Welcome back to the blog and we have an early start of 2.30am when I got up so that I could get to climb a mountain for dawn. There was a posted at the homestay advertising a tour for this mountain so I got my timings a bit off that. I took the motorbike (rented the day before) to mount Batur and it was the same road I'd been on day before. I got to the petrol station but it was closed so I hoped I had enough petrol to last me. The road continued past rice plantations and I was going slow because it was dark and although the road was good there are dogs which go out onto the road and you never know. The road became a bit less good with some cracks and more wear and tear and a car overtook and then stopped. The driver was a trekking guide who wanted me to join his group with price of 250 rupiah (discounted as I had my bike to get there). I said no but I might see you there, I didn't want to commit to anything and I also didn't want him driving slowly for me. I carried on and my phone which I was using as GPS and had sellotaped to the bike fell off, but as it was not so far to the mountain I followed all of the trekking cars going that way. They all stopped and parked up earlier than I expected and a guy there said this was where to go from and he wanted me to join a group. I sat down for a bit and changed into trekking clothes and had a snack for breakfast before starting the climb. There were lots of groups to follow and I was a bit worried there might be a park fee I'd missed and someone would call me up on it but it seemed ok. I was going well and the paths were easy to follow even though it was dark but they were sometimes to narrow to go past people although I managed at some point and I thought I was in front, but another path merged in and I was stuck behind a fairly slow group for a bit. I got my first offering of water for sale at 4.30 when I hadn't actually drunk anything yet, later there were more people selling things. I made it to the sunrise spot where quite a few people had set up there cameras and were just going to wait, but it was still an hour or so until sunrise so I carried on. There was a flat area and another group gathered around a plaque declaring this an importnat place, maybe a world heritage or something but it was too dark for photos so I planned to get one later. I carried on uphill and reached the top around 5.30am, still before sunrise so I walked around the caldera which the guided tours do only they wait until sunrise, I had a more brief tour as I needed to be back in time to catch a bus, maybe to Lombok at 11am. I was walking round and there were people pitched up eating breakfast waiting for sunrise and I went round the back where it was higher and smokier and then was on the way down when the sun came up and looked pretty amazing behind Mount Ayung volcano so I got some pictures. It was around 5.50am, earlier than I expected but we were higher up which could be why the sun was up earlier. I Finished walking around the crater and and headed back after a couple more photos. There was a local guy walking fast who wanted me to take motorbike with him from the halfway point, he also seemed to think there must be something wrong for me to be heading down, but I guess if everyone is on tours they all do the same things. I walked back down with no real trouble although my left shoe was pretty split, I had seen remnants of other peoples trainer tread lying around the slope. Somehow I had managed to miss the sunrise spot and more importantly the plaque. Again like Ijen volcano I probably had too many clothes on and it was getting warm at the bottom so I changed a bit. The bike was pretty low on petrol so I was careful with it, trying not to brake as much and went through the flooded road areas I'd been through on the way as well. maps.me said there was 6.9km to the petrol station which wasn't too far, but I still stopped after 2km for a viewpoint of the lake. Then I turned a corner about 1km up and there was a gas station not on the map. It was pretty small and I thought probably not as good, but when I paid 10,000 they put a decent amount of petrol in as the tank was half full afterwards. I carried on the road and diverted slightly to another viewpoint and then afterwards a museum for the volcano which was closed as it was still early. After that I drove back only stopping at a shop and was back around 8.15, had breakfast, showered, and did some packing. I booked a flight to Lubuan Bajo leaving tomorrow to see the Komodo dragons and at 10am I went out and got bus ticket to Kuta which is near to the airport. Then I went to Blanco museum which is an art museum for one Spanish painter who lived here, and it was 80k entry which is similar to the other 2 art galleries in the area. Going back I went to market which had loads of things for tourists before getting back, packing and going for some food and I tried a chicken salad which was pretty good although it had thousand island dressing rather than mayonnaise. While eating I realised the internet on my phone had stopped working so after I went to the local alfamart store and had to buy a 50k topup because that was all they did. I asked for them to make it work but I don't think they normally do that for tourists and I thought it was working but on the minibus I found out it didn't. The bus was fairly full when it arrived but the front was free so I sat there. We then drove around town and picked up more people while the driver helped meg et my phone working which wasn't easy and I ended up only getting 600mb of data. The van filled up completely and I was squeezed in next to an Egyptian called Amar, who had done a 2 month backpacking holiday and was next off to Hong Kong. We talked mainly about our holidays and I talked a lot about places then we got to the airport via the toll road and he got off. Soon after we got to Kuta and I got off and had to walk a bit to a hostel I'd seen on Agoda. The pavement at first was really good but when I turned the road was tiny with a bumpy pavement and road. The hostel was a bit hard to find and then they wanted 110,000 for the bed so I checked in and paid on Agoda for 89,000 and they checked me in and I got a top bunk :-(. The place had a pool though and it looked like we could use it as well as hotel guests. I went out to get a motorbike for a day and everywhere was more expensive. It was like some local mafia boss had set the price at 150k or you must rent for several days. I did eventually find a place that wanted 100,000 and agreed to 80 ,000 as I said I'd return it early the next day.
I headed out on the bike and got to the beach and just wanted a quick look but a parking attendant wanted 5,000 so I got back on and went round a corner where there was something ahead. I did think about stopping and turning around but it was a one way street so I carried on and police were pulling people over. I had a mask on and sunglasses so I thought I might get away but locals probably never wear sunglasses and so they waved me to stop and I went past the first policeman and apparently according to the internet I should have just continued but I pulled over at the next policeman. He asked for my international drivers license and I said it was at my hotel so he told me I can go to court or speak to the guy taking bribes. I went behind the truck and he asked for 300,000 so I paid and walked off. There was a queue of people paying and it was like a drive thru bribing operation which was pretty efficient so at least Indonesia is good at doing one thing. I was pretty angry afterwards and went to look at some temples but they were all closed so after a while of just driving I headed back and had some nasi goreng for 15,000 and a tea in a plastic cup for 1,000. Got back to the hostel and I left the bike there and it had a cable come loose out from the front wheel. I went for a walk to somewhere not so touristy where I could hopefully get some internet and the main drag had bars and clubs and all the shops in the area around Kuta charged more for things like a sunglasses guy wanted 150k for a cheap fake pair. A road or 2 along and things were cheaper but I had to get past a river before I found a supermarket where I got some dragon fruit to try (it's fairly tasteless). Soon I found an internet cafe where my phone connected so I got a good 2 hours done before heading back and having some snacks on the way. The main road in Kuta was busier with people wanting me to go into their bar, prices were even higher than on gili air however so I gave it a miss and went back to the hostel where I did a few things before going to bed.
0 Comments
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |