Deliciously Me
Putting the 'licious' in everything
Posts Tagged ‘Bali’
We were so high up in the Mount Batur for sunrise yet I don’t remember seeing one. I must have seen it without registering the moment in my head! Hmm. Kinda wasted. Should I climb up again in future? – Let me have a thought about it first. Haha.
At the top of Mount Batur, I remembered peeking at my watch to see what time it was and how long we took to conquer this mountain. Unfortunately I can’t remember the exact time but it was somehow around 7-ish in the morning.
Everyone was in good spirit – there weren’t a sign of fatigue on their faces at all. Maybe it was the 2 golden retrievers that boasted our spirits by running around us playfully. If it weren’t for the dogs, I think most of us would have just ‘die’ off there. Lol.
‘Die’ in this term means sleep. Not ‘that’ die ya. Lol.
After resting for quite some time, the guides motioned us to follow them to the inner side of the mountain where the crater is. We then reached an edge where we had to ‘slide’ about a metre down the big rocks to get nearer to the crater. The guys opted to jump down (ego mah) while the girls with the help from the guide slowly climb and slide down. The two golden on the other hand, went down so smoothly like pros. When they got down, they happily wagged their tails and ‘waited’ for the rest of us to get down.
Once everyone got down, we proceed to the left and found ourselves in front of a big cave. The cave isn’t deep enough tho, but it can produce echo if one speaks considerably loud. Hehe.
I took 1-2 photos just to realize that I was actually taking photos of the rock. So I stopped and asked myself what the hell I supposed to look at there. Lol.
Then someone asked if want to take group picture there. Though didn’t know what to take, but we just blindly agreed and took 1-2 pictures there. Now I wonder we took group photo using whose DSLR at that time? Hmm.
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.
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. 
“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.
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.
