Hello there!
Our day began at 3:00 am today! Since the young'uns in the surf camp had brought the party home with them, we were pretty much awake when our alarm sounded at 2:45. We joined another American and 2 Austrians for a trek up one of the volcanoes that showcased a ginormous crater. We hired a driver and completed the 1.5 hour drive without incident. There were a lot of stray doggies in the road but they were scared by a quick flicker of the high beams. Daisy & Hazel don't know how good they have it! We arrived at the parking lot at about 4:30 and had to negotiate for our guides up the mountain. That was interesting. Due to the fact that we had five trekkers, we had to take 2 guides. For 600,000 rupiahs (about $60 - more than we thought!) we were directed up the mountain, we got water bottles and they prepared our breakfast at the top. We didn't dilly dally b/c we had to get to the top of the 2,700+ jaunt before the sunrise. The climb was about 5km and it gained most of the altitude in just that - 5km. Let's just say that there weren't may switchbacks to give the legs a rest. But, since we were climbing in the dark, it was too early for our brains to register what our bodies were up to, we survived the hike with ease. When we arrived at the top, it was terribly windy and quite a bit chillier than I anticipated. But, we arrived just in time to view the magenta rising sun just over Lombok Island. We could also see Mt. Arung - the tallest mountain on the island.
Peter and I joined our guide, Gdae, to another viewpoint that offered an even more astounding view of the countryside. This was the Bali we'd been wishing for since our hotel is in the most touristy and VERY busy part of this country. It was gorgeous. The sun was rising and the moon was setting. I will try to upload pictures soon.
The guides prepared us banana sandwiches and eggs in the steam that is still coming from the earth on the dormant volcanoes. Very delicious. The guides also told us that sometimes you can see wild monkeys on the trek. Unfortunately, we didn't see any. I'm bound and determined to see some on this trip!
After going back to the driver, we pressed on to the Mother Temple. It was a scene to try to get 5 non-Hindus into the temple. We had to rent sarongs -- in which Peter really did look SO WRONG! - for 5,000Rp (50 cents) and we had to buy tickets to enter the temple. There is a main temple that is dedicated to Shiva and two others on either side that are dedicated to the other gods of the Hindu Trinity. The temples were built in 8th century and 12th century. They have tall looking buildings that are stacks of pagodas (the pictures would help here) that have the levels according to odd numbers. Like the fewest you can have is 3 and 5, 7 etc...Additionally, there are temples for the Gods and then some for Families. They also had a temple that all people who believed in some kind of God could enter. Otherwise, only the Hindu people could go into the temples. But, we got a respectful view from the gates. The architecture was stunning. Most of the gates, steps and buildings were made of volcanic rock while others were made of soapstone. They were so intricately carved. There are temples for each caste of society - there are 4 that seem to exist only by tradition. The priests are the highest, then the royalty, then the business owners, then the farmers/workers. Each caste had their own temples on the Mother Temple property. I've never seen anything like it. It was really quite an education. It was so much older than anything I've seen.
After the Mother Temple, we traveled back to the surf camp via Sanur Beach. The sand was white and the water was crazy blue. Kind of like a postcard. After a well deserved lunch and rest, we headed back to our hotel. It was well worth the 3 am start time. This day was the Bali we were looking forward to. We got to see lots of farmland, natural areas, and terraced fields.
One of our Austrian counterparts made a meaningful comment as we were sitting on the beach preparing to depart back to Seminyak (where we are staying), he said, "The world is like a book and if you don't travel, you only read one page."
Nice thought for the day...
More another time!
Our day began at 3:00 am today! Since the young'uns in the surf camp had brought the party home with them, we were pretty much awake when our alarm sounded at 2:45. We joined another American and 2 Austrians for a trek up one of the volcanoes that showcased a ginormous crater. We hired a driver and completed the 1.5 hour drive without incident. There were a lot of stray doggies in the road but they were scared by a quick flicker of the high beams. Daisy & Hazel don't know how good they have it! We arrived at the parking lot at about 4:30 and had to negotiate for our guides up the mountain. That was interesting. Due to the fact that we had five trekkers, we had to take 2 guides. For 600,000 rupiahs (about $60 - more than we thought!) we were directed up the mountain, we got water bottles and they prepared our breakfast at the top. We didn't dilly dally b/c we had to get to the top of the 2,700+ jaunt before the sunrise. The climb was about 5km and it gained most of the altitude in just that - 5km. Let's just say that there weren't may switchbacks to give the legs a rest. But, since we were climbing in the dark, it was too early for our brains to register what our bodies were up to, we survived the hike with ease. When we arrived at the top, it was terribly windy and quite a bit chillier than I anticipated. But, we arrived just in time to view the magenta rising sun just over Lombok Island. We could also see Mt. Arung - the tallest mountain on the island.
Peter and I joined our guide, Gdae, to another viewpoint that offered an even more astounding view of the countryside. This was the Bali we'd been wishing for since our hotel is in the most touristy and VERY busy part of this country. It was gorgeous. The sun was rising and the moon was setting. I will try to upload pictures soon.
The guides prepared us banana sandwiches and eggs in the steam that is still coming from the earth on the dormant volcanoes. Very delicious. The guides also told us that sometimes you can see wild monkeys on the trek. Unfortunately, we didn't see any. I'm bound and determined to see some on this trip!
After going back to the driver, we pressed on to the Mother Temple. It was a scene to try to get 5 non-Hindus into the temple. We had to rent sarongs -- in which Peter really did look SO WRONG! - for 5,000Rp (50 cents) and we had to buy tickets to enter the temple. There is a main temple that is dedicated to Shiva and two others on either side that are dedicated to the other gods of the Hindu Trinity. The temples were built in 8th century and 12th century. They have tall looking buildings that are stacks of pagodas (the pictures would help here) that have the levels according to odd numbers. Like the fewest you can have is 3 and 5, 7 etc...Additionally, there are temples for the Gods and then some for Families. They also had a temple that all people who believed in some kind of God could enter. Otherwise, only the Hindu people could go into the temples. But, we got a respectful view from the gates. The architecture was stunning. Most of the gates, steps and buildings were made of volcanic rock while others were made of soapstone. They were so intricately carved. There are temples for each caste of society - there are 4 that seem to exist only by tradition. The priests are the highest, then the royalty, then the business owners, then the farmers/workers. Each caste had their own temples on the Mother Temple property. I've never seen anything like it. It was really quite an education. It was so much older than anything I've seen.
After the Mother Temple, we traveled back to the surf camp via Sanur Beach. The sand was white and the water was crazy blue. Kind of like a postcard. After a well deserved lunch and rest, we headed back to our hotel. It was well worth the 3 am start time. This day was the Bali we were looking forward to. We got to see lots of farmland, natural areas, and terraced fields.
One of our Austrian counterparts made a meaningful comment as we were sitting on the beach preparing to depart back to Seminyak (where we are staying), he said, "The world is like a book and if you don't travel, you only read one page."
Nice thought for the day...
More another time!
3 comments:
It sounds like you had a great adventure. I am happy you got away from the coast and into the hills. I found the landscape and culture of Bali to be extremely interesting.
glad to hear you guys are having a good time. if you do see a monkey, make sure he's wearing a red hat and named karl so we can take a picture for dad to take to court, with his pencil topper of course :)
love you guys.
-tara
Hey K! Here is a place i read about in the book Eat Pray Love, that sounds worth checking out in Ubud:
Wayan’s shop, which is called “Traditional Balinese Healing” is located a few doors up the street from the town post office, diagonally across the street from the Bali Buddha restaurant. Her “vitamin lunch” is still the best meal in Ubud (except for Ebu Oka’s roast suckling pig, but that’s not such a healthy option). Wayan also offers lovely massages and beauty treatments now, and is still a fantastic healer; I would trust her with any illness whatsoever.
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