, we start the climb down to the river. 500 steps sounds like a lot, but it doesn’t take much time at all before we’re standing next to the raft getting our safety briefing.
The two families on the trip are split into their own rafts, each with a guide, and we get going. The water is white, but actually quite gentle, so it’s an enjoyable ride with some fun bumps and boulders in the way.
We see all sorts of wildlife along the way, including a monkey, lizards, and an otter. The guide occasionally slaps the water with his oar while shouting “Crocodile!”, which makes us all jump.
We bump into the other raft, sometimes racing each other and sometimes splashing water.
Halfway through, we pull into a rest stop to get some drinks. We have beer and coconut juice fresh from coconuts, which are really refreshing.
Back on the water, we’re all in good spirits, enjoying the splashing and the water slide along the way. After nearly two hours on the water it’s time to stop and walk the 300 steps up to the base of the rafting company.
After showers and an opportunity to buy action photos, we have lunch at the restaurant with the rest of the group. It’s a buffet of rice, noodles, veg, chicken and fried bean curd. It’s tasty, and we’re all really hungry by this point.
After lunch we drive 45 minutes to a rice terrace which also has zip lines. After taking the zip line and a walk, we stop for ice creams. I have a durian ice cream, which tastes somewhere between a rubber tyre and a gas leak – weird, but very popular in these parts.
This place is a bit of a tourist trap; there are lots of people in flowing dresses riding big swings that go out over the terraces, purely for their socials. So after the ice creams we decide to get going.
A 1.5 hour drive gets us to the next hotel, a nice beach resort with a spa. We have a couple of hours before dinner, so Diana, Bella and I go to the spa and have Balinese massages, which are so relaxing.
After the spa we take a walk via the pool and the beachfront, stopping for a cocktail at the bar. We’re intrigued by a fruit on the bar and ask the staff about it. It’s a salak, or snake fruit, which is very typical of Bali. We give it a try and it’s pretty good; it looks a bit like a big lychee but tastes like a sweet, tangy apple.
We then meet at the hotel reception at 7pm for dinner, which is a 5-minute drive away. It’s happy hour and we’re all completely confused as to whether it’s 2 for 1 cocktails or buy 2 get an additional 1 free. We order a bunch of cocktails figuring we’ll find out one way or the other.
I order ayam betutu, which is chicken covered in Balinese spices and slow-cooked in a banana leaf. It’s really tender and delicious.
Wayan runs through tomorrow’s plan, which includes the beach, and after dessert we head back to the hotel in the pouring rain.
We’re all jet-lagged and tired, and our luggage has yet to arrive, so we call it a night.
Quote of the day goes to Alex, while we were white water rafting: “If the whole holiday is going to be like this, it might be fun!”