The Terrific3 travel blog

Today was our rafting adventure day on the Ayung river. This trip was highly recommended to me and I read that it was class 1 and 2 rapids, so safe(r) for the kids. That having been said, I was still quite nervous as I was still traumatized from my only rafting trip ever—in Costa Rica when I was 22–which resulted in the raft capsizing multiple times.

Our driver Wayan (a different Wayan) from Bali inspiration tours picked us up at our villa at 815am and we drove over to the rafting place, arriving by 840am. There were only 2 other rafters there—both Danish girls—and they put us together with the guide to form our group of 6, got us outfitted in life vests and helmets and on a pickup truck, sitting in the back for a 10 minute drive over.

The guide was named Dicky, or Ricky, not quite sure. He was a buff and tan Indonesian man who chose to go shirtless and show off his tribal tattoos which spanned one arm and leg. He was definitely eye candy. He was also very mischievous and tried his best to get us all wet or a little riled up with adventure (which the boys loved).

Once we arrived, it was about 300 steps and a climb down which took about 10 minutes. We boarded the raft and the guide went over some paddling and safety instructions, and we were on our way.

We stopped at a waterfall about 45 minutes in and took photos.

I was definitely nervous the first hour or so, but once I realized the rapids were relatively mild and it was (kinda) fun, I relaxed. S, my adrenaline junkie, kept asking if the raft was s going to go down 30 feet waterfalls. My kids are definitely more adventurous than I am, maybe because they are getting the exposure now before they become afraid. I never did stuff like this growing up, and was relatively protected from really any type of physical exertion. I didn’t even have a bike growing up, and when I joined cross country in high school, my parents thought it was strange. Whereas these kids have been hiking, biking, swimming, running, etc since they were practically babies.

I’ll have to say, though, if they want to do class 4 rapids, they may have to go without me 😜. The kids have pushed my boundaries but I have a limit to my madness.

The river was gorgeous—so much natural beauty surrounding us. It was a great 2ish hours spent outside. Then it was another 300ish steps back up, back on the pickup to rafting place, showers, and a delicious Indonesian buffet (with vegetarian options) and back with Wayan to our villa. The rafting place was packed when we left around noon, as was every place up and down the road, and the traffic was gridlocked in both directions but especially going to the river.

When we travel like this, I’m grateful that we are an early waking family. We leave for most tours by 730-8am, before the terrible traffic gets going, and save ourselves likely hours on the road. I’m not the kind of person who enjoys afternoon activities as much. I would rather be active in the morning when it’s cooler and less crowded, then rest up in the afternoon and go back out for an early dinner.

In the afternoon, we went out to get massages. The kids got foot massages and I started with a “Thai” massage except it was more like Ashiatsu—the woman got on top of me and walked on my back and legs with all her weight and I felt like she was going to break my ankle and back (and I’m used to Ashiatsu) so I told her to convert to a regular hands on massage.

The kids are doing flips in the pool now and I made reservations at an Italian restaurant for dinner, as S didn’t eat much lunch except for rice and watermelon. Meanwhile, his brother has definitely taken to Indonesian food and loves it, and has become a more adventurous eater on this trip.

Here is a short video of our rafting experience today.