Deliciously Me

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.

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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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That’s the term.

I’ve been Indonificated in just 6 days!

Since I’m still feeling Indonised, I shall quickly summarize the whole trip before I went into details. Ah~ I can still ‘hear’ the Javanese music playing in my head.

In just 6 days, I’ve…

1. took 6 flights. Fly cheap and further with AirAsia!

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