Ubud

Woke up up nice and early ready to meet the boys at their hostel, I say early, early compared to all the lie ins I have had over the last few days. I am already packed so I grab my bags, check out and make my way over to the hostel, meeting Scott and Jon outside where we grab a taxi to the airport. We had originally planned to get the train but the traffic seems light today and a taxi split between us isn’t that much more expensive. Once at the airport and through check-in, we are all a bit peckish so settle for a maccies breakfast before our flight to I Gusti Ngurah Rai Bali airport. It is a rather short flight and once we land we get ourselves sorted with some cash and a SIM card before ordering a Grab to our hostel in Ubud, over an hour’s drive away. Ubud is located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency. It is a nice hostel with lots of greenery around, feels like it is almost in the jungle. By the time we get there it is dinner time so we do a quick google and find a well reviewed Indian down the road. It is a nice meal and nice way to start our Bali adventure before another early night.

Relaxing by the pool with Jon

So, as planned, I am up with Scott and Jon at 1.30am ready for our pickup at 2am. We hop on a bus and pick up a couple of other early rising travellers before heading to a hostel for a quick breakfast and cuppa. We are in the lounge area and end up running into some party people who are winding down from a night out and are a little surprised to see people up and about to go on a hike. After our banana pancakes and tea we are back on the bus heading out to the volcano. I do my best to sleep on the journey but the roads are so bumpy and broken not even I can sleep, and that is saying something. Once there we unload, meet our two guides and start the hike. It is a fairly easy hike that lasts about two hours. It could easily be done faster but our group isn’t the fastest and the path is narrow and busy. I spend most of the trek up talking with the boys and a couple of others in the group; it is fun to meet some fellow travellers. One, Mazie, encourages me in my plan to do a scuba certification at Gili T, an island near Bali, recommended by Rachel (from Japan), as that is where she did her Open Water and Advanced, exactly what I would want to do. As we reach the summit the sun starts to rise and the colours and views are a sight to behold. The guide says we are very lucky, he has been doing hikes all year and only twice, including this time, has the sunrise been this beautiful and clear and I believe him, it is a great sight.

Lush crops grow well on the fertile land

The next day I have a bit of a lie in, I chill by the pool with Jon for a bit before we head out to breakfast, we decide to let Scott sleep as he always seems to be knackered. It is a nice breakfast that I have with yet another banana milkshake. One of the many things Asia does better than the UK is milkshakes, they are available pretty much everywhere and I love a milkshake! After breakfast we head back to the hostel and Scott is still a sleep so Jon and I lounge about a bit and end up playing some chess. I get lucky and beat him twice! The rest of the day is pretty chilled, we drop off some laundry to a local laundrette, hang by the pool and just chill out. That evening we head into town. We end up going to a place called The Melting Pot, a Texas style bar. We make friends with a fellow traveller and play a few games of pool with him. This is a cool bar with loads of pool tables, axe throwing and even a basketball machine. I order myself a gumbo – something I haven’t eaten since being in New Orleans for St Paddy’s day with Alex during my year abroad at university – it is lovely. A few games of pool and a couple beers later we decide it is time to head back. We have booked the popular sunrise hike to Mount Batur, the local active volcano located at the centre of two concentric calderas northwest of Mount Agung. This means we need to leave at 2am tomorrow morning, so any early night is needed.

Dawn at Mount Batur

Food (another breakfast) and...

...more food (mango mojito cheesecake)...

The next day I treat myself to a bit of a lie in waking up at ten. Of course this still gives me an hour or two to lounge around the pool and wait for the others to get up. It is our last day in Ubud before heading to Gili T (Gili Trawangan) island for Christmas, so we decide to take it easy. Jon and I once again leave a sleeping Scott to get a light lunch before picking up my shoes and heading back to the hostel to chill. We play some more chess; my record this time is winning one out of one game against Scott, and three out of four games against Jon. After a nice chess and lounging by the pool day, we decide to order in some food on Grab and have a movie night. I tuck into a delicious burrito while we watch the movie Enemy at the Gate. It is a good movie although with the current Ukraine Russia conflict, it has not aged well. After the movie and our dinner we head to our room for an early night, excited for the next leg of our adventure, starting tomorrow.

...and party!

Breakfast

Pool at The Melting Pot

Funnily enough it is so early that this hike is at the same time as some of my friends back home are having a Christmas zoom, so I jump in and show them the view. We sit at the top and enjoy some snacks and a tea or two before stopping for some photos and then looking in and around the crater. Being an active volcano Mount Batur worries me a little, having read a recent news story about some campers that sadly died when a Balinese volcano erupted. Luckily that doesn’t happen here. Once the sun has risen and photos taken we start our hike down; we take a slightly different route this time. Many of us find it harder going down with a few, including me, slipping at times, unlike the sure-footed Long-tailed Macaque we meet on the way. We also find ourselves getting attacked by mossies which leads to one of the guides giving Mazie a branch to swat them away; this leads to some funny dance style swatting. At the bottom of the mountain we pass some cool farms that seem to be thriving on the rich, volcanic soils. One of the sprinklers overshoots into the road and we take turns standing under it, now that we are all sweating in the risen sun.

Long-tailed Macaque

Before we know it we are on the bus and heading back to our hostel. Once there Jon, Scott and I all have a quick rinse off and head straight back to bed for a quick nap. Jon and I get up again at around mid-day and head into town, leaving Scott to sleep; since being here his average wake up time has been around 3pm. Jon and I stop off for some breakfast before heading to a clothes shop in town we spotted yesterday. Jon has the luxury of space in his bag, having previously split a suitcase with Alex and sending a lot of stuff home with him. I am a little jealous because it turns out Jon and I have similar taste in clothes and almost everything he is buying is stuff I would love to have, although I may need it in a size or two up! After the shopping it is a fairly chilled day; we pick up laundry and hand in my shoes to be cleaned; Jon borrowed mine for the climb. We then sat by the pool after which we went for a lovely dinner. I had some local style ribs and then a mango mojito cheesecake for dessert. After dinner we head back to The Melting Pot for a couple games of pool before doing a little bar hopping, running into the people we had met this morning at the hostel, coming in from their night out. It isn’t a crazy one, the night life in Ubud is rather tame, and I am in bed at 2am, the time I was leaving for the volcano this morning.

...relax (by the pool) and...

A light lunch!