Swimming in the river: Ubud Bali

Driving tourists around Bali is a hit or miss affair. As in any place, part of the enjoyment is relaxing and taking the time to find the special places / moments. Doing it on a swing-through is rather like going to Disneyland, and I feel like I must show one ‘attraction’ after another. Bali has its attractions for sure, but the special thing about Bali is not Waterbom park or Tanah Lot, its the local culture and scenery. To get into that takes time and I can’t whip that out of a bottle. One of the cool things, figuratively and literally I could do for my friends, was take them for a dip in the river in Ubud. Sounds crazy to some people, but after sweating up a storm touring a temple or museum, there’s nothing better in my opinion, than finding a stream and jumping in.

Today I drove us to Murni’s Warung, in Campuhan, parked and hiked down the steps across the street to the Wos Barat river. Ika, Jevon and have been there before and its is relatively safe. After the rain yesterday afternoon, the Wos Barat was muddy, but as I found, still freshingly cool. Toby was a bit concerned at first, but after getting comfortable in a rapid, he brought Maya in to sit on his lap. We all had a good time and I said to Toby, “The best thing about this is its free.” Toby was sitting in the rapids and hollered down to us, “Is the water any warmer down there?” We said it wasn’t. “It should be.” said Toby. Cheers mate! All over Bali you will find streams and getting in for a dip is a wonderfully relaxing thing to do.