191. | Mount Batur and the sunrise

For this day, I treated myself to one of the most famous Bali experiences.

I visited an active volcano – choosing a trip that was both a physical challenge, a sight, and an inner journey.

I’ll tell you about my day.

The experience begins at dawn

The day before, I got home from Gili Trawangan at 10pm. The driver picked me up at 1:15am, so it was clear that I wasn’t going to sleep before the tour. I tried, I swear, but I couldn’t.

It turned out that I would be the only passenger in the car that picked me up at dawn and in the morning. So we talked a lot with the driver.

I can’t even count how many people like this guy I meet on a daily basis. I talked to 4 great people that day alone. Yesterday I had five more meaningful conversations with strangers.

By the end of the day, the driver wanted to invite me to his family for lunch, but unfortunately his wife wasn’t cooking that day. Regardless, I was grateful for the intention.

He also told me about Mount Batur during the trip. I learned that although the volcano is active, it last erupted 25 years ago, and there is no sign of it being active now. They are constantly watching, and if a signal is received, they immediately evacuate and seal off the area.

We arrived at the meeting point in the dark, and I was among the first to show up. Soon, there were dozens of us waiting to start our hike to the top of the mountain.

Several hiking guides were waiting for us, so we were divided into groups of 5-6 people. We were given bamboo hiking poles, headlamps, and a bottle of water each.

We started the mountain around three in the morning. We hiked about 2.5 kilometers uphill, with a 500-meter elevation gain, and we reached the top in exactly one and a half hours. The total time was much more than that, because we stopped often, waiting for the members of the group who kept falling behind.

This was not the hardest hike of my life, but it is definitely one of the good medium difficulty ones. To reach the 1,700-meter altitude, we had to walk on a continuously ascending path, so the hike required some energy.

We replenished the energy we had burned before sunrise. We had breakfast at the top of the mountain. A banana sandwich! I have never had anything like it before, and I must say, it was excellent. Banana puree between two triangular toasts. We also got bananas and soft-boiled eggs, and a local dessert. The soft-boiled eggs spooned on the banana sandwich made the special breakfast special. LOL.

Sunrise

Sunrise is a difficult subject to photograph. I tried to take the best pictures I could.

It’s easier to write about it.

On the top of the mountain, benches set in the right direction await those interested in this simple natural phenomenon that has been designated a spectacle.

Like birds on a wire, we sat next to each other, waiting for the miracle. A Serbian woman sat on one side of me, and it was very interesting to talk to her about “home” things.

I can’t really say how a sunrise begins.

It wasn’t the sun that I saw for the first time, but the appearance of lights. A strip slowly appeared in the sky.

Then, slowly, the ridge of a previously invisible mountain became perceptible in the strip. Two other mountain peaks nearby, towering above us, became more visible. More and more details emerged from the volcanic depression in front of us, the buildings and fields in it. The volcanic lake also got closer and closer to me.

I’ve been carrying a sweatshirt with me for four months. I used it for the first time this dawn. As the sky cleared, this piece of clothing became unnecessary again. Behind us was a hollow that I thought was the volcano’s crater. I don’t want to know if it really was. It was for me this morning.

From there, warm clouds of steam would occasionally rise. It was so welcoming in the cold of the morning. At one point in the crater, I stood in this pleasant warmth, spread my arms, and let the warmth envelop me. It was one of the best warmths I’ve ever felt while hiking.

My preconceived notion about the sunrise was that it would definitely be the most beautiful sunrise I’d ever seen.

This anticipation came to mind on the way down the mountain.

It wasn’t necessarily the most beautiful sunrise I’d ever seen.

But it was certainly the most complete.

I was part of the birth of this day.

Every moment of it became life and then immediately a memory for me.

On the way down, I was leading the team. Just like my own life.

Tibumana Waterfall

The next stop on the trip was Tibumana Waterfall. It was about an hour’s drive from the mountain. I slept a little on this trip, as I was so tired that I could barely form words to the conversation.

I woke up to find that we were stopping at a “surprise” place. The next stop on the well-organized ride was a coffee shop.

Here I could relive the Kopi luwak experience that I wrote about in the post “A wonderful day in Bali, when honey was mixed with salt”. I drank some great coffee and tea tastings again. I also learned that there are male (single seed) and female (double seed) versions of coffee beans. Today I could even choose which one I would drink. Let it be a secret what I chose.

In addition, today I took a picture of the real person responsible for Kopi luwak coffee.

From there we actually went to the waterfall.

Actually, to three waterfalls.

Visiting the waterfalls and their surroundings, the word majestic came to mind. The natural environment and the artificial things added with a lot of work appeared before me in rare harmony.

The bridges, the statues, the inviting resting places, etc. all seemed to be an integral part of the environment. I made a half-hour journey to the parking lot and back, so I didn’t spend much time here.

But I think it was enough to feel the spirit of the place.

As I was walking down, one of the few vendors stopped me – as usual. When he found out I was Hungarian, he said “thank you” with almost perfect pronunciation. We had a good laugh about it, we had something in common. Then her husband appeared and showed that he also knew this Hungarian expression.

Then we moved on to the offer. Let me buy something! Here I said what I have said so many times before: I don’t need anything, I have everything.

Then this conversation suddenly took an interesting turn when he asked me to buy something to support them.

I thought about it for a moment and told him that I really didn’t need anything, but to help them, he should enter 50,000 IDR (1,000 HUF, 3 USD) into the terminal and I wouldn’t ask for anything. The reader beeped and he told me to choose something for that. I smiled and said that I really didn’t want to buy anything. I don’t need a bracelet, a statuette or a wooden bowl.

As I continued walking, I thought I could have taken a grape out of respect for reciprocity, but that thought quickly faded.

As I went up the stairs and approached the shop, I could almost feel that the old man was waiting for me. I knew immediately that he would give me something, because I could feel his excitement. It made me wonder how I would become richer in the next moment.

He gave me a bottle of mineral water. His words were very kind. He said that he knew that it was much less than what I had given him, but he wanted to give me something too.

It was very warm. So I ended up with the most perfect surprise. I thanked him and replied that this water was worth more to me than all his other products and that I was very grateful that he had surprised me with this.

The shared smiles, mutual respect, and the bottle of water made my already unforgettable day unforgettable.