Bali - Day 6 - Mount Batur Volcano!

For our final day in Ubud we thought we’d set our most adventurous itinerary yet with a trek up in the central mountains of Bali. We were a bit dubious about making the trip because the morning’s weather was looking a bit overcast, and Lonely Planet reckoned it wasn’t even worth taking the drive up there in bad weather as you wouldn’t be able to see a thing, it also said the journey would take us about two hours each way and we were already developing some pretty impressive looking bruises on our behinds. However, LP also said you should never hand a banana directly to a monkey and we survived that challenge – so we decided to continue to fly in the face of LP and set off early for the venture up there. 

It was a bit chilly for the first half an hour as we ascended the mountain, but then the sun broke and made it a rather pleasant ride. We passed through coffee country and our friends at the Kopi Luwak plantation, then we hit fruit country – hundreds of brightly coloured fruits laid out in market stalls all the way to the top. Also, shows much LP knows as well as we made it up there in an hour (at a safe speed Mum…)

The Volcano and crater lake of Mount Batur (1717m)

As we reached the summit we caught a glimpse of the volcano on the horizon – it was a pretty impressive sight, so much so that James got distracted and sped through the checkpoint where your supposed to stop and buy a ticket, meaning we then got shouted and chased by an angry Balinese man until we realised our error and stopped to pay – only to see about 30 Balinese kids speed through the checkpoint on scooters. Ah, so that’s how it works…

We pulled over at the first convenient spot to take some photos of Mount Batur – it’s a pretty awesome sight with obvious old lava flows all down the left hand slopes. It’s still a live volcano and while we were there you could see smoke kicking out from the western side.

Unfortunately, the one thing LP turned out to be spot on about is that the Mount Batur area is possibly the worst place in Bali for hawkers. We hadn’t stopped for five minutes before a guy on a motorcycle pulled up next to use and started peddling his wares. We were doing pretty well at resisting, but then he pulled out the phrase ‘lovely jubbly’ and James was powerless – purchasing one of his paintings of the volcano (they were pretty good) and he at least managed to haggle him down from $20 to $5!

But literally every time you stopped to admire the view you were instantly surrounded. We even stopped for a beer at one point (well, we stopped for lunch until we realized it was an extortionate all you can eat buffet all the tour groups get lead into) with some pretty awesome views – only to find a couple of sellers had set up camp in the doorway to catch us as we left!

Scenic beers

We could see from up high that there was a road that circled around the edge of the lava fields on the eastern side (away from the smoking section!) so we decided to escape the tourist trap and take a scoot to the base of the volcano where we’d heard there were natural hot springs.

The scoot down was a bit hairy and at points I was worried Lucille wouldn’t be able to cope coming back the other way! We had to dodge a couple of guys at the turnoff trying to wave us down, and one who tailed us on his bike (apparently the guys at the top will try to flag down tourists with the premise of being tour guides) and also a crazy lady who kept wondering out in front of traffic at the bottom trying to sell you something – we almost hit her twice! But once we were down there it was pretty awe-inspiring. (despite James’ complaints about the inconsiderate person who chucked a load of ‘dirt and small rocks’ over the road – only to realise it was actually volcanic ash!)

Unfortunately any natural hot springs there once were had all been turned into flashy (tacky) looking resorts with hot spring swimming pools but it was definitely worth the scoot down there get a better view of the crater.

We decided to start the scoot back to Ubud – we’d read in a couple of places that there was a little warung opposite the palace that offered the best version of Bali’s national dish – suckling pig – for only $3, but they only opened until 4pm. We’d managed to miss it every other day and James was determined to get there on our last day.

We were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves as we departed Mount Batur – we’d done pretty well at exploring the island during our week there and this was an awesome way to finish it off. However, we should’ve learned by now that when things are going pretty peachy it usually means there’s something looming around the corner…and sure enough as we sped out of Mount Batur, wind in our hair we saw it – a police cordon across the road just in front of us, with nowhere else to turn.

Now, we’d been pretty good about making sure we had everything we needed to be able to scoot around in Bali – despite James’ protesting about forking out $35 for an international drivers permit I’d nagged him long enough for him to cave – having read on every online forum that if the police pull you over without one they can pretty much ask for whatever they like as a bribe and there’s nothing you can do about it.

The lake from within the crater

Unfortunately – having paid the $35 for our IDP we’d promptly left it on the shelf back in Brisbane.

Sure enough he pulled us over and asked to see our papers, and James and I shot each other the look of doom as he gingerly pulled his UK driving license out of his pocket. Instantly the guy kicked off about how we needed a local license to be able to drive in Bali, making a bit of a song and dance and then sending James to speak to his ‘friend’ a bit further down the road.

Looking over the lava flow to the peak

Cop "You know you need International License to drive in Indonesia?!"

James “Yeah, we’re really sorry - we’ve got one but left it behind I Australia…”

Cop “If I come to your country – I cannot drive on Indonesian License, you come here you cannot drive on UK License!”

James (in his head) “That’s because you all drive like fucking maniacs.”

I started to follow and he told me to stay put – he must’ve seen the terror in my face as he instantly changed tact and said ‘don’t worry, it’s no problem – just need money!’ before he started quizzing me on our holiday plans with a big smile on his face, like he was my best mate!

Fruits!

Eventually James was released and made his way back to me and Lucille rubbing his fingers together as the international signal for ‘we’re being bribed’. Our LP of 2008 said bribes could be up to 100,000 IDR ($10) but inflation has obviously taken its toll on the island as we came away 250,000 IDR poorer!

On the way down we consoled ourselves with the fact that it would give us some ammunition for the next blog, and our hostess Trish had said even if you DO have your IDP on you they still invent some kind of reason for a fine anyway. The two westerners who’d been pulled over behind us looked like they were in that boat as they protested waving their IDP in the air!

On the plus side at least we made it back to Ubud (just) in time to visit Ibi Oka and his legendary suckling pig – which, as it happens, was pretty amaze-balls.

We’d had a pretty amazing time in Ubud (despite our run in with the law) and we were both a little bit sad to say goodbye to our trusty steed Lucille, although the thought of lounging on a beach for four days and healing our sore behinds was pretty appealing. 

We both hit the sack early in preparation for our 6am start to be whisked by mini van and boat to our very own desert island – Gili Air.