ATV Quad Tour

Today I got a mud bath. In a manner of speaking. Also, I thought it was about time to practice and polish my driving skills. What better way to do that than with a 250 cc ATV through torrential, day-long downpour in the Balinese rainforest? The track was amazing! It had few man-made elements like bumpy asphalt, insecurely built cobblestones and a rough river bed and even a cave, but most of the track remained natural with knee-deep mud, a few rivers, waterfalls every now and then, steep uphill/downhill driving, incredible slipperiness due to the constant rain and additional water. All of this in a beautiful, diverse rainforest! Due to the immense amount of mud, I got stuck quite a few times, but the guides were ready to help. Others got stuck, too, but from what I could tell, I was special and later told, to drive directly behind the tour guide. Probably because I was the star student and others could only learn from my skills… Or so I keep telling myself. ^^ The quad took some getting used to after all my experience driving a whole range of different cars over the years. (For readers unfamiliar with myself, that was a big fat lie…) Steering took a lot of strength at times as well as braking, but I got used to it. Even though I thought the rain would complicate the whole experience, I actually believe it added to the fun. We all looked like we had just mud-wrestled after we finished the tour. The woman behind me even got a special mud facial. She did thank me for that, but something makes me doubt the sincerity of her words.
Once the tour and the refreshing shower afterwards were completed, we were shuttled to a restaurant not far from the tracks. While I will say that I enjoyed the view and the company of a very kind couple from Melbourne, the food was definitely lacking quality. After only positive experiences with food so far, I thought Bali just didn‘t know about bad cooking. Turns out, I was proven wrong twice. For dinner, I had a déjà vu. A bland chicken curry, an equally bland milkshake without ice-cream (this is where I draw the line) and yes, a bland dessert wrap with coconut grating. The cinnamon sauce they said would come with the dish was substituted by balsamic vinegar sauce. As much as I love a good surprise, I had strongly mixed feelings about that. Not to mention they failed to bring me cutlery for both dishes. Gave me enough time to at least capture the optical beauty of the dishes.Read more