Ubud

When I finally arrived near my accommodation and could get off the scooter, I just had to search for the right house for another 20 minutes. And that was despite being only 100m away. The reason was that the homestay wasn’t marked on Google Maps, and the navigation guidance from Booking.com was still not very sophisticated. The next problem was that no one at the accommodation spoke English, and I did not speak Indonesian. But Google Translate is certainly reliable.

After this somewhat complicated check-in, I walked around the town in search of a nice warung and surprisingly managed to book a hike to Gunung Batur for the next day. This requires a pickup from the accommodation at 2 AM, so that you can manage the journey and hike before sunrise. So, after dinner, I was facing a short night.

When my alarm went off at 1:45 AM, I briefly cursed myself, but then looked forward to the upcoming sunrise. After 1.5 hours in the minivan, we reached the breakfast spot, where a somewhat questionable breakfast was served consisting of coffee or tea and fried bananas. After the breakfast snack, we sat in the minivan for another half hour until we reached the starting point of the hike. There was a brief briefing, and everyone received their - somewhat disappointing - breakfast package: a bottle of water, an egg, two slices of untoasted bread, and a banana. Then we began our hike.

For the first 2km, walking was quite manageable; it wasn’t exhausting, and there weren't too many people. However, this changed quickly at the first significant ascent, and my group found themselves stuck in a hiking jam. You could take two or three steps forward, then have to wait, then take a few more steps forward, wait, and so on. Firstly, it was quite annoying, and secondly, I could not imagine us reaching the crater rim by sunrise this way. Therefore, I separated from the group with Kashi, another person from my group; we walked a bit faster and continually overtook people. Around 5:30 AM, just after dusk began, we reached the crater rim, secured a spot with a great view of Gunung Agung, and eagerly awaited the sunrise. And solely for this view, the hike was worth it!

The Gunung Batur hiking package also included a visit to a coffee plantation, where we made a stop on the way back to Ubud. This plantation had, among other things, Kopi Luwak. This is the 'special' coffee whose beans have passed through a cat's digestive system. However, I cannot provide information about this coffee because I did not try it.

The next day, I went on a scooter trip with Kashi, Cecilia, and Nicola from the hike. We first visited the Nungnung waterfall, then the Ulun Danu Bratan Temple, and finally the Jatiluwih rice terraces. Three truly great destinations, for which I would gladly endure the somewhat longer journey again.

I also took another trip with Kashi the next day. First, we drove to the Goa Gaja Cave, a cave temple. On one hand, the temple looks quite impressive, and on the other hand, there is also a waterfall on the grounds, along with a bridge leading over it. A truly beautiful place.

Afterwards, we drove to Suwat waterfall, where you can swim and climb onto a small rock right in the falling water. From there, you can jump into the water, which is 7m deep. A very welcome refreshment.

The last two stops were the Tegallalang rice terraces, which were somewhat disappointing compared to Jatiluwih the day before, even though it is a major tourist attraction. And in Petulu, you should be able to see swarms of herons spreading out in the rice fields from 4 PM onwards. We arrived around 5 PM, there were no rice fields, and the herons were apparently not due until 6 PM. Düdüm.

On the last day, I took it a bit easier. I strolled through the downtown area, watched wood carvers at work, and admired some doorways. Here, almost every family has its own little shrine. In the afternoon, I took a walk through the really beautiful rice fields and managed to spot a few herons following a rice farmer. And before I headed back to the accommodation, I organized my transport to Lombok.