Avantika Mishra, known to be an adventure junkie and globe trotter who enjoys exploring different places and experiencing new cultures, recently celebrated her birthday in an offbeat way. She went on a river rafting trip in Bali. It was the first such experience for her. And boy, did she make the most of it!
“I wanted to do something adventurous,” shares Avantika, adding that she had been shooting non-stop and wanted to take a break to rejuvenate.
The actress took a rafting trip on the Ayung, the longest river on the Indonesian island. And she found the experience of being surrounded by water blissful. “A typical rafting trip lasts for two hours, but this lasted for four hours. It was very challenging, considering that the river was raging and it was a first-time experience for me,” shares Avantika who sat in the front of the raft.
Also, the people taking the trip were told that there were snakes in the river, and that made them a bit nervous.
At one point, when the river was still, she was able to take in the beauty of the surrounding lush green forests.
And Avantika had an adventure within the adventure. Midway through the trip, the actress, perhaps lulled into a sense of security, lost her grip on the raft and fell in the river. “I didn’t know what happened, everyone started panicking and I could hear them shouting,” she recalls. The others on the raft tried to reach out to her, and Avantika succeeded in getting back on board the raft after a struggle, thanks to her acrobatic skills, she reveals. The actress says she was lucky to escape unhurt.
“Things could have easily gone wrong; I could have fallen on some of the big rocks in the river; I’m lucky to have survived,” she shares.
Shrugging off the scare, Avantika continued the journey for another two hours and enjoyed the experience. “We reached Ubud and trekked for an hour. All these things happened on my birthday, making it memorable,” she quips.
There were six members on the rafting team, all from different countries, who were strangers to each other. But after the trip they all came back as friends.
“Actually, my friends and family were supposed to join me on the rafting trip, but they backed out. That did not stop me from having a great time on my own,” says Avantika.
The actress, who says she loves to spend time with Nature, explains that one of the reasons she went to Bali was to rejuvenate.
