Last stop: Ubud

After our stay in Gili T, we went to our last stop in Ubud. Since our ferry left at 11.30 a.m. we had enough time for breakfast and packing. At 10.30 a.m. we made our way to the ferry, so as not to miss it.

With a bit of delay the ferry finally arrived at the port. The trip back to Bali took about three hours, as we stopped at several other stops to pick up passengers.

At 2.30 p.m. we finally arrived back in Bali. There we had lunch in a restaurant at the harbour. After lunch we went with the minivan to Ubud. There we were then able to check into our hotel immediately. This was very similar to the hotel we had on Gili T.

The afternoon we then spent in the hotel by the pool. In the evening we went to eat in a rather chic restaurant.

No more chasing waterfalls

The next morning we were actually free, but since we couldn’t visit a waterfall on the way to Lovina, we did it all together this morning in Ubud. After breakfast we were picked up by three taxis, which then took us to the Tibumana waterfall. There we had to walk down a small path to the waterfall. This was then located between palm trees in the middle of the jungle.

There we spent a while, while some of us were also swimming in the waterfall. Finally we walked up the path from the waterfall to the parking lot. By taxi we drove from there back to the hotel. There I went together with my roommates to a restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was about 20 minutes walking away from our hotel, but it looked super chic. In addition, the food there was really good and also in proportion very cheap.

Visiting Monkey Forest

After lunch we went directly with the group to the Monkey Forest, which was only a bit down the road from our hotel.

We saw a lot of monkeys there. Some of us were also jumped by a monkey or stole a lighter from someone. Fortunately, I wasn’t jumped by a monkey. After all, I had a lot of respect for the monkeys.

After spending about an hour in the Monkey Forest, we went back to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon there.

Since we wanted to make a hike to Mount Batur the next night, for which we had to get up at 1 a.m., we went already at 5 p.m. for dinner. The restaurant where we ate that evening was right across the street from our hotel.

After dinner, each of us in the supermarket bought only a few snacks for the coming night and then we went to bed.

Waking up at 1 am for a hike

Shortly after 1 a.m. the alarm was ringing. Since I had slept almost 6 hours, I was quite fit at that time.

At 2 a.m. we finally left. We had to drive for an hour to get to the parking lot of Mount Batur. Since the path up the mountain can be very dangerous, we had some tour guides who knew there way around. From these we all got a bottle of water and a headlamp.

Shortly after 3 a.m. we started hiking. A guide was at the front and led the way, while I was walking right behind him with two girls the whole time. At that time it was pitch dark, which is why the headlamps were needed for all of us.

The beginning was relatively easy, as the path was relatively flat. Nevertheless, we took a break every five to ten minutes. At the beginning we all walked together, but the steeper it got and the harder it got, the more people fell back.

As I am relatively fit, the climb was not a problem for me. However, it was a bit annoying that we had to wait for everyone all the time, because as soon as you didn’t move for a few minutes, it got pretty cold. The further we walked up the mountain and the harder it got, the more people fell back. Finally, we were close to the top, but had to wait again and again for all the others who were not so fast. This was a bit annoying for me.

Watching the sunrise at Mount Batur

After two and a half hours of hiking we finally arrived on Mount Batur. In the meantime, we could slowly see how the sky turned pink.

Arrived at the top, I immediately unpacked my GoPro for a timelapse and my camera. Unfortunately we arrived too late, so I couldn’t take pictures of the starry sky anymore because it was too bright. Of course, that annoyed me a lot, because if we hadn’t always had to wait for everyone else, I would have been up there much sooner.

Upstairs we watched the sunrise and also got hot cocoa and coffee offered. We were really lucky, because this morning there were hardly any clouds in the sky and we could see a really nice sunrise. The groups in the days before were probably not so lucky.

After the sun had risen, we made our way back down. Fortunately, we did not walk down the same path as we did up, as I had initially thought. This would have been far too dangerous.

The way back down was the same as the motorcycles take to transport food and the like upwards. On the way down we did not make any breaks as the path was quite easy.

Almost an hour later we arrived at the parking lot. In the meantime, we were all quite tired and exhausted. With the minivan we drove straight back to Ubud.

Although it was not easy to get up so early in the morning, but since I like to go hiking, it was a lot of fun to hike up the mountain at night to see the sun rise over a volcano. I would do the early getting up and the hike again any time.

Time to relax

After we were back at the hotel in Ubud, we all got a massage. This was really nice and did really good after the hike.

After the massage, I went to lunch together with my roommates in the same restaurant as the day before. After that we did nothing for the rest of the day, since we were all quite exhausted.

The last night together

At 7:30 p.m. we had dinner in the hotel. Since this was our last night together, we all went to a karaoke bar afterwards. At 11 pm I went back to the hotel with some others. Meanwhile, I was awake for 22 hours and then just wanted to sleep.

The next morning we all had to say goodbye, since everyone then left. With some I actually had nothing to do, so for me the goodbye of these people was not really hard. But with some girls I have spent a lot of time, so I was quite sad to have to say goodbye to them.

Compared to the tour in Thailand, we had much more free time in Bali and didn’t go to a bar or club every night. I liked this a bit better, because you had a bit of time for yourself to come down. However, I liked my Thailand group more. There everyone got along well with everyone, while I didn’t talk to a few people once in Bali.

I was then picked up this morning at 11 a.m. by a taxi, which took me from Ubud to Sanur. From Sanur I took the ferry to Nusa Penida.

If you would like to know what I experienced during my time on Nusa Penida. Please read my next blog post The beautiful island of Nusa Penida – Indonesia Travel Diary.