The Pajoka Blog

Midnight starts never really seem like starts. It is kind of like being zombified, and then aggregating for the common cause of all zombie wisdom. In this case, we were grouping together to climb up Mount Agung, the highest volcano in Bali. By the time all was said and done our group had swung radically from 19 with 4 cars to 8 people in one car. It could have been the fact that the rain was coming down in sheets, but those who had arrived were determined to reach the top of the mountain by morning. 

I tried to convince Kiky to bike up to Kintamani, a town along the ridge that makes the Batur Caldera on Bali, but she would have none of it. Being who she is, she wanted to see what she was getting into, especially knowing that I am slightly prone to exaggeration. After an hour of motorcycling continuously uphill, both of us were relieved that we chose to use the motorcycle first: her for knowing what is to come next time we decide to bike it, and me because I avoided trouble caused through my handicap of measuring difficulty properly.

Finally, the rainy season looks like it is coming to an end. For us mountain goats, that means we can start hitting up the local peaks and getting some good exercise under our belts. While the peak of Gunung Agung (Bali’s tallest volcano) has been calling to me for the last few months, the threat of rain made it hard to find a guide who would take us up. So I looked to the central mountains and found one which would become our first Bali  Peak: Gunung Lesong.

The last week or so has been a whirlwind of activity, ultimately determining what we are going to be doing for the next year. The results certainly came out of left field, and are no less exciting than what we had anticipated.

a new hotel has popped up, and we decided to check it out.