Hello everyone,
So life in darwin, what can I really say about it. Carla and my life, since we got here, has pretty much consisted of working all day, everyday, and sometimes late into the night, and then going out to discover Aussie beer and goon, and stumble home to out bunkbeds. Ain't life grand.
Actually we have just moved into a house with 12 other people, also travellers. It's behind the hostle, but isn't part of it. Which means we don't benefit from things like maid service, but we do benefit by having no rules. No curfews. Things don't close at certain hours. It's great. It's like a college dorm or something. We've met a ton of cool people there too and there are always new people coming and going. So we are happy. It's a bit further out of town, but not too far to walk.
I've discovered the thursday and sunday night markest at Mindi Beach here in town. very cool. Cheap stall eats, and live music, and tons of shopping to tempt us. Saturday night I snuck into a festival concert with some friends at the botanical gardens, great venue. There was no way I was paying 70 bucks to see some Aussie bands I'd never heard of. The night turned out to be great though, Youth Group and Gomez were the highlight...not sure if you've heard of them, but they are apperently quite popular over here. And they're not techno! The amount of techno here would drive any Canadian mad. I mean what happened to playing top 40 at the bar at a regular speed. I see no need to create mass convulsions on the dance floor. Just play the song at a speed we can all naturally move at!
Saw another band last night at the ski club (water ski that is). Although it was a soothing kinda music, and not what I needed after a 10 hour day and only a few hours sleep the night before. But we still caught a gorgeous sunset which made it all worthwhile.
Carla is sick with a flu again, poor baby, and is really working in her new matress at the house. Actually such uncomfortable beds. Like sleeping on thin foam and metal slats...actaully that's exactly what it is! Horrible. and still bunk beds. But that's what you get for economic lodging.
So here I am heading into another crazy work week, and the weather is getting sooo hot. And I rarely complained in Aisa, or Ottawa for that matter. This is a diferent kind of hot. Especially when you work in Aircon all day... One more month until everyone vacates the Northern Territory and its horrible heat. And the plan is we go too....
cheers all, R
Monday, August 28, 2006
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Darwin, Australia: it's no Asia
So here we are in the north of Aus suffering culture shock at the hands of Darwin City. I have to say Carla and I were quite nervous about leaving Asia. We got quite comfortable there, I mean I can't say that I don't enjoy bathing a million times more now that the showers are hot...and real showers for that matter. I can truly appreciate the western ideal of seperating the toilet and where we clean ourselves. But at the same time, it is soooo expensive here. I want to retreat.
Bali was wonderful, although we spent our last week fighting with Garuda for our flight, we stayed in Sanur a patch of white sand beach just south of the airport. We shopped the markets in Denpasar, sunned on the beach, watched all the kites fly all day (this is a big Bali thing; kite building and flying). We met some nice boys at Jimmy's Bar, including Nyoman the hottest deaf surfer this side of everywhere. Stumbled upon the charms of Mike Sunglasses who drives the hardest bargain on the boardwalk, and told us about all the latest and greatest horror films we'd been missing. Including Hostel, which we still refuse to watch, since we have to stay in one. And of course Scott from the Westcoast of Aus who warned us about the bad mining boys in Darwin(no complaints yet), and let us chill and crash at his Villa, with the spa and pool...we really wanted to stay on in Bali for this one. And who shared with us our alcoholic tendencies in our last couple of days at the Beachside Bar, and didn't let us get sentimental about the loss we were feeling in leaving. Thanx for the fond farewell Scotty.
Asia was great, as a whole, if we could generalize here for a minute. The food, most often delicious, and for give or take a mere 1$ a meal. All I ate for the last month and a half was Nasi Goreng, ie Fried Rice with prawn crackers and sambal of course, my two new obsessions and the only two Asian import foods I managed to smuggle into the country. The two months before that geen curry....i miss you stall lady in Bangkok. Plus, the people are always willing to tell you more than you need to know about every town and city and what there is to do there. Even if we managed to see no further than the beach or beach side bar in 7 days, we still felt like we were touring and enjoying the 'culture' of the various countries. Our only stress when we rolled into a new town was do we pay 5$ for a rat free room or 2$ and risk invasion. ahh the good life....
Then there is Darwin, as soon as we got off the plane with 6$ Aussie between us, I knew there was going to be trouble. We arrived on a Sunday, first mistake, with a holiday monday following, second mistake. Therefore no banks were open. Not even the one at the airport(if you could call it that). All the hostels were full, because of the holiday; The Darwin Cup, and we were considering putting a tent on the Visa and busing it to the nearest campground.
But after about 4 hours of super stress, we found a bed (at 22$ each a night!!!!), and were given meal tickets for 1$ pub grub. Actually this is the best deal in town. We get coupons from the hostel and get to eat real meals like roast beef and mashed potatoes for a dollar. Which is a great help in substituting our new otherwise diet of grilled cheese and instant noodles(with sambal!). So don't worry moms, we're getting our veggies. Things since that first meal have been slowly falling into place.
I secured a job at the hostel to pay for our beds. Carla has three trials this week at various restaurants, pretty much meaning she'll have her pick for jobs. We found the mall, and there's a free shuttle to it! And even better, we found the bottle shop and the cheapest boxed wine they offer (10$ for 2L). And so we're settling back into small town western life slowly but surely and plan to make our mark on this town before we leave.
So things are good. The plan is work our asses off, drink in the down time, and get our buts on the road. We'll be there in no time Jess, i promise.
miss you all, R
Bali was wonderful, although we spent our last week fighting with Garuda for our flight, we stayed in Sanur a patch of white sand beach just south of the airport. We shopped the markets in Denpasar, sunned on the beach, watched all the kites fly all day (this is a big Bali thing; kite building and flying). We met some nice boys at Jimmy's Bar, including Nyoman the hottest deaf surfer this side of everywhere. Stumbled upon the charms of Mike Sunglasses who drives the hardest bargain on the boardwalk, and told us about all the latest and greatest horror films we'd been missing. Including Hostel, which we still refuse to watch, since we have to stay in one. And of course Scott from the Westcoast of Aus who warned us about the bad mining boys in Darwin(no complaints yet), and let us chill and crash at his Villa, with the spa and pool...we really wanted to stay on in Bali for this one. And who shared with us our alcoholic tendencies in our last couple of days at the Beachside Bar, and didn't let us get sentimental about the loss we were feeling in leaving. Thanx for the fond farewell Scotty.
Asia was great, as a whole, if we could generalize here for a minute. The food, most often delicious, and for give or take a mere 1$ a meal. All I ate for the last month and a half was Nasi Goreng, ie Fried Rice with prawn crackers and sambal of course, my two new obsessions and the only two Asian import foods I managed to smuggle into the country. The two months before that geen curry....i miss you stall lady in Bangkok. Plus, the people are always willing to tell you more than you need to know about every town and city and what there is to do there. Even if we managed to see no further than the beach or beach side bar in 7 days, we still felt like we were touring and enjoying the 'culture' of the various countries. Our only stress when we rolled into a new town was do we pay 5$ for a rat free room or 2$ and risk invasion. ahh the good life....
Then there is Darwin, as soon as we got off the plane with 6$ Aussie between us, I knew there was going to be trouble. We arrived on a Sunday, first mistake, with a holiday monday following, second mistake. Therefore no banks were open. Not even the one at the airport(if you could call it that). All the hostels were full, because of the holiday; The Darwin Cup, and we were considering putting a tent on the Visa and busing it to the nearest campground.
But after about 4 hours of super stress, we found a bed (at 22$ each a night!!!!), and were given meal tickets for 1$ pub grub. Actually this is the best deal in town. We get coupons from the hostel and get to eat real meals like roast beef and mashed potatoes for a dollar. Which is a great help in substituting our new otherwise diet of grilled cheese and instant noodles(with sambal!). So don't worry moms, we're getting our veggies. Things since that first meal have been slowly falling into place.
I secured a job at the hostel to pay for our beds. Carla has three trials this week at various restaurants, pretty much meaning she'll have her pick for jobs. We found the mall, and there's a free shuttle to it! And even better, we found the bottle shop and the cheapest boxed wine they offer (10$ for 2L). And so we're settling back into small town western life slowly but surely and plan to make our mark on this town before we leave.
So things are good. The plan is work our asses off, drink in the down time, and get our buts on the road. We'll be there in no time Jess, i promise.
miss you all, R
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Malaysia Underwater Camera, Yeah!
Of course we couldn't resist buying the sunscreen that came with a free underwater camera (Vaseline Intensive care brand, the best in underwater cameras I'm sure) The first time we used it the pictures didn't turn out so great seeing how there was no film, so, we took some pictures of sea turtles (this one also has Robin's hand in it thanks to my advanced skills as a photographer) in Pulau Keci in Malaysia and of the shipwreck in Bali, and it was a bit more impressive than it looks in the pictures.
OOOH! BARRACUDA!
Robin swimmin' like an egyptian surrounded by fish, lots of fish!
very cool rainbow fish
Christmas tree coral, if you touch it, it disappears into the rockLombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, Flores: The long way across Indonesia
So the first bemo (local bus) droped us off at a transfer point, where we waited for our next bus on the corner and were instantly surrounded by local men. I don't know what it is with Indonesia but there are so few women around, very strange. We managed another tiny cramped local bus with locals peering at us like rare birds at every stop. The bumpy ride dropped us off in another town where we had to take motorcycles to the ferry port. It took alot of hassle to get on the boat, without a ticket across Sumbawa, but we managed. The ferries here fill with locals before departure: kids scrambling to collect bottles and cans to recycle, men and women selling food, water, snacks and kids signing for the crowd asking for a bit of change in return. This happens even if you are on a bus getting on the ferry, they all come on your bus, and faking sleeping doesn't work to avoid these salesmen! They are persistent.
We took the ferry across to Sumbawa, and met a Dutch couple on the way doing something similar. We finaly managed to get ourselves on a local bus to the capital city 3 hours away, negotiating only to pay double the local fare. The first bus was alright, but it broke down rather quickly leaving us on the side of the road. Patricia and Alfonso decided to take an aircon bus that puled up to Bima, and we decided to keep it local. The next bus we got on, we sat up front with the driver, staring at the road as it passed beneath our feet thru the rust holes in the floor. A little daunting. Well the bus started chugging and stalled a couple times. Once at the bottom of a hill. So some people got out, I assumed to wait for another bus, but then they shooed us back on and all the men starting pushing it, little by little up the hill so we could push-start the bus. Well after this slow process of a couple minutes, much to the locals surprise we jumped out of the front and started pushing, and in one swift go, we pushed the bus up the hill and jumped back inside. Everyone was laughing and happy when we started down the road again, probably thinking we were either the strongest or heaviest two little foreign girls they'd ever seen!
Well it obviously didn't take long for the bus to um...loose its brakes! and as the driver down shifted to stop the bus, we thought "what is going on!" But again, a third bus came along pretty quickly and we shuffled onto it. I insisted the bags go on the roof, so no one sat on them, cuz this one was packed! And you'll never guess with what: I climbed on only to be shuffled to the back where I leant on about 50 gas cans! Great. When Carla got on smoking, and was surprised when someone said "no smoking on the bus" since in Indonesia you can smoke everywhere(!), she looked puzzled till I explained. Well the only benifit of this was that after not showereing for three days now, atleast the locals couldn't smell me over the fumes!
We took this bus to Sumbawa Besar, finally, where we had to wait for another "big" bus to take us to the port. It was suposed to be 20,000r, and ended up being 70,000, not a pleasant surprise. We waited 4 hours at the deserted bus station, starving, surrounded by men, again, waiting. When the bus finally arrived, it was full of men with two seats left. There was no way we were sitting apart, so they gave us two seats together at the back, in the smoking room! An actual glassed-off section of the bus, also holding the toilet and a refridgerator. Fun! So I took my headband and covered my nose and eyes, and drugged up to sleep on this long overnight bus. Carla woke up to Pervy McPervertson smelling her armpit and snuggling up, so had to stay awake the rest of the night.
We were dropped off at 5am in the port, where we pulled out our sleeping bags and slept on a platform outside a restaurant waiting for out 8am ferry to Flores. Well, keeping with how our day was going we woke up in the am to find out there were no ferries that day, seeing as it was Tuesday!! So we were determined to get on any boat we could and get out of that dock, filled with creepy guys wearing dirty clothes and still not having showered for going on 4 days now. We met the couple from the ferry again in the port and they very nicely offered us to join them on their chartered boat to Komodo and then onto Flores the next day for free. What a treat! So we managed to get some real food in us and hop on the boat for another 6 hours to Komodo. It was a gorgeous and at times slightly wavy journey on this tiny boat where the "toilet" was a blocked off section at the back of the boat with a floorboard missing. nice. I also woke up at one point afetr sleeping on the deck to sliding quickly towards the ocean...a bit scary. Luckily I was caught by the tiny railing and caught all my things before they went overbaord.
We arrived on Komodo and were slapped with a new "fee" to even step on the island. It also turned out to be mating season and so it was not guarenteed we'd see many Komodo Dargons. Well I was more concerned at this point of showering and changing the clothes I'd been wearing for 2 days and one night. Our only accomodation options came with a mandi, and not a shower. I was soo sad. A mandi is just a tub of water and you bucket shower. Which is alright sometimes, but sometimes, is really inefective at washing your hair and this one was dark and dirty. So no clean hair for another day for me.
We did see two giant Komodos, up close. Pretty cool, but they were near the camp, on our hour walk of the park we saw only other wildlife, although the "Flying Lizard" was pretty cool. We got back on our boat to head to Flores and what was suposed to be a great port town. Not exactly. We did stop to swim on the way which was nice, and got some sunbathing in on the roof of the boat. We also stopped at a tiny island fishing village to buy some Bintang beer. We arrived to hoards of screeming kids: Touris! Touris! Mister! Mister! Every kid in town came out to gawk as we walked thru the town. It was so fun. the locals smilled and wanted to be in pictures and we bought candy to hand out to all the kids. We taught them to sing "Ole, Ole Ole Ole..." And they sang it as our boat puled away and we waved good-bye. So fun!
We got to Labuanbajo to find that all the accomdations were full except two rooms in the whole town. It was also quite pricey, and a run down fishing port. Patricia and Alfonso changed their flight to go back to Bali the next day and Carla and I stayed for a couple days, but we couldn't even afford to got snorkelling, and the trip to Kilimetu (the tri-colored volcanic lakes) would have taken us 7 days, that we did not have. So we stayed a couple nights, not feeling very comfortable, and paid one bus company a motherload to take us straight back to Dempasar in a 32 hour bus and boat journey.
So here we are, back in the Bali that we love, staying in Sanur beach and preparing for Australia. We leave on the 6th. We are sad to go, Asia has been wonderful, but still looking forward to the new adventure.
-R
We took the ferry across to Sumbawa, and met a Dutch couple on the way doing something similar. We finaly managed to get ourselves on a local bus to the capital city 3 hours away, negotiating only to pay double the local fare. The first bus was alright, but it broke down rather quickly leaving us on the side of the road. Patricia and Alfonso decided to take an aircon bus that puled up to Bima, and we decided to keep it local. The next bus we got on, we sat up front with the driver, staring at the road as it passed beneath our feet thru the rust holes in the floor. A little daunting. Well the bus started chugging and stalled a couple times. Once at the bottom of a hill. So some people got out, I assumed to wait for another bus, but then they shooed us back on and all the men starting pushing it, little by little up the hill so we could push-start the bus. Well after this slow process of a couple minutes, much to the locals surprise we jumped out of the front and started pushing, and in one swift go, we pushed the bus up the hill and jumped back inside. Everyone was laughing and happy when we started down the road again, probably thinking we were either the strongest or heaviest two little foreign girls they'd ever seen!
Well it obviously didn't take long for the bus to um...loose its brakes! and as the driver down shifted to stop the bus, we thought "what is going on!" But again, a third bus came along pretty quickly and we shuffled onto it. I insisted the bags go on the roof, so no one sat on them, cuz this one was packed! And you'll never guess with what: I climbed on only to be shuffled to the back where I leant on about 50 gas cans! Great. When Carla got on smoking, and was surprised when someone said "no smoking on the bus" since in Indonesia you can smoke everywhere(!), she looked puzzled till I explained. Well the only benifit of this was that after not showereing for three days now, atleast the locals couldn't smell me over the fumes!
We took this bus to Sumbawa Besar, finally, where we had to wait for another "big" bus to take us to the port. It was suposed to be 20,000r, and ended up being 70,000, not a pleasant surprise. We waited 4 hours at the deserted bus station, starving, surrounded by men, again, waiting. When the bus finally arrived, it was full of men with two seats left. There was no way we were sitting apart, so they gave us two seats together at the back, in the smoking room! An actual glassed-off section of the bus, also holding the toilet and a refridgerator. Fun! So I took my headband and covered my nose and eyes, and drugged up to sleep on this long overnight bus. Carla woke up to Pervy McPervertson smelling her armpit and snuggling up, so had to stay awake the rest of the night.
We were dropped off at 5am in the port, where we pulled out our sleeping bags and slept on a platform outside a restaurant waiting for out 8am ferry to Flores. Well, keeping with how our day was going we woke up in the am to find out there were no ferries that day, seeing as it was Tuesday!! So we were determined to get on any boat we could and get out of that dock, filled with creepy guys wearing dirty clothes and still not having showered for going on 4 days now. We met the couple from the ferry again in the port and they very nicely offered us to join them on their chartered boat to Komodo and then onto Flores the next day for free. What a treat! So we managed to get some real food in us and hop on the boat for another 6 hours to Komodo. It was a gorgeous and at times slightly wavy journey on this tiny boat where the "toilet" was a blocked off section at the back of the boat with a floorboard missing. nice. I also woke up at one point afetr sleeping on the deck to sliding quickly towards the ocean...a bit scary. Luckily I was caught by the tiny railing and caught all my things before they went overbaord.
We arrived on Komodo and were slapped with a new "fee" to even step on the island. It also turned out to be mating season and so it was not guarenteed we'd see many Komodo Dargons. Well I was more concerned at this point of showering and changing the clothes I'd been wearing for 2 days and one night. Our only accomodation options came with a mandi, and not a shower. I was soo sad. A mandi is just a tub of water and you bucket shower. Which is alright sometimes, but sometimes, is really inefective at washing your hair and this one was dark and dirty. So no clean hair for another day for me.
We did see two giant Komodos, up close. Pretty cool, but they were near the camp, on our hour walk of the park we saw only other wildlife, although the "Flying Lizard" was pretty cool. We got back on our boat to head to Flores and what was suposed to be a great port town. Not exactly. We did stop to swim on the way which was nice, and got some sunbathing in on the roof of the boat. We also stopped at a tiny island fishing village to buy some Bintang beer. We arrived to hoards of screeming kids: Touris! Touris! Mister! Mister! Every kid in town came out to gawk as we walked thru the town. It was so fun. the locals smilled and wanted to be in pictures and we bought candy to hand out to all the kids. We taught them to sing "Ole, Ole Ole Ole..." And they sang it as our boat puled away and we waved good-bye. So fun!
We got to Labuanbajo to find that all the accomdations were full except two rooms in the whole town. It was also quite pricey, and a run down fishing port. Patricia and Alfonso changed their flight to go back to Bali the next day and Carla and I stayed for a couple days, but we couldn't even afford to got snorkelling, and the trip to Kilimetu (the tri-colored volcanic lakes) would have taken us 7 days, that we did not have. So we stayed a couple nights, not feeling very comfortable, and paid one bus company a motherload to take us straight back to Dempasar in a 32 hour bus and boat journey.
So here we are, back in the Bali that we love, staying in Sanur beach and preparing for Australia. We leave on the 6th. We are sad to go, Asia has been wonderful, but still looking forward to the new adventure.
-R
Bali: Tulamben and Padang Bai
After our great Volcanoe adventure we hopped on a shared charter to Tulamben, a town with nothing, and no one, where the only attraction is a US Cargo ship Liberty that was torpedoed in 1942 15kms south of Lombok. Attempts to tow her into the port failed as she filled with water and beached at Tulamben. Then an erruption of Gunung Batur shifted the hull into deeper water. This made for a very cool snorkelling site. Although accompanied by a strong current, and a dozen divers, the coral life on the ship was very cool, and the fish just as interesting. It took us two tries as we had to wait for the proper time of the tides to get in the water so we weren't swept past the ship and onto the wavy beach.
Then we went on to Padang Bai, the port town to Lombok, where we decided to give our super touring a rest and spend two nights. We got the coolest Bungalow, which was more like a barn with three big beds upstairs and the bathroom and a lounge area below with couches and chairs, where they brought our free breakfast in the morning. It almost felt like a real house with our own living room. And a bit of luxury is nice once in a while. The beach was so cool, composed of coral beads not completely ground down, so you sunk very deep into the earth, but like lying on a waterbed. We also arrived in time to see their annual festival which was a colourful parade through town.
Then we jumped on the ferry the next morning to head to Lombok and the Gili Islands. Gili Trawangan was great. And island free of police, filled with handsome young Indonesian men, fun bars, open pot smoking, "bloody mushrooms", beautiful beaches and a great bungallow. We could have stayed forever, but thought it best to keep going after 6 days seeing as we have a limited time to see all of Indonesia. In retrospect we should have just stayed.
We went back to the mainland and took the bemo to Senaru and hiked to the waterfalls, which obviously the locals told us we would never find by ourselves. The second and larger waterfall was gorgeous, like thundering water jetting out of the foliage of the mountain. It is belived that swimming in the pool at its base is a fountain of youth and grants you an extra year on your life. Well, we found out why: the water was freezing! The spray alone, when the sun went behind the clouds was enough to make me want to run. But it was also amazing, like standing in the middle of a hurricane.
The next morning we split from Paul as he was heading back to Bali to fly to NZ (we miss you!!), and Carla and I went east towards Sumbawa. We thought we would be able to take local transport as our cheapest option across Lombok and Sumbawa to Flores, which we read was amazing. Well the trip was a bit more difficult than we thought....
R
Then we went on to Padang Bai, the port town to Lombok, where we decided to give our super touring a rest and spend two nights. We got the coolest Bungalow, which was more like a barn with three big beds upstairs and the bathroom and a lounge area below with couches and chairs, where they brought our free breakfast in the morning. It almost felt like a real house with our own living room. And a bit of luxury is nice once in a while. The beach was so cool, composed of coral beads not completely ground down, so you sunk very deep into the earth, but like lying on a waterbed. We also arrived in time to see their annual festival which was a colourful parade through town.
Then we jumped on the ferry the next morning to head to Lombok and the Gili Islands. Gili Trawangan was great. And island free of police, filled with handsome young Indonesian men, fun bars, open pot smoking, "bloody mushrooms", beautiful beaches and a great bungallow. We could have stayed forever, but thought it best to keep going after 6 days seeing as we have a limited time to see all of Indonesia. In retrospect we should have just stayed.
We went back to the mainland and took the bemo to Senaru and hiked to the waterfalls, which obviously the locals told us we would never find by ourselves. The second and larger waterfall was gorgeous, like thundering water jetting out of the foliage of the mountain. It is belived that swimming in the pool at its base is a fountain of youth and grants you an extra year on your life. Well, we found out why: the water was freezing! The spray alone, when the sun went behind the clouds was enough to make me want to run. But it was also amazing, like standing in the middle of a hurricane.
The next morning we split from Paul as he was heading back to Bali to fly to NZ (we miss you!!), and Carla and I went east towards Sumbawa. We thought we would be able to take local transport as our cheapest option across Lombok and Sumbawa to Flores, which we read was amazing. Well the trip was a bit more difficult than we thought....
R
Bali: Gunung Batur
So after some simple public transport we arrived in freezing cold Kintamani on the crater rim to a raging wind, in our shorts of course...we didn't really think of the possiblilty of a drastic weather change. Oh well. After tons of hawkers offered us some of the lowest prices for their goods I've seen so far in Asia...never a good sign of their situation, we got in another Bemo (local bus), heading down into the crater to the tiny town of Toya Bunkah. We met some heavy pressure to pay 45$ USD each to climb the volanoe the next morning...as we were planning on doing it for free, alone, this was quite annoying. We settled into a nice Guesthouse, sharing a super kingsized bed between the three of us, Carla, myself, and our friend Paul to sleep for a few hours before our 4 am wake up call to start our climb. We ended up paying a guide about 10$ CAN each to lead us in the dark about 1.5 hours up to watch the sunrise. It was freezing when we started, but as we quickly found out, climbing straight up a mountain 1717 m high takes a bit of work, and sweat. And it was good we had a pack of guides too,because on the last 40 minute straight up part over the volcanic rock, even with our flashlights there was no clear path. Plus, one of the porters, who brings up drinks to sell at the top at an incredibly inflated price, practically hoisted me up the last leg, as I was having trouble breathing in the altitude and had to stop frequently. Meanwhile Carla found herself a bit behind with our guide struggling with her breathing as well. As it turns out, climbing a volcanoe is not the easy task we had thought it to be. ha. But so rewarding! The sunrise was not amazing due to cloud coverage, but as we explored the old craters and new crater, and saw the smoke rising from the active volcanoes, I felt on top of the world. They cooked us breakfast in the steam in the groud. Boiled eggs, and cooked bananas...a delicacy. It was a very cool experience. As we ran down the volcanic sand, full throttle in the early morning sun, I really felt like we accomplished something. Gunug Batur has errupted more than 20 times since 1800, the last time in 1994. The scene is left with it in the middle of a crater thought to be caused by a meteorite with a lake at the bottom, and natural hotsprings inside. A very cool scene. There were erruption warnings of the new crater at the time that we visisted, so we were not able to get too close to the new one, but did feel the heat of the steam of the active volcanoe in the older crater.
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