It ain't easy being a hero, but someone's gotta do it.

So, to continue on with the Bali trip happenings from the previous blog, we also went white water rafting.

The river was beautiful and warm and a dark shade of green. It was surrounded by jungle and steep walls. Birds constantly chirped, singing as they flew across our path. We hopped out of the raft a few times and floated at a quick speed down river just a bit behind the raft. There were natural stone walls with intricate carvings in them along one part of our journey. People bathing in the river as we passed. Warm breezes and light and fancy free water falls. Hidden caves and blowing palms. Blue skies, sprinkled with clouds.



There were four of us in the raft in total. Dan and I, our guide and this Australian woman who had broken up with her boyfriend on their trip to Bali and had spent the previous 3 days crying in a hotel room. She decided that it would be a good idea to try rafting for the first time ever. Well, wouldn't you know it, she got dumped out of the raft on some steep rapids, along with our guide!! Ahhhhh!! Yes, the rapids got the better of our guide too. As he got tossed out of the raft he and I locked eyes and all I saw in his was fear. So, the next thing I know, it's just Dan and I in the raft, taking a moment to comprehend it, we looked around wildly, grabbing our barrings. Next thoughts, "Oh shit! What the hell! Our guide is gone and we're all alone! We have to get them back in here. Ahhhhhhh!!!"

So, I run to the back of the raft and start to paddle backwards, to try and slow the speed of the raft down and Dan was also paddling hard to try and reach them. As more rapids were fast approaching, we managed to slow down a bit and the guide caught up to us. Dan was assisting him as I reached out and grabbed the lady's paddle and pulled her in towards the raft. Dan lifted her into the raft and then, phew, everything was under control again. It ain't easy saving lives and being a hero, but someone's gotta do it.
The lady gazed into my eyes for the remainder of the day, telling me how happy she was that I grabbed her paddle. I kinda thought that maybe she fell in love with me or thought I was a real angel from heaven the way she kept looking at me... seriously.... anyways, like I said, it ain't easy being a hero, but someone's gotta do it.

Balicious

I am in Bali right now and it is simply delicious! Dan and I have been here for one week and we leave tomorrow night. We have had a busy, action packed, and yet relaxing, vacation.


Breakfast is free every morning here at the hotel. We start our day with scrambled eggs, toast, tomato, fried mushrooms, orange juice and coffee. Then we either go relax for a bit, wander to the beach, do a little shopping, have a massage (only 5 bucks!) or head to one of our planned activities.


The pic above is Rosa and Audrey, all ready to give us massages. What they do here is give you a massage and then guilt you in to going into their store to buy something. The purchase of an overpriced t shirt or purse is where they really make their money.

We saw a traditional Balinese dance of their version of the Romeo and Juliet story called Ramayana as well as a Fire Dance. There were men chanting out songs throughout with their hands raised above them, as they sat cross legged in a huge circle, in rows of 3 men deep as a dance took place in the middle of their circle. The final performance was a man dancing in fire and coals, which was pretty wild. All the while there were bats swooping in and out of sight. Very neat.

We also went and saw a few different temples. They are very religious here and they follow the Hindu religion. Both temples were great, but my personal favorite was the one on the beach.

We went to a monkey forest, which was at another temple in the forest. This is where about 200 monkeys live, by choice. They don't ever leave the comfort of the proximity of the temple. Here the monkeys climbed on us. We fed them. Saw a few babies. One baby had just been born that morning.... awww he was the cutest! One monkey bore it's teeth at us and hissed. Overall they were really cute and friendly.


There is more to tell, but this is all I will include for now. We are flying home tomorrow night, but there is a typhoon sweeping through Japan right now and we are supposed to land there to transfer... so I dunno if there are still flights going out or what. More soon!