Bali (Day 4-5) - Hike Mt. Batur

Today we headed to Mt. Batur to climb it, and we are in no hurry.  We  have to check out of the hotel by noon, but our driver isn't picking us up until 2 PM, so we woke when we woke, showered, then went down for breakfast.  After breakfast we hung out in the hotel until it was time to check out.  We then found a comfortable place on the premises to hang out.  This is where we settled and where I worked on yesterday's blog...not too shabby.

Around 1:15 PM we decided we better get some lunch because we do not know when we will be eating next.  We both decided on the pizza, which was served with ketchup?

As we finished the pizza our driver showed up, so we payed the bill and loaded up for the 1 hour drive to the base of Mt. Bater.  About 45 minutes into the drive we caught our first glimpse of what we are about to climb up and camp on tonight.

We arrived at the start of the hike, met our guide, Yon, and started up Mt. Batur.

Mt. Batur is an active volcano that is 5,633 feet high.  It last erupted in 2000 when it just spewed ash into the air. Today we are hiking up the volcano to experience the sunset.  We are then going to camp up there for the night and wake up to see the sunrise.  

The sunrise on the top of Mt. Batur is supposed to be amazing and a bucket list item although I have never heard of it until researching what to do in Bali.  In order to catch the sunrise, you have to join an official tour that picks you up from your hotel at 1 AM so you can hike up the volcano in the middle of the night (in the dark) and arrive at the top for sunrise.  I kept going back and forth trying to decide if I want us to do this, but with the early wake up and knowing that we would be wasted the entire day after, I thought not.  When I mentioned this to a fellow traveler in Malaysia, she told me that when she was in Bali she did an overnight on the top of Mt. Batur.  I immediately looked into it and found this great guide that we are with today...and here he is...well, the back of him anyway.

Here is one of many break partially up the Mt. Bater.  Tim is staring across Lake Batur at another high mountain on the other side.

There were nice sitting areas available for breaks throughout our climb up the volcano.

The trail was pretty easy for the first half, but then it got steep and rocky, but I was enjoying the entire thing.

Here is a great photo of our guide, Yon.  He was a great guy and a really good guide.

We finally made it to the top of Mt. Batur 2.5 hours after we started.  My watch said we walked about 4.5 miles, just over 7 kilometers as the guide told us it was.  The time was 5:40 AM, so we have about 20 minutes until sunset.  This is another plus of doing the overnight camping trip.  You get to catch sunset and then sunrise the next morning.  When we arrived at the top, Yon prepared a snack of hot chocolate, fruit, and a candy bar for us.  It really hit the spot.  The hot chocolate was especially appreciated since we were sweating from the climb, and it was pretty chilly on the top.

According to Yon, we were very lucky to see a sunset tonight.  He said it has been a while since one was visible like this.  Usually there is a cloud bank that obstructs the sunset.

These next photos point east, towards a different view.  Yon took my camera and did a bit of magic to get the second photo below.

I took this photo back at our campsite looking east..wow.

After sunset, the guides (there was actually 5 of us camping here tonight with 3 guides between us,) prepared dinner which was chicken (tofu for me) with rice.  They then made a campfire and we all sat around and talked until around 9 PM.  We need to go to sleep a bit of an earlier today since we have to be up before 5:30 AM for breakfast and the sunrise.  I told Yon that I thought waking at 5:30 AM would be early enough, he said that it will be impossible to sleep past 5 AM because all the people will start to arrive from the sunrise hike and they will wake us up.  How many people will arrive?  Over 500 people will start hiking up Mt Batur at 3 AM to make it to the top in time for sunrise! Yon said that in the summertime the number is closer to 1,000 people.

It was much colder sleeping up here than I thought it would be.  I only have shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in and the sleeping bag they provided wasn't very thick.  I tossed and turned a bit before falling asleep and then awoke at 12:30 AM along with Tim.  We thought we would take the opportunity to head out for a "relief" break.  I think I was then able to fall asleep until around 4 AM and then on and off for the next 45 minutes until the people starting arriving.

We gave up and got our of our tent around 5:15 AM and was greeted by a warm beverage before the sun started rising.  Breakfast was then served (banana sandwiches, hard-boiled egg, candy bar) and then sky started lighting up.

At 7 AM the clouds started moving through the valley which is actually the crater of this volcano.

Ten minutes later it was time to start the hike back down Mt Batur. Unfortunately, the other 500 or so people thought it was a good idea as well.  The first half mile or so of the trail is rocky, steep, and slippery causing a backup on the trail.  Don't forget, these people haven't slept all night making them even slower than usual.

We managed to finally get down the steeper part and the crowd started splitting up after the first break point.  Speaking of which...here is the wonderful view at the first breakpoint:

After a few more breaks we made it towards the bottom of Mt. Batur where there a a couple of smaller temples.  Since we were in a bit of a hurry going up, we didn't stop.  Now we had a bit of time to check them out.  Isn't this a pretty good composed photo?

Woohoo...we made it.  It took us just over 1.5 hours to get down....not too bad.

It was now just before 9 AM and it was time to head to the hot springs for some well deserved soakings (and a flushable toilet).

I kept the phone in the locker while we used the facility, but I did take photos on the way out.  The temperature of the water was really nice and the place seemed very clean.  The pools seem to get colder as we got lower down towards the lake and there was a fully cool pool over on the other side.  It was an enjoyable way to relax for 1.5 hours after the hike up and down Mt. Batur.

The driver then drove us the 1.5 hours to our next hotel in the village of Candidasa, a resort town on the south-east coast.

When we arrived at the hotel, just before 1 PM, we were both very hungry, so we dropped our bags in the room, changed into our swimsuits, and headed to the pool.  From there we ordered a couple of beers, lunch (me: Squid Satay; Tim: Chicken Satay) and they also brought us some welcome drinks made from a  local fruit called Snakeskin Fruit.

Here is our lunch with a view:

After lunch and swimming and napping we headed back inside to relax before dinner. The lunch was so good that we considered eating a the hotel again for dinner, but I did some research and found a seafood restaurant in the next village over that had really good reviews...and they will come and pick you up for free from your hotel.

I made reservation for them to pick us up 6:30 PM which gave us time to see the sunset over the beach in front of our hotel.

The restaurant was set back off the main road in a garden and was really beautiful.

The reservation marker was a leaf with our name on it...pretty cool.

One of the fish specialties in the area is called Guarmi Asam Manis which is a local, freshwater fish fried with sweet & sour sauce on it.  I was expecting it to be a whole fried fish, but what was delivered was the carcass of the fish on the bottom with the flesh lightly fried in nugget sizes and the sauce poured on top.  Wow...it was so good and I didn't have to do the work of removing the flesh from the bones.  This dinner made me very happy.  Tim went with the Grilled Prawn Satay.

Oh...we started the meal with a bowl of Avocado Soup that was actually served warm.  That was very good as well.  And we finished with a chocolate mousse...another great dish.  ​Overall, this was my favorite meal we had in Bali so far.

After dinner, the driver returned us to our hotel where we watched some YouTube, blogged, and then went to sleep pretty early.  It was a long day since we were up before the sun and we needed sleep.  Tomorrow we will rent scooters and ride around the area checking out the sites.  Until then...