Mt. Batur - Bali

Bali

Bali - Intro
Uluwatu temple - Bali 
Batuan Temple - Bali
Goa Gajah - Bali
Taman Ayun Temple - Bali
Tanah lot Temple - Bali
 

Two days of the meeting got over and now it’s time to roam around the beautiful city – Bali. We planned to visit Mt. Batur which is almost in everyone’s wish list. Mt Batur is famous for its sunrise & active volcanoes.

Generally it is suggested to trek early in the pleasant morning and enjoy the mesmerising view of sunrise. So after the hectic schedule of meeting we went to bed early so that we could gear up for trekking.

Our guide picked us at 1.30 AM from our hotel to take us to Village Kintamani - the foot hills from where trek was to be started. It takes around 2 hours to reach the destination.

We reached Village Kintamani around 2.30 AM which is around 70 kms from our hotel. We were served variety of Tea and coffee on our arrival along with Breakfast before trek started.

Mt. Batur is situated at 1700 meters above sea level. Our trek started around 3.30 AM. For early morning trek a torch is required to carry if one doesn’t have as it can be arranged by your guide.  

Our trekking started in the moonlight. We thought there would be very limited people for the early morning trek because it was still dark but after walking few meters ahead we observed that there were many beams of torches. Then we realised that there were actually so many trekkers on their way to Mt Batur.

Trekking on volcano rocks is not as easy,it is actually very difficult to climb up. Sometimes in between the way we found big rocks of volcano which was making the trekking difficult where extra efforts were required to climb up. Even coming down from there was far more difficult than going up as we were slipping along the broken pieces of lava. We halted a multiple of times with heavy breath while going up and 2-3 times while coming down.  Some of the slopes were actually dangerous. 

Finally around 6.00 AM we reached on the top and halted for sometimes at a hut for trekkers to rest before reaching sunrise point and again walked few meters to reach sunrise point.

Sky was not clear because of the over casting of clouds. After few minutes sun rose. It was not very clear but still enjoyable. For a while, the sun played hide and seek and we clicked some pictures of sunrise. 

In the meantime, our guide brought us some boiled eggs and banana sandwiches.

By now it was bright outside and the view of the surrounding area was breath-taking. We can see Mount Abang , Mount Agung &  Batur lake  from that place.

After capturing few photographs our guide took us to visit Mt Batur,an active volcano which is  2^nd largest active volcano of  Bali where you can see puffs of steam which is harmless .We cannot see bubbling lava. Don’t try to go very close to the crater as little bit of carelessness could be dangerous. 

The first historically documented eruption of Batur was in 1804, and it has been frequently active since then and it has erupted about 24 times since then. Largest eruption occurred in 1963 which destroyed the entire nearby village. One can see the left over marks while trekking. 

After visiting Volcano we started our downward journey and in 1.5 hours we were at the taxi stand. On the way we saw Batur lake & clicked pictures from Taxi.

On the way our guide also took us to coffee plantation garden which is the part of the tour plan.Here you can buy Bali’s famous coffee “Luwak Coffee”  which is most expensive coffee in the world.

The procedure of making Luwak coffee is very interesting. Luwak is an animal found in Bali. The Luwak’s natural instinct on the sense of smell and sight, allows them eat the  ripest red coffee beans . Since the coffee bean cannot be digested and pooped out. Those beans are collected, cleaned, roasted and ground for drinking.

On the way,we passed from village Tegallalang which is famous for scenic terraced rice fields. The scenic view of these fields was exotic and actually mesmerising. You can see number of cars and tourist buses nearby these rice fields. 

It seemed the rice terrace fields were designed beautifully together by the nature and the man.Coconut trees were just adding the beauty of the scene. We clicked some of the unforgettable pictures there.

Ubud is a place on the way which is one stop market for traditional Balinese art. You can get wood carving , wood faces ,paintings, metal handicrafts & cane work goods. 

By lunch time we returned our hotel.  The trip costed us 50 $ including Pick up  n Drop , Breakfast and Guide charges.  After resting a while, in the evening we left for Kuta beach which is famous for white sandy beach.

Kuta Beach is most famous and crowded place of Bali. Here you can get economical to luxury hotels, bars , shopping centres, massage parlours and a range of restaurants. We found two Indian restaurants there.

Bali ‘s spectacular sunset is a bliss for every tourist.  We spent some time at beach than roamed around the nearby streets. Every fourth  shop was massage parlour there. Balinese’s massage is world famous. There are two Indian restaurant in Kuta , One is Gateway of India and another one is queen tandoor. 

We had our dinner at Gateway of India. The food was fine and enjoyable. After relishing the food we left for our hotel.

In my next posts I will take you to some other tourist places of Bali.