Back to Bali: Gunung Agung

If you ask most expats in Indonesia, they might say Bali is overrated. Bali was “discovered” by beer-drinking Australian surfers back in the day. So if you surf, and want to party till you puke, Bali is top of your radar. But, if you are looking for that iconic postcard-image turquoise water, white-sand beach, ringed by coral and palm trees, go somewhere else. Bali will disappoint you. The reality is that there are much “nicer” beaches almost anywhere else in the world.

Now, that said, Bali is growing us. April 2017 has brought us a series of long-weekends, and obviously therefore, the first-world problem of: where should we go, what shall we do with all of these long weekends? So, all things considered, including 1.5-hr flights out of Jakarta, we made the executive decision to go back to Bali. Rough life, we know. However, the mission was centered on a distinct goal: climb Gunung Agung (if you recall, gunung = mountain = volcano) – with some beach time on either side. And, as it turned out, a fantastic combo and highly recommended itinerary (you know, next time you’re in Bali).

Upon landing and a quick 20-mins drive to our accom, whereupon we were on the beach with cold beer in hand, and upon realizing that it was scarcely noon…we were both struck by the obvious: this is good! You see, this is the lure of Bali. It’s hot and sunny, there are beaches and palm trees, and the Balinese have hit the mark in providing the right kind of infrastructure and services bules want when they’re on holidays – something that cannot be said for the rest of Indo.

For us, coming from the mass of humanity and chaos of west Java, it is, as they say, Shangri La. Striking us most, as we toured the island’s inland villages and rice paddies on route to our climb, is the Balinese celebration of beauty. The Balinese enjoy and yes, celebrate beauty. It’s everywhere you look. From the road side temples, to the rice paddies, to the potted plants, to the pools – they do an exceptionally good job with the pools – the Balinese love of beauty is obvious. And, no 4:20 AM call to prayer! (remember, Bali = Hindu, not muslim, so no call to prayer….yah!!).  So ya, we’re starting to see Bali in a new light. Just stay clear of the drunken Aussie surfers, and yer good!

Ok, the mission: Gunung Agung. At 3,145 m, Agung defines the topography of Bali. Indeed, like most landmasses in Indonesia, Bali is an island created by the volcanic eruptions of Agung, and a few other lava vents. Still active (last eruption was in 1963, which killed 1500 people), Agung dominates Balinese life, from its sacred place in daily life, to governing the island’s weather patterns. You can set your watch to the moist southwest morning winds as they crawl up the mountain, condense, and provide Balinese rice paddies with their daily soaking. Agung’s significance to Bali and the Balinese cannot be overstated.

Enough talk, let’s walk!…let’s climb this bad boy! As a 3000+ m alpine peak, Agung is a worthy objective. Reminiscent of the coolest chunks of rock back home in British Columbia, Agung did not disappoint. As an interesting aside, the classic way to climb Agung, and most peaks in Indo it seems, is to ascend during the night via headlamp, and thereby time the top-out with sunrise. Hmmm, not sure who invented that system, but we’ll stick to the daylight-hours scenario. I don’t know…call us old school. Isn’t looking around and experiencing the ascent, most of the enjoyment. Non?

The route, starting at Pura Pasar Agung, a temple half way up the mountain (which was very cool in itself) at about 1500 m, starts out as a classically overgrown forest trail, but then quickly transitions into steep rocky forest, and then into really steep and open volcanic rock for most of the route. Steep is the key word, and there are very few moments when you are not going straight up, or straight down. It’s that conical volcano-shape thing. There are 2 options: to the rim of the crater – a somewhat shorter and direct route to about 2900 m – or, to the true summit, a longer mission with a more convoluted (aka interesting) route involving a diagonal traverse. Our plan was the true summit, and we stuck to it.

It was an amazing day of being up high, volcanic rock formations, cool temps, and blue skies. You know, it was just good to be back in the mountains. Our guide, Nyoman (everything in Indo is guided, in fact, it’s illegal in most places to not have a guide, it’s the “support the locals” thing combined with a total lack of available information) was fantastic, mostly because he was over the age of 18, had actually done the route hundreds of times, and basically knew what he was doing and where we were going – not always the case with “guides” in this part of the world (e.g., see last post). If yer looking for a Gunung Agung guide, contact Nyoman (nyoman_mukti@yahoo.com).

It’s one of those routes where going down is harder on your body than going up. Our knees and legs were screaming when we got back to the car 10 hours after our sunrise start. But then, a wave of realization: oh ya, we’re in Bali! Beers on the beach! Nice! Hard to beat that.

Another cool aside, is our dear friend from Nelson, Kim Carpenter, who is currently reliving the book Eat, Pray, Love, for a couple of months in Bali, and who, through the miracle of internet communication, was spending the weekend with us at our hotel in Sanur. So that was fun. Back to the beach, beers in the pool, talking about the good ole’ Nelson days with Kim, then sunset cocktails and dinner on the beach under the stars. Life is good!

But alas, this story ends pretty much the same as the rest of them: all good things must come to an end. This was a weekend-warrior mission. Back to work tomorrow! Booo. I had to crowbar Amy off the beach and into our taxi to the airport. But we’ll be back, Bali is in our blood now J