Friday 12 July 2013

Bali Day 5, Mount Batur trek, more Potato Head, Balinese massage at Taman Merah Spa

We woke up at 1 am to get ready for our trek up Mount Batur, which is an active volcano in Bali. We arranged with a guide that my friend recommended to do the trek together but he bailed out on us at the last minute so we thought we would simply book the trekking tour through our villa. However, our villa charged us double the price of the market rate so I did a quick search on Tripadvisor and contacted Bali Bliss Tour. They responded really quickly and our trekking tour was arranged less than a day before the actual trek. Very efficient and I liked their prompt responses through out.

The drive to the base of Mount Batur took 1 hr 30 minutes and the driver from Bali Bliss Tour took us there in the dark of the night. I was really sleepy throughout the trip and was dozing off happily. When I woke up and hopped out of the car to fantastic air-conditioned weather. It was pretty cold with strong gusts of cold wind whipping through the darkness in the large parking lot. Our driver introduced us to our guide who was part of the local organisation in charge of bringing tourists up Mount Batur. He looked really young, like maybe 16 or so, but I found out during the nice slow walk down that he was actually 23!

Anyway the trek up was physically manageable. I was actually much more afraid of losing my balance and toppling one side or the other. Some of those trekking managed to make it to the summit, but many others decided to stop at the crater instead. I am sure both locations provide a stunning view of the sunrise but I managed to get to the summit and boy was it breath taking.


I cannot describe in words how awesome it was to sit beside the person you completely enjoy being with, watching the sky turn from dark to light, and looking at the awesome ball of gold creeping up the horizon. I truly loved that moment.



The trek down was a long steep rocky and sandy slope. For some reason I lost my balance twice and fell onto some rocks, receiving a deep gash on my palm. After a while, the path was no longer rocky but merely sandy so we could finally take our focus off the path and start a normal conversation with our guide. The boyfriend started chatting with him about Beckham, Spice Girls and a range of other funny stuff. 

The driver was waiting for us at the parking lot and took us back. The drive back to the villa took us through Ubud where we had a glimpse of the various craft shops. It was very fascinating but not entirely my cup of tea. We reached the villa after a 2 hour ride and went to Biku for lunch. We were really exhausted since we were up the whole night and promptly returned to the villa for a nice afternoon nap.

Woke up for dinner at Potato Head! Potato Head's mojito came highly recommended but I don't find it especially interesting. But it could really be because I am not a fan of mojitos anyway.


I ordered Fusili with Chicken and Goat Cheese. It was really yummy at the start but it soon became too creamy for my liking and I started feeling really queasy.


After dinner, we strolled over to Taman Merah Spa which was the spa attached to Bali Island Villa and Spa. We chose to have the Balinese Massage together and I succumbed to using aromatic oils this time. I chose the Green Tea one because it was the lightest fragrance of all. The massage was really good! And I loved the fact that they had an en suite outdoor shower facility so you could simply walk out of the room and have a quick shower in the garden at the back.

Read about Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 6!

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