For those of you who have been following my blog for some time now, you would remember that I climbed the volcano, Mt Batur in my previous Bali trip as well. Those who would like a re-cap can read my post on Climbing a Volcano…
We had to leave the hotel very early in the morning. And most of the climb up was done under the cover of night. The aim was to reach the summit before the sun rises.
We were the earliest up the volcano that day and as we climbed up we could see the trail of torchlights far below us of the hikers that are climbing the volcano. We reached in before the sun rose so for a sometime I couldn’t take any photos as there was no light.
Since we were the earliest, we had the privilege of going pass all the different huts and rest stops to find one that we wanted to stay at to watch the sun rise. I chose the highest one this time!
Soon there was enough light and the view was wonderful. We were high above the clouds and high above the other rest stops too.
My guide took me to cook volcano banana and eggs.
First you dig or find a hole so that the hot volcano vents can cook your food. Place the eggs and bananas in the the hole and cover it with leaves.
After 10 mins or so, your food is ready. It doesn’t look too appetizing here cause the banana and eggs are covered with volcanic soil but once peeled, hard boiled eggs and the warm soft banana on bread makes a good hot breakfast in the cold mountain top. Steamed banana on bread really tastes like banana bread without the need to bake!
Being really kaisu, I even brought my own instant cup noodles to have warm food for breakfast!
As the sun rose higher and higher, more and more climbers made their way to the rest stop.
The photos in this post have been placed rather randomly. I’ll do a shot by shot account of the beautiful sun rise in the next post as well as chronicle my climb down.
During the climb up it isn’t that cold cause you’re generating heat from the climb but once you are up there standing or sitting around it gets really chilly especially the fingers. I should have remembered to bring some gloves. So my hands were in my pocket the whole time!
The first half of the climb is mainly trekking but the last part of the climb can be pretty steep and you have to consider that you are climbing in the dark. But it’s really good exercise!
I’ll cover more in my next post!