Yesterday we decided to do a tour and chose two activities, the first, in the morning was Bamboo rafting down the river and then a tour of The Silver cave. Was quite chilly when we woke, so after a substantial breakfast we heated up our hot water bottles in preparation of rafting. A driver picked us up and we drove about 12kms to the river, and got our first view of our raft. The raft was made of 10 bamboo poles tied together, with two rusty deck chairs tied to it. The chairs consumed the width of our raft. Our captain was a very elderly, bow legged man, with a cheerful disposition and a wonky eye. The raft was propelled by a long pole, and our captain, whilst doing this sang, quacked at ducks for us, and chattered away, punctuated by frequent hacking and spitting. Quite endearing really! The rafting took about 2hrs through beautiful scenery. There were concrete levees periodically, which our raft was pushed and shoved over. When you hit the water on the other side you had to lift your legs, as the front of the raft was submerged quite deeply in the water before balancing back out. Our captain really enjoyed our shrieks and screams, as the water sprayed over us.... our bums were quite wet at the end. Our captain gave us a very warm farewell, and the morning really was enjoyable.
After this we drove about 20kms to the Silver cave. We were'nt allowed to go in without a guide, so we had to wait for another group. A busload of Indonesians on a tour turned up, so we joined them. They had a guide who held up a flag, and everyone followed him. Everyone seemed a little bemused to find us with them, they could'nt speak chinese, we could'nt speak Indonesian, and I'm pretty sure they had no idea why we were with them! Anyway, we just kept smiling at them, and after a while they smiled back, and the flagbearer became more friendly. I just felt like a stalker initially. The cave system was quite spectacular, and lit up with fairy lights, and the tour took about an hour. There was even a shop inside, never let an opportunity pass to sell overpriced trinkets. The exit also required you to pass through many little stalls, but we ran the gauntlet and purchased nothing.... we are getting better at this! Anyway, great day, lots of beautiful photos. A stroll in the evening, finally sussing out some decent food, and had wok fried rice for $2. Love to all! xxxxxxx
