Bali, Bintang and Boom Boom

Today we got up, had an hour and a half drive to the gorgeous Bali Telaga Waju River where we went whitewater rafting. Per Dad, if we do nothing else on this entire trip, it will still have been worth it. It was sooooo much fun! We split up into two groups: Emily, James, and Maddy in one raft with a guide, and Mom and Dad in another raft with two guides. (Heidi was having a spa day back in Ubud). We were told to yell Boom Boom every time we were about to hit a big rock, log, or river wall. Mom and Dad were pretty sure their guides were running them into these intentionally because they liked hearing us yell Boom Boom all the time. There were many beautiful waterfalls that our guides were not able to avoid so we had several good showers. The whole trip was about 17 kilometers. We had a couple breaks throughout where we refreshed ourselves with some Bintang, Bali’s most popular beer. We also switched up our groups to boys and girls.

At the end of the river trip we were served a delicious buffet lunch, the highlight of which was the shrimp chips (and more Bintang!)

We had a miscommunication with our driver on the way back and instead of heading straight home we visited a coffee plantation and sampled a number of different coffees and teas (most of us only partook of the teas, we still don’t drink coffee): )

We finally made it home and caught up with Heidi. We all went out shopping, except for Dad who recuperated from the Boom Boom and Bintang. The visit to the local market was overwhelming with the myriad of stalls and items for sale. Some clothes and pictures were purchased. We finished the night having dinner at the Semujaen, which means “Delicious Atmosphere.” We are now heading to bed early for our early early rise tomorrow to climb Mount Batur.Read more