With barely 3 hours of sleep, we clambered into Pak Wawan’s car at 1.30am. I took the last row of the 8-seater and laid down on the bags to continue my sleep. Pak Wawan said that the drive to the foot of Mount Batur would take 2hrs and we are expected to reach there at 3.30am. Factoring in the time to hike up, we would be just in time to catch the sunrise.
While drifting in and out of my sleep, I could feel the the speed of the car and the coldness of the air. When the car finally came to a stop, I checked my watch and saw that it was only 2.30am. Hmm, 1 more hour of sleep (or so I thought)… Pak Wawan announced that we have arrived!!
We met our guide at the carpark. The air was cold. We put on additional sweaters and with a torch in hand, we started our ascent. We were told that we are 1 of the first groups. And given that we were early, we took a leisurely stroll.
The initial part of the ascent was easy paved road. About one-third into the climb, we start to feel warm and took off our jackets. Although the path was clear, there were some parts we had to use both our hands to help us. As we climbed up, we looked back and saw a line of lights. Nope, they are not stars, they are lights from the torches of other climbers behind us.
Finally we have reached. We were 1 hour early. Interestingly, there are benches on mountain. Since we were early, we had the privilege to choose a nice spot! Our guide then left us there to go to a ‘store’ (little hut) to prepare us hot drinks and eggs for breakfast. For us, we started taking random photos until we started dozing off 1 by 1 while more people started to arrive.
Finally, we started to see light! The egg yolk slowly rose up. The clear sky made phototaking easy! We could also see Mount Agung (an active volcano in Bali) clearly. Once the sun was fully up, we followed our guide to look at other landscapes around the area. As other hikers started their descent, our guide brought us to another path and continued upwards. It was a beautiful sight! That’s why hubby and I like climbing mountains! Photos don’t do justice to the place! Some parts of the path did not even look like a proper route! At around 7.30am, we finally started our descent down a very slippery path filled with ashes and loose rocks.
Instead of walking down to the carpark where we first alighted, our driver drove up to another carpark at mid-point (play cheat abit). We were really glad to hop back into the car!
Thereafter, Pak Wawan brought us to Batur Natural Hot Spring for a dip into the hot spring pools. The pool is by the side of the lake Danau Batur. We also had a satisfying buffet breakfast at the restaurant. As we dipped ourselves in the pool, we dozed off one by one once again. Frankly, as the only girl, I was a little afraid to go into the old and creepy-looking changing room alone. Luckily, hubby waited for me outside. Toilet facilities were rather dated. And there were not much hangers in the cubicle.
Our next stop was the Bali giant swing. We were brought on a tour of the place where they sold coffee. Our friends ordered some tea and coffee to share (and to keep us awake!) while I queued for the swing and took photos at the different installations. It’s really good to have our friends around to help us take more pictures. And it was really thrilling to be on the swing because the staff really used all their might and strength to ‘throw’ me further! It costs about 20sgd to be on that swing, facing front and back. I would say it was good fun with the staff using all his might (and body weight) to swing me further!
As we drove back to our villa, we made another stop for lunch at Ubud. Yes, we seem to have completed so many things and it’s only lunch time! That’s the good thing about starting our day early (real early…). We ate at a restaurant famous for Bebek Gembil (fried duck, another famous dish in Bali). The seats at the restaurant are intersting. It was nice lazing around for the afternoon.
We also decided to drop by the Pomegranate Cafe that is a popular recommendation in Ubud. It is not that easy to locate. We alighted along Jalan Raja Ubud in front of the Monkey Forest Sanctuary and started following our GPS. The beginning of the path is a narrow road which leads to a row of houses, unique cafes and plantations. The path is shared with bikes. So we had to be very careful and alert!
Finally, we found the cafe! We ordered some finger food and dessert while waiting for the sunset. This cafe is rather environmentally friendly as they use metal straws for the drinks. Of course, I hope they washed it well! If you intend to walk down the terraces, do be careful as the mud paths are slippery. 2 of my friends sacrificed their shorts and slippers respectively! Haha!
After catching both the sunrise and sunset in 1 day, we were all exhausted, really exhausted. By the time we reached our villa, we decided to call it a day.
Perrine Travels 