We flew then taxi'd into Kuta, the tourist hub of Bali. It is a busy little town with tons of big clubs and a packed beach. Dave tried out the surf for a couple days while I lounged around with an injured toe that I had repeatedly scraped and stubbed for the previous 2 weeks until it became swollen and infected and extremely painful. We ate some really good pizza on more than one occasion (in fact, I think we had at least one pizza a day...)
4 days in Kuta was enough for us, then we rented scoots and scooted through some crazy traffic to Ubud. We stayed there for two nights at an upscale room with a good view of a rice field/duck pond. We ate some really good Nasi Campur (one of the main local dishes in Indonesia. rice, chicken, veggies). for just over two dollars we ate a big meal of this, with peanut sauce and tofu and crackers and veggies all presented beautifully! We doubled up and ordered a second round it was so good. We also perused the cool markets of Ubud where there are tons of items on many different levels (walk through wood carvings then head up some stairs to the masks then hop down a step to the spices and herbs and continue past all of the sarongs and fabrics all the while getting harassed by the sellers). The next day we left Ubud and headed back to Kuta, which took us much less time on the way back since we found the Bali equivalent of a highway.
We realized there were no rooms in Kuta (seriously, every single accommodation was full) so we bussed up to Padangbai on the east coast of Bali. The next day we caught various forms of transport to the Gili Islands (Gili Trawangan first). We spent a few days at this cool island. Snorkelling was really fun. You walk up the island then drift back down with the current. We also walked around the whole island in the dark (about 2 hours) while avoiding horse drawn carts ripping down the sandy roads. One night we indulged in a tuna steak (cooked perfectly) with all you can eat salad buffet. I satisfied one of my cravings with several rounds of bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dipping sauce.
The next day we caught a boat to Gili Air and spent two days chilling out in our beachfront resort. We both finished our books and decided it was time to do some exercise: Mt. Rinjani
We left Air and caught transport to Senaru, one of the bases for Rinjani treks. We read that you can do the trek independently and we intended to do this. When we got to Senaru, however, we found out that this is not possible. We had a few arguments with a few people over our false information (stupid lonely planet...) before agreeing to do a 3 day trek with guide and porters. I am really glad we did this because it would have been much more difficult on our own. The porters carried huge loads using bamboo poles with two baskets on either side (they rested the pole on their shoulders) We ate awesome meals of banana pancakes for breafast, copious amounts of tea at all times of the day, rice or noodle soup, chicken and veggies for lunch and dinner. The first day we hiked 5 hours up to near the crater rim (~2600m). It quickly got cold as the clouds rolled in and the sun went down. One miserable sleep then we woke up at 5 am to hike up to the rim for sunrise. The view was pretty cool but clouds kept rolling through the crater and obscuring the view. We hiked down 600m to the lake and a bunch of people went swimming! The landscape reminded Dave and I of Canada as there were lots of pine trees. We walked around one side of the lake and headed to the hot springs! We walked along the springs which were too hot at the source to a waterfall where the water cascaded into a pool. It was amazing sitting under the hotwaterfall! I wish I could post pictures but uploading is extremely slow here. After we got our hot water on we climbed up 700m to the camp below the summit. The going was rough especially as I had an upset stomach. The climbing seemed to last forever and reminded me of lord of the rings. The fog was so thick that you could only see a short way in front and behind, so it created the feeling of a never-ending climb in some sort of purgatory. We finally made it to camp and were greeted by a bunch of macaques(they occupy all camps on the mountain). We went to bed at 6 pm and woke up at 230 am for the summit attempt. We left at 3 am and made our way up 1000m to the peak in the dark. It was tough going up as you would take two steps up and one step back due to the loose volcanic sand. After 2 and a half hours battling muscle pain, darkness and freezing winds we made it to the top! Dave, Alain and I were the first ones to the top! We had the peak to ourselves for 5 minutes as we watched the sun come up. The views from the peak were amazing. To the east the sun was rising and casting light over the green foothills to the north. Looking to the south made you feel on top of the world as it was completely cloud covered. To the west was the crater where you could see the lake and the mini volcano in the center of the crater. An amazing shadow was cast on the clouds to the west that looked like a volcano! You could also make out the Gili Islands in the distance. We stayed up for as long as we could (~20 minutes) and then headed down. As the sun got higher it got a lot warmer and we took our time sliding down the mountain to camp, enjoying the amazing view. Breakfast at camp then we headed down through pine trees, grasslands and rainforest. We took a minivan back to Senaru (we ended up in another village) and then to Sengigi where we are now.
One more day here then Dave heads to Nepal and I head south to Kuta, Lombok.
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