Climbing Batur

Featured

Mar 6

You are Going to Have GREAT PICTURES!!!

Note to self and all the active yet maybe out of shape folks, ratings of hikes MAY vary A LOT. While in Bali in March of 2022 I decided to hike Mount Batur because the bike ride in Ubud didn’t go so well and I wanted to still be active. My guide said that the hike was an “easy” hike and so I said, “cool”. The kicker was that the meet up time from my hotel was 1:30am, O.M.G!!! I was so nervous that I was going to miss the pick-up time I barely slept. It was a 2 hour ride to the volcano. We got there at 3:30 and my guide arrived soon after.

The good things: He gave me a flashlight, there weren’t other people walking with us and my guide gave me a walking stick.

And off we went. For the first 5 minutes I kept up with my guide. Then I had to remind myself that we were going to be going for a mile and that I needed to save myself to ensure I made it to the top. As we walked my guide kept trying to talk to me, “W.H.Y?”. I hate when folks who find a workout easy start talking as I am trying to find ALL MY BREATH!!! After a while he got the clue and stopped talking to me and just starting talking in general not wanting answers. But, then he asked me a few times, “Miss are you okay?”. Now I was breathing all types of hard but was fine, JUST OUT OF SHAPE!!! I had to tell him, “When you don’t hear me that’s when there is a problem”. I couldn’t see his reaction but I laughed. I did also start to wonder WHERE WAS THE FLAT part? It dawned on my that we were hiking up. It was a sad realization.

Taking all the breaks because I had to find my breath, I didn’t until we started taking pictures. The one thing I noticed is that I couldn’t trust my guide. He kept saying that it would be better for me to stop when the trees are cleared because they are taking all the oxygen. When I asked, “how far until they clear?”. He continuously said, “20 minutes”. He also said that we needed to make it to the top by sunrise so that I could have great pictures. After a while he was said well it’s okay if we don’t make it. That burned me. After an HOUR when the trees FINALLY CLEARED, I could breathe better, but the sun had also started to rise. Which really was BEAUTIFUL.

On our way there were several motorbikes that passed us and for a minute I wanted a ride. But, then we got to the last part of the hike up my guide told me that was the part that the bikes couldn’t go. All I could think was what was the point then? I quickly realized why no bikes could go up that way, I actually did some real climbing and had to use my hands to pull myself up many parts.

All the monkeys at the top!!! Where did they come from? I guess they were asking the same about me!

Hey Hey We’re the Monkeys!

Upon arrival at the top, I was greeted by about 50 wild monkeys and millions of flies!! Both were excited to see ALL THE PEOPLE, the ones that took the other route up! I hate monkeys because they are so aggressive and they are not cute like you see in the movies. I also hate flies because they just get into and onto everything and they won’t leave. Needless to say I was ready to head back down as soon as I took the obligatory, I made it to the top photos. I was very excited that I had taken several photos on the way up because it was extremely overcast and cold at the top. Stopping is the worst thing for me because my mind tells my body IT’S ALL DONE!!! However, I took the 30 minute break and waited for my guide to make banana sandwiches and boiled eggs. I was happy for the food but once I ate I was ready to go to get away from all the FLIES and the MONKEYS!!!

Where the motorbikes couldn’t go! And where I didn’t think I should go either!

Soooo What Goes Up Should Come DOWN!!!

Towards the end of the hike up I started to wonder how I was going to get back down because my knees don’t work that well. The top part was not as bad as I thought it was going to be because I was able to sit down and scoot on a lot of it. But, once we got to the “regular” hike, non boulder part it was the worst thing EVER!!! My knees were done and couldn’t bend too much more. I had to TAP OUT. At the time my guide said that it was gonna take about 2 hours to get back down and my knees and one ankle were already feeling it. We called for a “GOJEK”, one of the motorbikes. Wayan, my driver, and Rosie, his bike, arrived about 15 minutes later. My guide told me that I had to negotiate the price myself. Wayan told me a huge price and I told him that was just about the amount I paid the driver to get to volcano. Wayan then told me as he beat his chest with his fist, “ I am a hero, you cannot put a price on that!”. I nodded my head and lumbered onto the back of the bike and my guide hopped onto the other bike that was brought up for him.

Now, I was quite fearful of falling off the bike and off the side of the volcano because due to my weight we had to go BACK UP the volcano a bit and OVER to GET OFF. I held on tight and prayed a lot of make sure we stayed on the path. On that bike we went UP UP and did some DOWN DOWNs. Wayan continuously talked to me on the way down which not only unnerved me but put me at ease. Once we got to the paved road, about 30 minutes) it was smooth sailing but also a WHOLE OTHER TOUR. It took about 30 minutes to get to the car from the road. I ended up paying Wayan the original price that he asked because they did send 2 bikes and I wanted to make sure that both drivers were paid and he really was, a “HERO”!!!