Home » Indonesia » Shattered sunrise

Toya Bunkah

Glorious morning with a fine blue mist over Danau Batur. Think I must have had nearly 12 hours sleep last night barring the interruptions from the numerous cockerals that seem to be just outside my window.

Shattered sunrise

Ricklivesey
2006-08-31 10:54:40

Displayed times (last time: )

Toya Bunkah

Glorious morning with a fine blue mist over Danau Batur. Think I must have had nearly 12 hours sleep last night barring the interruptions from the numerous cockerals that seem to be just outside my window.

Yesterday nearly went horribly wrong: I'd set my alarm for 3:30am, thinking that Nyoman was to knock at 3:45, waking me for the morning's treck, however the agreed time seemed to have shunted to 2:45am and so in the rush I missed a much needed warm shower as the night had been chilly under the thin blanket.

I didn't really know what the plan was but we first stopped for water and suggary tea at a little shop in Toya Bunkah where I discovered I was supposed to catch the trecking bus to the foot of Batur.

Half an hour past and Nyoman started looking edgy, pacing up and down outside trying to spot the bus and reassuring me by saying 'Don't worry be happy!' repeatedly which was starting to piss me off. I don't do mornings, least of all mornings that go wrong. It was too early for me to think but I was a tad anxious that the sunrise, (supposedly seen from the peak), was drawing ever nearer.

After much heated discussion with the shop keeper, in a blatant fob-off Nyoman offered to take me to another caldera nearby but I stood my ground saying I'd paid to climb Batur. He then said I'd have to pay another 50 US dollars for tomorrow's climb instead. The conversation was rapidly turning farcical. It's amazing that when you want to spend money, Indonesians have near-perfect English or at least understanding of what you're saying but when something goes wrong or they think they can pull a fast one, those skills just seem to vanish. I held fast, telling him 'No more money' and he slowly realised I wouldn't budge and so came up with an emergency plan.

Within seconds we were zooming off in the pitch black on Nyoman's bike, dodging ...