“Who schedules a mid-night trek to a mountain 2000 meters high when we are on a fully packed 5-day trip to the romantic Bali!”, my friend complained when he was told that he is allowed to catch only 2 hours of sleep.
We were 9 scruffy travelers, exploring Bali in all its glory. It was the end of the second day and the night of Day 2 – morning of Day 3 were going to be action packed with no rest (for the weary). Nine people, nine choices, nine opinions. Some cried that this did not sound like an ideal holiday. Vacations are supposed to be about days spent lazing around the beach, drinking pina colada, talking to strangers and eating everything you possibly get! True, but our vacations are always filled with adventure, albeit not always the kind of adventure we were looking for. I could laze around in my room at home, vacations are our chance to show off our bravado.
It was half past one in the morning and I was surprised to note that the very friends who complained about this were up and ready to go, while the people who were earlier enthusiastic about the trek had to be dragged out of their bed. After making the compulsory Facebook check-ins we set out in the dark night.
A skinny, hawk-eyed guy drove us to the Mt. Batur town where we met our guides ~~ a bulky and muscular female champ, a sweet little baby boy and moody teen.
At 3 am having shaken off all our sleep and the exhaustion of the last 2 days, we set out on the trail headed by the feisty Nauman. We see only as far as the torch-light shines (which most often than not was Nauman’s butt).
It began with pebbles, lining up the path, leading to a steep rocky terrain. The hike seemed like a fun achievable goal. In the beginning it felt like I was just climbing steps. I remember only looking down at the rocks under my feet and blindly following my guide. When I looked up to take a breath I saw how our trail was lit with the torch lights that other hikers carried. The peak was not visible but the path was beautifully lit. Such a perfect allusion to our life goals. We know what our goal is. It may seem distant, maybe invisible, perhaps may even seem impossible to achieve. But there will always be a brightly lit path leading up to the goal. All we need to do is find that path.
Soon the simple pebble laden steps turned into big boulders. At times we were forced to go down on our hands and knees to bring ourselves up, one boulder at a time. We are told to always enjoy the good part of any experience and learn from the difficult part. Well I enjoyed the fragrance emitting from the plants that surrounded the rocky path and learned that I need to work out more and be strong for such hikes. I definitely smelled chilli plants around. We spent a good time during the hike trying to guess the plants, mostly through their fragrance.
Mt. Batur is a famous volcano in Bali and thousands turn up to scale it every night. As I immersed myself in the thoughts about adventure, goals, plants, rocks and the soft breeze that touched my sweaty brows, I could not help but think how similar this hike is to the hike that all of us are undertaking on the mountain called life. One could find different personalities here. There were some to who the hike reminded how they have abused themselves with smoking and how they need to kick the habit to continue on the hike of life. There were some who just wanted to complete the journey to the peak successfully, didn’t matter if it took ages. Then there were some who wouldn’t stop until they reached the top and perhaps harbored the desire to reach first. They didn’t want to let themselves down. There were some compassionate souls who would stop to help anyone and everyone. Everyone just had different motivation to hike.
The air at the peak smelled of sweet mist and sweat. As the wind patted our back congratulating us on our feat, we settled with hot Milo and bananas while waiting for the sun to make its appearance.
I have witnessed some incredible sites at Mt. Ijen and Mt. Bromo. My date with Mt. Batur was supposed to invoke that gentle ache in my muscles. Little did I know that he would stimulate my heart by dazzling his beauty and all his glory on me so as to make me fall in love with him. He began by teasing me with the silhouette of all his muscular brothers.
Then he painted a picture of his shy sisters hiding behind the clouds, made visible by the orange hue of the rising sun, while his younger brothers lay lazily, ready for sun-bathing.
He actually had me when he commissioned the sun to rise high up above to shine brightly on a sea far away and on the bubble-wrapped clouds below us.
Mt. Batur is a volcano alright but the temperature at his peak is pretty low and that was the icing on the cake for I always look to escape the humidity of Singapore. Batur gives you these pockets of steam where you can hang out to keep warm. The steam emanating from one of the pockets is so hot that one can boil an egg.
I spent most of my time at the peak romanticizing with the volcano and putting my iPhone 6S camera to good use.
The descend was even more incredible. Mt. Batur was doing everything to make this date unforgettable. The way back down begins with a steep slope with nothing to hold to and one must rely on good hiking shoes and strong legs. Those with neither, better find a stake or hold on to your guides or strong-legged friends. The steep, barren slopes eventually turn to pathways marked, first by bushes and the long blades of grass. By this time my adrenaline was off the charts which motivated me and my friend to run down the last bit until the base camp.
a duck in the pond 