The Great Bali Escape: Hiking up Mount Batur for the glorious sunrise

Our guide Wayan was pleasant, spoke good English and was funny at trying times. A mountain guide for 10 years now, it takes him just 40 minutes to leisurely walk up to the peak of Mount Batur. Coming down is a hop, a skip and a jump of 15 minutes. Ketut, the other guide carrying a backpack of drinks didn’t say much, but grinned a lot.

It was dark at 4 a.m. (duh). We relied on our torch lights to navigate through pebbles, rocks and uneven steps. Put on our jackets because of the early morning chill, but took them off after 15 minutes. After a bit of walking, we were hot and sweaty found it easier to continue without wearing them.

I can’t begin to describe how I felt at that time. We had to stop frequently because I found it quite difficult to continue on without. You know, being the fat and unfit lazy arse that I am.

Many times, the reality of what we were doing came crashing down at me. I couldn’t stop wondering, why the hell I signed up for this! FA was a trooper. She tried to encourage me and I am sorry for telling her to stop talking at times. Sorry… love your great intentions but it made me feel worse <3
Splendid view halfway up to the peak.

But for all that, it was VERY beautiful, even in the dark. The stars were shining bright and aplenty. I thought I saw The Archer, turns out I need more studying in constellations. Looking back, I would have liked to take in more of my surrounding view, but I was too exhausted to care much.

After an hour, I sat down and thought I could not move anymore. Wayan suggested that Ketut leads FA to the top, her being way fitter than I am in every sense, and he would continue with me. That was done, and we sat for a while longer before continuing on.

Side note: the mountain guides were randomly assigned to us, and I was REALLY glad that we got Wayan. Might even go offer incense to ze gods later as a note of thanks. I know I would not have made it to the peak without Wayan’s encouragement and help. Being an experienced guide, he’d come across situations like mine (i.e. unfit) plenty of times, and knows exactly what buttons to push to keep you going. Words fail to describe my appreciation, and I am SO DARN GRATEFUL for him!

Insert wondrous poetic lines here

The rest of the way up was grueling and backbreaking. Many times I fretted that we would miss the sunrise, but Wayan being the chillax guide that he is, smiled and confidently told me that we would make it.

“Relax.. take in your surroundings, the sunrise will be there.”

That helped… for 5 minutes. When I looked up to see the path’s 60 degree angle leading to the peak, can you spell demotivation? I didn’t think I would have any strength to haul myself up.

Wanted to quit. Almost teared up which disgusted myself because in the real world, this is not difficult!! But Wayan held my hand and let me take my time, going at my own pace. I apologised to him for my weakness and he kindly smiled, “Don’t think too much. Everyone has their own pace in Bali.”

Woah… that did the trick. I felt better after that.

This too shall pass.

And a full 60 minutes later, it did!

Bucket list, done

What can I say? It was breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL at the peak. Magnificent views overlooking the black lava from the 2000 eruption. Mount Abang and Mount Agung were resplendent in the horizon. Puffy cottony white clouds covered Lake Batur down below and unfortunately the rising sun. No matter, it was still a splendid sight to behold.

Mount Abang and Mount Agung

With the fantastic Wayan!

Later Wayan got us our breakfast – sandwich of boiled bananas and 2 hard-boiled eggs (apparently boiled using the natural hot spring water). Non-aggressive monkeys were every where hoping to get remnants of our breakfast.

We sat, chilled, chatted, took photos and videos. After an hour, the other tourists began to leave. Maybe they had tour schedules to keep, or have seen better, who knows.

After we were done with food, Wayan took us down the slope to see the sulphur spots, cave and crater. By the time we got back to the cabin at the peak, we were among the last couple of groups around. Was nice to have the whole place to ourselves, just sit around, take in the resplendent view and talked.

Remains of the lava from 2000

It was time to leave, else we’d end up fried Malaysians. Going down was slightly easier, though your thighs would feel like they’d wrestled Stone Cold the next day. At least we could see clearly now, things we’d missed on the way up, i.e. a tomato farm.

It was THAT steep. The top part of Mount Batur anyway.

Could hardly believe I was actually at the peak!

Best hiking pal ever.

What an incredible experience! Three things I learnt from this adventure:

1) Never eat oily food before trekking up a mountain. You’ll feel it at your throat later.
2) Some sleep is better than no sleep.
3) Never refuse a hand when offered. Very important, this.

Said thanks and goodbye to Wayan and the other guides. Yande (our day guide) took us to Lake Batur (also known as Danau Batur) so we could see Mount Batur from another side.

Danau Batur

View of Mount Batur from Lake Batur

I made a video of our Mount Batur experience. 6.50 mins, I was not very cohesive, BUT WHAT THE HECK I JUST WALKED UP A 1,717 METRE HIGH VOLCANO MOUNTAIN!! 😀

*Complete Flickr set of Mount Batur, Bali here.