Mount Batur and Gili

Well, the homesickness hit pretty hard around the time I arrived in Kuala Lumpur. I was a grumpy mess, and I just stayed in my room for most of the day.  My mood was okay over the next few days, but it was Mount Batur that got me back to my happy place.  I woke up at 2:30am to be on the road at 3:00 and at the base of the volcano by 4:00.  At 4:00, we (my new friend Klaus and our guide, whose name means #2 in Behasa - men here are named for their birth order... he has one older brother, hence "#2") headed up the mountain, flashlights in hand.  A bit before 6:00, we arrived at the spot where most people stop to enjoy the sunrise, but we weren't satisfied. We hiked another challenging 40 minutes up to the very top.  We watched the sunrise, which was beautiful, and ate our breakfast that had been cooked in steam from the volcano.

After about an hour, we headed around the rim of the volcano, and then back down. 

It was gorgeous: lush green plants, crops,  and trees, in stark contrast to the black volcanic rock. 

In some areas, you could see the path where the lava flowed so many years ago... 

In others, the rocks were sharp and jagged, and there were still more areas where you had to struggle to keep your footing as the coarse sand slid under your feet.

The view from the top was of a crater formed in the 60s during an eruption (the large black circular space in the next photo), another crater (smaller, and clover-shaped) from the most recent eruption about five years ago, and of a big lake in front of Bali's largest volcano. Stunning. 

Thanks to this view, good company and a long-overdue and exerting hike, my mood improved tremendously.  I finished off the day with a Popeye (spinach, apple and cucumber juice - don't knock it, it was awesome), some suckling pig (the Ubud specialty), and a swim in a pool overlooking the rice paddies.

Early the next morning, I headed for the Gilies - a trio of islands not far off the eastern coast of Bali. My morning went something like this: 45-minute shuttle bus ride, frantic dash to the fast boat, nearly two hours on the boat from Bali to Gili Tawangan, transfer to the local boat, 20 minutes on the boat to Gili Air, greeted on shore by no fewer than five very eager guys who are competing for your money; each promises you a great deal if you stay in the guesthouse where he works. "Come stay at Lucky; good rooms, good price, and I promise you will get lucky!" I opted not to clarify if he meant "get lucky" as in sex, or the magic mushrooms for which the islands are famous, or just that you'd be lucky to get a great deal on a nice room.  I'm assuming he meant a combination of all three. Maybe I should have stayed at Lucky to get the full story, but I ended up staying at Nina, a place with VERY simple cottages/bungalows, located at the prime snorkeling spot on Gili Air. 

As I was enjoying my Gado Gado (vegetables topped with peanut sauce) and avocado juice (WHY has America not adopted this???? It's yummy, and if you add a little chocolate sauce, it also makes a tasty dessert drink), I got my first offer for mushrooms. "Don't worry, my friend. It's not illegal! It's very legal; there are no police here!" This part was half true.

There are severe penalties (including death) in Indonesia for posessing, using or selling any kind of drugs, and it is still illegal in Gili, but there are no police on any of the three islands (you go to the village chief if you have any problems), so laws are not generally enforced.  Surprisingly, though, it's a very safe place to be... Other than drug use, the islands have VERY little crime (and I suspect that most of that crime is from the tourists. Some of the locals are a bit pushy with the trinkets they're trying to sell and may try to get away with charging too much for things, but that's as bad as it gets. If someone saw you drop a wad of money on the street, they would probably chase you around the island to get it back to you. 

It was hot and sunny where I was, but you could see the rain pouring down on nearby Lombok.

I spent the first day lounging by the beach, desperately trying to cool off and avoid burning to the ever-attractive shade of lobster-red.  Day two, I went snorkeling several times and did lots more lounging. On day three, I woke up early to see the sunrise (a total bust; it was so cloudy I didn't get to see it) and then went snorkeling again. This time I went into the water from a spot farther up the beach, which was a dreadfully bad decision.  This was an area rife with coral and sharp rocks underfoot, and I ended getting slammed down onto them by a wave.  After saying a few impolite words and checking the damage (a chunk out of my elbow and painful but superficial scrapes down my leg), I kept going.  I thought I had passed the area I needed to be worried about and was enjoying the view for a bit, until I got to an area with almost zero visibility.  I was attempting to get through this spot to clearer waters, or at least to a section of the beach where I could go back on shore without acquiring any more battle wounds, and I ended up swimming right into one of the huge ropes (about four inches in diamater) used to secure boats and bouys and such. It was covered in sharp sea-things (barnacles? Who knows... I couldn't see, remember?) and it left long slices across my right arm. At this point, I was hurting, bleeding, and seriously pissed-off, and I awkwardly made my way back to the shore and saw Klaus (the guy from the volcano), who was just about to head into the water to snorkel, and he convinced me to go back out in a better area.  I'm glad I decided to go back in, because visibility was much better, and we saw sea turtles! Six of them in total... it was fantastic! We stalked the turtles until they swam off to deeper waters, and then went back to shore. We had decided to take a one-day introductory scuba diving course, and it was just about time to head to the diving school.  Half of the morning was spent on basic instructions and warnings, and on how to use the gear.  Then we put on our gear and headed to the water, where we spent time getting used to breathing from a tank, and practiced how to move underwater, what to do if you run out of air, how to clear your mask, etc.  Then we went for a shallow dive - down to about 5 meters.  We saw tons of fish, including a cuttlefish, pufferfish, and whatever those skinny ones are called that swim vertically. It was GREAT!! Then we loaded our gear onto the boat and headed off for a lunch break. When we came back, we got (wet)suited up and hopped on the boat.  This time we did an open-water dive! Pretty amazing for the first day. We slowly descended to about 15 meters, and swam past an old shipwreck site. I got to see an impressive variety of coral, anemones and millions of fish. There was one kind of fish that would come to you if you rubbed your fingers together, and I also saw an extrememly poisonous lionfish (which I would have missed had it not been pointed out - when it's not moving, it almost looks like part of the coral).

I had a brief problem with the pressure in my ears - I guess I didn't clear them quickly enough - and at the very end of the dive I had a bit of a hard time with the breathing. I'm not sure if I got nervous, or if the lack of fresh air just started to get to me, but I was glad for the dive to be over.  It wasn't bad, just uncomfortable, and I'm told that this is very normal, and that it gets better with each dive. I look forward to finding out.