The ride there was mildly interesting as I got to see some nice scenery & seen scooter dodging in and out of traffic, but you are in cities for most of the drive until the very end, which was very beautiful. When we got there we were met by several people. There are always more people “working” in a place than needed here because labor is so cheap & most people do not work very hard. To get down to the raft was 450 steep steps (yep that many to get back up at the end as well). Although it was a nice walk & I got to know the guide, Agung, a little. He was from the Kings caste (4 caste of people in Bali – Priests, Kings, Farmers, Laborers – in that order of importance). Although the caste system is not really used that much anymore. Interesting, people from the priests caste have a totally different language than normal people. Agung was also the name of the highest mountain in Bali & why he got his name. It also had other special attributes tied to it, I believe they were strength & courage, but I am not 100% sure. After a few pictures were in the raft with our life jackets & helmets on, paddles in hand heading towards some rocks. It is a grade 2-3 (medium) river this time of year (grade 5 in the wet season). We did get stuck a few times & I was tired when we got done paddling, but it is nothing to life threatening or strenuous. The worst part was that I got stung by a bee, which ended up making my hand hurt (yep right where I had to use the paddle of course). However, it was not a huge deal & luckily I didn't get to sick being miles away from a hospital. By that night you could not even see where I was stung. I used to be very allergic to bee stings so I was a little worried about it at first. At the half way point we stopped for a break where these ladies had setup an impromptu soda stand. They would walk all the way from the village down the hill to sell you soda at very high prices.

The great part of the trip was the incredible scenery & talking to the guide. He was 19 & did this 2 times a day so he knew right where to go. We got to talk all about how things were in Bali & Indonesia. I learned more in the 2 hour trip than I had up to that point in the trip. After we were done we got a buffet lunch & a drink before the return ride home. I had the van drop me off at the Internet Cafe so I could send out updates, then returned home to finish up the book I had started 2 days earlier, plus pack for my 2 days trip which would leave the next day. About the pictures most are self explanatory, but a few need some explanation. For instance I want to say that the waterfall was really high & beautiful. Also the last picture was basically a noise maker to keep the squirrels from stealing the villages crops, the wind would cause it to make noise randomly.