Valentine's Day and Mount Agung - Bali Blog 11

Saturday 14th February

Today is Valentine's day and our plan for this evening is to climb Mount Agung. As, you start the ascent at 2 am we couldn't really do too much today. We needed all our energy for the climb, as well as making sure we get an early night. Tagel booked the trip for us, so we just had a nice relaxing day. On my friend Jen's recommendation we went to Taksu spa for raw zucchini lasagna and it was awesome! Granted, it was a little more expensive that I thought it would be at 50,000 idr but it was definitely worth it just to try it! It was so rich and creamy and very filling! Rob refused to order a raw meal and opted for chicken noodles, which I think he was happy with. 

Raw Zucchini Lasagna

We enjoyed our food from a balcony overlooking the spa, the spa is set in a mini jungle garden and looks great. So, we took a wander round, it wasn't very big but we saw some furry caterpillars, they were quite funny! We didn't stay long as there were so many bugs and Rob moaned about getting bitten, so we had to leave. I got bitten too and the bite became pink and swollen, I was not happy! Now I know how Rob feels. 

Taksu spa

Furry! So cute!

After chilling out at the hotel for a couple of hours we headed to Warung Sopa to get some coffee and cake. I had mango coconut pie and Rob had a slice of the gluten free chocolate cake. They were both super tasty! We chilled out for a while so we got some gyozas and I also got a sugar cane juice. I'd wanted to try it for ages and it was really good! So sweet! Rob really liked it too but he didn't get his own. He just drank mine! Sad times!

Warung Sopa

We went back to the hotel at 7 pm to try and get a few hours sleep before our trek. I think we probably managed about 3 and half to 4 hours before having to get up and get ready to go. I was not looking forward to this but Rob was super excited. Our driver Wayan picked us around 12 am as its at least an hours drive to the mountain from Ubud. He kept telling us to sleep whilst driving there but we couldn't,we were too awake. 

We arrived a the mountain about 15 minutes early so waited for our guide to arrive. First another guide arrived,so we were introduced to him first his name was also Wayan. He was the guide for the two German guys who had just arrived. A few minutes later our guide arrived, he was quite short and skinny and didn't speak as much English as the other two men but they all seemed nice. It turned out his name was also Wayan and we would all be climbing together. Team Wayan! Yay! :)

Pasa Agung!

So just before 2 am we met the two German guys and started up the mountain. The car park where we started from is at 1600 m. We then walked up 350 steps up to the temple, Pasa Agung at 1800 m. Here, Wayan and Wayan prayed whilst the four of us waited. It only took about 10 minutes and then we made our way around the back of the temple and into the forest. It was fairly hard going through the forest and we were walking quite fast, so I felt quite ill. My body doesn't work very well early in the morning and right now I should be sleeping not walking up a mountain! Anyway, as we were making good progress we had a little break just before the end of the tree line. Wayan and Wayan made a fire so people could dry there sweaty clothes before we carried on. Whilst we were in the forest our guides told us to be careful of leaches but we did not see any of these. Rob got bitten by bugs a few times (as usual) and as we were walking I noticed my leg felt really itchy behind me knee. When I scratched it I notice that there was a little black thing that wouldn't come off my skin, so Rob had a closer look and squeezed it like it was a spot. It turned out that a little spider like bug was trying to burrow under my skin! Eeeeew! Rob managed to get it out anyway and our guides told us that it looked like a chicken bug, which usual burrows into chicken's heads! Disgusting, I had a parasite! 

Selfie!

Anyway, we carried on and made our way out of the tree line at 2300 m. Even though it was dark the view was spectacular, we could see the whole island and oh my god, the stars! The sky was so clear we could see the whole milky-way, Rob got some great photos! The terrain became very rocky after leaving the tree line but at least I felt better now, so that was a bonus! :) 

After climbing for a little bit longer it wasn't as steep as it was in the forest and as we were going quite fast again we took another break, otherwise we were going to be at the top well before sunrise. As we were nearing the top of the volcano the sky became cloudy, so we continued to wait to see if it would clear before sunrise. The 20 minute wait didn't make much difference in the cloud conditions and people were getting cold, so we carried on. 

The temperature change from the bottom to the top is dramatic! It is so tropical in the forest and near the temple, perhaps a bit too hot for me in the day, but at the top it's around 12 degrees, which is pretty cold when you are used to 30 degrees. Anyway, I digress. The last 15 minutes to the top is a climb rather than a walk, so a little more effort is required! But I enjoy a good scramble so it was fine! :) 

At the top of Mount Agung!

We arrived at the top of the volcano at around 5:30 am approximately 30 minutes before sunrise. So while we waited Wayan and Wayan made us each a hot drink and served us a breakfast of bananas, bread and eggs. I couldn't eat my egg, as my body still wasn't fully awake so I put it in my pocket for the journey back down. Whilst we were eating a German girl and her guide joined us. 

We could sort of see the sunrise through the clouds but it wasn't so clear, so waited until about 6:30 am to see if the cloud would clear and unfortunately it didn't. The German guys were freezing so we headed back down. 

The Crater!

After we had descended approximately 100 m, we were below the clouds and the view was fantastic! We spent ages just taking photos, Rob loved it! The journey down took longer than I expected, as first we saw a monkey so we took some photos of him for a while, then he got grumpy and one of our guide had to chase him away! Then a little further down we saw a mini deer being chased by a pack of dogs. The deer was so fast and agile it out ran each of the dogs but a little later we could hear a lot of commotion and it sounded like the dogs had caught the deer! Poor thing! :( 

My guide was such a gentleman helping me down all the hard bits, most of the time I didn't need his help but I did nearly fall a few times. One of the German guys couldn't stop falling over, it was quite slippy on the way down with either the gravel or the mud and his shoes didn't have much grip. I think he became quite annoyed in the end. We took so long to get down that the German girl caught up with us and then over took us just before the bottom. I think her guide just wanted to get home!

Blue!

We arrived back at the temple at 9:30 am and our guides were informed that the other group that set out to climb the mountain at 2 am had only just reached the summit. We actually saw them when we were heading back down and the girl was basically being dragged up the mountain. 

After about 15 minutes rest at the temple we headed back to the car park and made our way back to Ubud. This time I could totally sleep in the car and it was good! :)

Samx