Authentic Bali: volcanoes, lush landscapes and laid back villages

I've been loving Indonesia for the last week. We've discovered the laid back, cultural and beautiful sides of Bali that were evading us before, and our experience here is all the better for it.

I mentioned in my last post that we were heading to the Lombok countryside to trek to the top of Gunung Rinjani, the island's highest peak. I should learn not to so specifically postulate what we are planning, since when I do that the plan tends to end up on the floor, in tatters, shat on and run over by the caterpillar tracks of a large combat-ready tank. For various reasons our plans didn't work out, so we decided to go back to Bali. That was probably the best course we could have taken, as we've really enjoyed our time back here.

We aimed for the village of Tirta Gangga, a sleepy place surrounded by padi fields and rainforested hillsides; a place not yet 'discovered' en masse by the tourists who visit Bali. We arrived at a hotel and asked for one night's stay, which in the course of things became four nights. We spent our time reading, walking to nearby rural villages across the fields and visiting the water palace for which the village is famous.







We also hatched a plan to trek to the top of Gunung Agung, the 3142m sacred volcano of Bali. Indonesia is a place where you can make seemingly anything happen, if you have enough money. Any jock on the street will, within 30 seconds, be able to find you transport to anywhere on the island. Extrapolating this idea further, given a bit of time and a smile you can get other things organised. So thinking, we asked our hotel man whether anyone would be able to drive us to and from and guide us up Gunung Agung, and a little while later we had it all nailed down and sorted. At 12:15am the next day, we met up with our guide and driver and headed up to Pasar Agung, the temple at the bottom of the mountain.

We donned saris to enter the temple and gave our guide a moment to pray and ask the gods for our safety on the mountain. He had also previously left an offering to the gods in our hotel, presumably to protect us both on our drive to the mountain and on our ascent of it. The way Indonesians drive, however, he probably should have done several offerings. As it turned out our trip was entirely accident-free. We trekked through the night in order to make it to the summit for sunrise, and this midnight start made it all the more worthwhile. We had been worried that the foreboding rain earlier in the evening would prevent the top from being clear. It turned out that at sunrise Bali was all covered in cloud, but our mountain poked out of the top of it. We had views across to Rinjani on Lombok, and all over the south and east of Bali itself.

We returned to Pasar Agung with our mentalist guide Bob, so named because he's obsessed with Bob Marley and Bob Dylan. He was great fun; he spoke little English so we mainly got by on common Bob Marley songs. In true entrepreneurial Indonesian style he sorted us our transport to Ubud today too.







We're now back in Ubud, which we visited near the start of our trip here, and we are looking forward to having a couple of nights in a slightly posher hotel before I leave. I'm not at all looking forward to leaving Emma for another four and three quarter months. On a lighter side, however, Harry Potter 7 is out and I've got a copy. Fans of HP unite: this is an exciting time!