Bali

As the plane from Singapore had a 1 hour delay, I reached Bali at around 2000hrs which leaves me a few hours to walk around at night. When I reach Tune Hotels Kuta, I immediately logged on to the internet to tell everyone on Facebook that I am already in Bali. The internet had a bad connection. So I decided to walk around a bit and buy a mobile prepaid sim card. For mobile prepaid sim card, it is recommended to buy “Simpati” telco as the blackberry charges are the cheapest by far which is around RP5000.00 for a day’s usage.

Me and my dearest and beloved Sister sending me off!

The food on board Airasia's QZ from Singapore to Denpasar

The next day, I decided to go for a swim at the well-known Kuta Beach. The sea was so blue and the sand was white. It was like a dream. I spent the whole day swimming. For budget travellers, it is not recommended to at cafes along Kuta Beach as the food is too expensive for Indonesia’s standard. There are small warongs by the side street that sell cheap local fares. Another cheaper option will be fast food and it is really cheap.

The entrance of Kuta Beach

Kuta Beach!

The overrated Kuta Town

As I go around the streets to look for cheap tours, I chanced upon a Yagi Tours. It was one of the small tour stands along Jalan Pantai Kuta. I enquired for Tanah Lot and other historical tours but the guy manning the tour stand says it is not recommended for a single traveller to go on the historic tour as it is really expensive. The price was somewhere between RP400,000-RP500,000 which was really too much for me. He recommended me a water rafting tour which costs only RP300,000 (SGD43.00. It was really cheap for me as water raft tours are pretty expensive elsewhere. The tour included a return air conditioned transfer, approved rafting equipment with international standard, instructions by well-trained professional guide, shower facilities, use of towel with changing room and a scrumptious buffet lunch.

The tour stand right outside Tune Hotel Kuta

The driver picked me up the next day at my hotel to bring me to Mount Agung for my water rafting tour. As we drove by rice terraces and mountains, I couldn’t stop thinking how beautiful Bali was. We reached Mount Agung an hour and a half later after picking other passengers up from their respective hotels. Mount Agung is really cold and I was pretty surprised by the cool weather. Our water raft base is called Lapama Adventure Rafting. We were briefed by the instructor. He told us to keep our important belongings such as money, cameras and mobile phones in a plastic bag as it will be kept secured in the instructor’s dry pack. Other belongings will be kept by the van driver. They assured the security of our belongings which was a sense of relief.

My instructor’s name is Komar. He is a Hindu Balinese. He was the same age as me. My raft consisted of two middle aged Australian Nationals and they were travelling together as a couple. I got on the raft and it was pretty nerve wrecking. The water wasn’t that friendly either. The first few hundred metres was rough and I almost got thrown off the raft. It was fun though. After an hour and a half of rafting, our first stopping point was a beautiful water fall. I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

Wee!!

After our break at the waterfall, we were back on our raft to the next obstacle which is the 6m rapid drop.  6m may not seem high to anyone but it definitely is for any rookies out there especially me.  Our preparation for the rapid fall was very simple. All we had to do was to lie flat on the boat so that our body was horizontal to the 90 degree waterfall. Boy it was scary!

The water raft adventure seemed fast as I had so much fun. We were greeted to a sumptuous buffet after climbing up a series of steep stairs. The buffet was quite simple but it was more than enough to keep me from going hungry. Our restaurant was located at the top of the rice terrace hills. It was so beautiful. Unfortunately, we had to go as the van was waiting for us to bring us back to our hotel. That was the end of it. I’ll be back again. When the van dropped me off at my hotel, I couldn’t go into my room as I had checked out early in the morning.  So I had to wait for a few hours at the lobby for another van to pick me up and bring me to the airport for my evening flight to Bandung. So long Bali!