Deliciously Me

It was pitch dark except for the yellow light coming out of the torchlights we brought along. I held Sat’s hand very tightly for fearing that I might ‘lead’ into walking the wrong path and got separated from the group.

The first few hundred kilometers were easy breezy walk on flat ground of tiny sandy ash dusts. I shone my torchlight to the side to see what was on the side of the path we walked – and very much to my surprise, there are vegetation like onions, potatoes, lettuces, chilies. I even saw snails! Haha. Didn’t know that the ash from the volcano is fertile enough to grow vegetable. Lol.

About 40-45 minutes of walking, I was starting to feel fatigue. I was like – my stamina couldn’t be that bad! I didn’t even start hiking up the mountain yet! I told Sat about this and he claimed that I was so because I didn’t eat the banana in the van earlier and started giving me a short lecture on how the banana supposed to give me energy.

Moreover, he said, if one walk in blindness (as in couldn’t see your path ahead) and only depends on other senses like what we were doing, one would use up more energy compared to hiking up during the day where one could see the route clearly.

True enough. So to make sure I didn’t overdrain energy, I shone the light further, carefully avoiding shining at trees as I was told that there are tree spirits especially in forest.

We then had to walk through high wild grasses at both sides and I was quite paranoid as I fear that there will be snake hiding there. But on the second thought, how could one find snake in volcanic area? The sulfur from the mountain would at least scare the snakes away. Hehe.

There is a small Balinese God altar at the foot of Mount Batur. Someone asked one of the guides on what why there is an altar there. We were told that the altar is to guard and clam the spirits of Mount Batur. Upon hearing that, I quickly paipai asking for their protection while hiking up Mount Batur.

Soon, we began ascending the mountain. It was quite chilly as there was cold wind blowing against and my legs began to get wobbly. Physically I was getting weaker and weaker but mentally I was strong. I could see myself hiking up the Mount Batur without panting and minimal help, but the truth was I can’t. By one and an half hour later, I called for a break as I couldn’t walk anymore and the guides encouraged us to walk a little bit more to the open field (with great scenery).

Finally I got the break I wanted. I immediately dropped down and drank water. Sat asked me to quickly eat the banana I stored in my bag. David passed me a bottle of Yakult to restore my energy (he claimed it would and it did!). Couple of locals that followed us kept asking if I wanted to have Coke – which I declined as having Coke while hiking is definitely a big NO.

Just as I felt better, the guides signaled us to start moving. I did feel energetic initially, but after few minutes later, I felt worst. I kept motivate myself to keep on going, keep pushing myself, keep telling this is the fastest way to get slimmer – but eventually I was mentally drained too.

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From Uluwatu to Jimbaran, it takes about 35-40 minutes. But again, the journey didn’t seem long because of the scenery and the companies.

Moreover Jess and I kept updating ourselves with what we did few days before we met.

Our van pulled into a porch of a fine looking restaurant. Then all of us got down and Yoga told us that we were to have our dinner there. A young, pretty girl in Balinese attire stood at the entrance with a tray of flower on her hand.

One by one we went to her, where she would put a flower behind our left ear, regardless the person is a guy or a girl. Haha. I couldn’t stop laughing at the guys for they looked super duper funny with the flower there. Kaka!

We then walked out to the beach. It was sooooooo windy and cold! So cold that it made me feel like hugging Sat for warmth! Haha! But obviously I can’t do that la. Kakaka! The strong wind even blew the fresh flower placed by the young lady away.

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“Those wearing specs later must take off their spec. No sunglasses, necklaces, pens or anything dangling.”

We quickly removed all our stuffs while heading to the next tourist attraction, Pura Luhur Uluwatu. I heard about this beforehand from LeeMay and Lisa when both of them visited me few weeks ago, so I brought along my contact lens and wore them throughout my visit in Bali. If not for their warning, I wouldn’t have brought my contact lens along and would walk around half-blindly. Probably just a quarter-blind as my eyesight isn’t that terrible. Haha.

Then Yoga turned to me and said, “Must remove your earrings too.”

Shocked I replied, “Huh? Earrings also need?” as I can’t imagine how the earring can be taken off easily.

“The monkeys could easily take it off without you realizing. They’re very quick!” he said.

I quickly took off both earrings and necklace; leaving only a much secured hair band to tie up my hair as I didn’t want the monkey to mess up with my hair.

As Ailing, Lasker and Steven wore specs at that time, they asked if there’s another way to secure their specs. Yoga suggested using rubber band, but since we didn’t have that so he asked them to hold on to their specs whenever they see a monkey coming near.

Steven suddenly asked, “what if they managed to get that from us? How to get them back?”

“Then you have to bribe them with food or something else for exchange,” Yoga said with a laugh, which made everyone laughed too.

Steven replied, “aiya… then we should have get the bananas just now!” and all laughed even harder.

Soon we reached the place and just as we were about to get down, he asked us to leave everything in the van if possible. So we did, except for the DSLR hung around our necks and wallets and passports where I put in Sat’s pants’ pockets.

The sky was quite dark at the time we arrived, and I was hoping that it wouldn’t rain.

We then went to the side, where those wearing pants or skirts above knee lengths need to wear sarong to cover their legs. The lady there didn’t want to give me a sarong initially because my dress is long, but after few persuasions, she wore for me! YAY! Damn happy that time.

Then we quickly took a group picture at the entrance.

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The moment we got into the van, Yoga introduced himself, the driver and started telling histories on Bali, the people and the culture.

Some of us felt hungry as they didn’t have lunch yet (we had ours on plane0, so we went to this fine looking restaurant, Pawon Pasundan for Indonesian lunch.

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I woke up early in the morning, at about 6 something. I couldn’t sleep well because of the cold. Knowing that there are only 2 bathrooms/toilets available on each floor and nobody was up yet, I took my own sweet time bathing, washing hair and brushing teeth, Haha. Then I woke Sat up and the girls in my room.

While going in and out of the room to the toilet, I bumped into an Indonesian guy who stayed in the room opposite ours. From exchanging smiles to small talk, all I know about this guy is he’s from another part of Indonesia (can’t remember where now – I think it’s Medan) and he’s in Jakarta for work. He then asked where am I coming from. When I told him that I’m from Malaysia, he revealed that he used to work in Malaysia in the city of Kuala Lumpur long, long time ago. After that I went back to my room and he went to the toilet.

Had Yakult as breakfast! Hoho!

Then it was time to go. I took my backpacks and went down with the rest. We waited for our pre-booked Alphard Taxi at the verandah. After getting call from the company saying that the taxi is somewhere near the area, we walked out to the main road, Jl. Jaksa since the company claimed that the taxi is too big for the small lane.

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