A Sleepy, Spectacular Sunrise...on a Balinese Volcano

Yesterday I arrived in the central Balinese city of Ubut. This doesn't have the surf, beach or other stereotypical "Bali" bits that most people talk about - but what it does have is pretty amazing! When I first arrived I made my way straight to the Monkey Forest - trust me... not just a clever name. There are monkeys everywhere!!! I really couldn't stop laughing... My words won't do it justice - wait for the pics and video.

That evening I went a traditional Balinese dance, under an almost full moon at am old temple. It was called the Kekak and was a drama, dance, musical performed by over 30 men and a few women. It involved some really hilarious rhythms and a lot of hands waving in the air. Again, my words probably can't do it justice.

I awoke this morning at 2:30am to a knock on my door by Kifi (sp?) - my balinese Pop at my homestay- over 4 hours - a flashlight - some sweat and a banana sandwich later... I was watching the sunrise from atop Mt Bakir... Bali's fairly active volcano. This was truly a phenomenal experience!!

While I was little grumpy getting woken up at 230am, and it took my body a while to get moving... it was quite a unique experience hiking up the side of a volcano with nothing but a flashlight a friend and a guide to help. It sorta looked like a bit of a moonscape - as it was all lava rocks and ...well.. deadness! Around, 5am we arrived at the summit - (the first to arrive - so it was especially quiet and eerie...). We had some tea, boiled bananas and a banana sandwich and then just sat back and watched the sunrise. I could def. count on one hand (maybe even one finger) the number of times I have actually sat and watched the sunrise. AMAZING!!!!!!! Especially with steam rising up from the surrounding 4 craters.

After watching the sunrise we continued our hike around the rim of the craters, which all erupted in the past 150 yrs. The most devastating one occuring in the 70's and the most recent being in 2000!

On the way home, my homestay Pop brought us straight to a Balinese coffee plantation - which was obviously very needed as we had just completed a 6+ hour hike and it wasn't even 10am yet! This gave me a little boost as we checked out some rice fields and finally made it back to the homestay around 11:30am - where I crashed pretty hard until the delightful hour of 3pm. I now find myself feeling like I am starting a new day, writing about my adventures yesterday ..er this morning....whatever.

Tonight, more traditional Bali dancing at the Lotus Pond Water Temple and tomorrow morning... off to the Gili Islands in Lombok for some serious Scuba!

Prior to arriving in Ubud, I spent a few days in Kuta (doing some surfing) and Sanur (doing some serious Kiting!). In a nutshell.... Kiting was some of the best I have ever done... I was sunburnt, learned some new tricks and was loving life. Day 2 of kiting ended with a broken fin and a whole panel getting blown out of my kite. I left my stuff in Sanur to see if they could fix it for when I loop back. Apparently, they said they could fix both for $50-60 bucks! I was ready to say goodbye to the kite... It was a serious mess. Either way... the kiting was awesome.

JIF - In bali bar/restaurants they rarely use cash registers. Everytime you order a drink or a meal the server disappears somewhere for a bit. There is normally a girl who sits in the corner with all the paper receipts sitting out in front of her and the servers just run over and give her updates on the bill. It seems to work ok... saves on buying a cash register I guess.