A typical village street
Bali at its best!
Whitewater rafting! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
The wilderness at its wildest!
Waterfall! Wonder-fall!
Day 110: Tuesday, November 17th
Today has to go down as the most fun day of the entire trip! It was loaded with adventures from sunup to sundown. Our excursion began with a drive to another resort, where we had to sign our life away for insurance purposes! I was not entirely sure what I was getting myself into, but I knew that it would be both dangerous and fun. After getting fitted in water shoes, a little motor boat whisked us away and across the beautiful water, under which’s surface, I could spot numerous yellow, orange, and white starfish – if I looked closely. Out in the middle of nowhere, we were dropped off at a kind of floating dock. The next thing I knew, the men aboard the docking station were securing a life jacket on me and explaining all these underwater hand signals that I should use and understand. Okay… This is bizarre. Now I was getting nervous.
When I saw the apparatus, I finally understood (although not fully). Basically, it goes like this. I become the goldfish in a bowl of air while the fish watch me, and I watch them – on their turf! It’s called seawalking, and how it exactly works, I am not quite sure. But what I do know is that the concept is both cool and very scary. Essentially, a forty pound helmet, shaped like a goldfish bowl, and fed by tubes of oxygen is placed over your head until it rests on your shoulders. That’s it! You are free to move about the cabin. We were told not to panic if water started coming in the helmet, that it was normal as long as it didn’t go higher than your chin! I wasn’t feeling very secure about the whole thing at all. We descended slowly down the ladder and into the water. How water was not rushing into this helmet from the bottom, I could not comprehend. We reached the seafloor, and I almost started to panic. All I could hear was the Darth Vader sound of my breathing. I had to focus on breathing constantly. I kept fearing the flooding in of the water.
Walking on the seafloor was a bit challenging. The currents near the bottom are quite strong. Every now and again I would lose my footing, which served only to make me more afraid. I kept imagining that a strong current would push me too far too suddenly and that my helmet would pop off because I would have drifted out of the oxygen tube’s range. My imagination was definitely getting the better of me! In the midst of this, the guide marched us to a reef where we were supposed to kneel and watch the fish. The fish were everywhere, which made me quite nervous. I love nature; I love it a lot in fact, but I do not like when it gets too near me, and these fish were very, very near. The guide handed me a bottle of fish food. I tried to decline it, but he wrapped my hands around it and swam away. Immediately, more fish came. They recognized the bottle and desired its promising contents. I tried to hide the bottle behind my back. I didn’t care if the whole ocean was behind me as long as I couldn’t see it in front of me! And for a time, it worked – until…
Tori thought that she could be cute and clever. She looked at me through her goldfish bowl and poured out her fish food right in front of my face. The fish streamed in, eating the food and nibbling at my mask at the same time. I had to close my eyes to keep from panicking. They were everywhere – everywhere! I was trying desperately not to touch their slimy surfaces. I couldn’t bear the texture of it! I was fairly successful for the most part, but there were times when their little scales glided across my hands, and every nerve in my body sizzled in disgust.
Overall, the experience was unique and memorable, and believe it or not, I would probably do it again. It just seemed so unnatural, so contrary to physics, that it was difficult to process the first time. Essentially, the ocean was a lovely place to visit, but no place to live.
After the seawalking, we headed for a change in venue: destination jungle. I have never been to the jungle before, but I have always longed to see it. The idea of lush, verdant areas teeming with life appeal to me. The added bonus was the fact that hundreds upon hundreds of monkeys live in this certain part and approach visitors eager for food. Again, I was excited – so long as the monkeys didn’t touch me! Once we arrived, we could see the monkeys immediately. We bought some bananas from a vendor and ventured into the emerald mass. The monkeys were everywhere, and they wanted those bananas. The family took turns holding the bananas over their heads. The monkeys literally climbed up their bodies and grabbed them! It was positively surreal! I watched in amazement. The idea was terribly intriguing to me, but the thought of a monkey crawling on me was not so appealing. I had watched too many Discovery shows on monkeys to know that they are not always the most docile of creatures, and sure enough… Tori tried to hold on to her banana; at which point, the male monkey bared his teeth, hissed at her, and nipped her with his teeth. Tori screamed! That was enough for me. I was perfectly content watching rather than risking! Eventually though, the family talked me into trying it. I was nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof. I braced myself, raised the banana, and eyed my little customer. Quicker than lightning, he scaled my limbs, grabbed my banana, and leapt from my head! Aghh! I can still feel his little tugs on my clothing! I enjoyed the experience merely because it was safe and successful, but I dared not tempt fate again!
After the jungle, which was positively gorgeous (and everything that I thought and hoped it to be), we drove to the river for whitewater rafting! We had to hike through the jungle to access the river, which was half the fun. Again, the jungle did not disappoint. Tori and I shared a raft with a lovely Japanese couple, who were on their honeymoon. They could not have been more darling! They didn’t speak English, and we did not speak Japanese, but it is amazing how well we all communicated! On top of this, Tori and I absolutely adored our guide. He was hilarious, and he kept us laughing the entire journey down the river. He had the most amazing sense of humor and made the most of every opportunity to play tricks on us. The rest of the family was in another raft. Almost the entire time, we raced against each other to be lead dog.
The voyage was utterly amazing. The trees towered over us like spring giants, weaving their mighty arms above us in a protective canopy. The sounds of exotic birds chimed madly. Occasionally, a daring beam of sunlight penetrated the leaves above us and kissed our working shoulders. On either side of the river we marveled at the rock carvings in the boulders. Beauty, serenity, power, and majesty penetrated us from every angle. Finally, well into the ride, our guide led us into and trapped us under a powerful waterfall. The waters beat on my head like a furious hammer, but nothing has ever felt so good. The feelings of freedom and surrender washed over me in a strange sort of way. There was no resisting the power and pressure of those lofty waters. I smiled and laughed until it hurt. It was the best kind of pain.
Shortly thereafter, our guide told us to hop out of the boat and simply swim. He couldn’t have said anything more welcome or more wonderful. Without hesitation, I threw myself into the coolness of the water. Because of my lifejacket, there was no struggle to stay afloat, no need to fight nature. I simply relaxed and handed myself over. After the intensity of the waterfall, the river was a calm reprieve, a different, but equally important, taste of freedom and exhilaration. I think that I could have swum in that river for the rest of my life. At times I swam on my back, and at times I simply let the current take me where it desired. There was no right or wrong way to approach this river. It was all good. It was all perfect. In many ways it felt like Baptism should. In much regret, I finally exited my jungle paradise. Our venture had turned to the last page in its book.
If anything else happened this day, I don’t remember it, and it doesn’t matter. Today was perfect, like the jungle was perfect, like the river was perfect, like surrender is perfect. I used to think that perfection did not exist, but there is a certain little river in Bali that has proved otherwise.
Bali is really the best place for the tourists…I have learnt from my traveling experience that tourist who careless about the possible dehydration, often get dehydrated…take traditional reusable water bottle or wrist water bottles to avoid dehydration.