Bali Guling! Part 3

Hello again!

I know I haven't been consistent in uploading these travel diaries but hey, one post per week at least, am I right? ;) So let's jump in with the next itineraries, shall we!

On the third dawn, we decided we wanted to go for a sunrise trek at Mount Batur before leaving Ubud for Seminyak as Ubud is higher up in latitude and therefore closer to Mt. Batur comparably. So we (again) asked Putu to link us up with a guide who would trek together with us to the summit. (price was $50/person) Mt. Batur is only about 1717m above sea level, so it wasn't a tough hike as per say, but with all the darkness and the c r o w d s it took us longer than expected. Before anything, here's our trekking itinerary:

02.30 AM: Pick up time from our hotel in Ubud

03.45 AM: Arrival at the starting point of the hike at Toyabungkah village.

06.15 AM: Arrival at the summit of Mount Batur (sunrise point).

07.00 AM: Continue our trek around the entire crater.

08.00 AM: Begin our descent to the finishing point of our trek (Toyabungkah village).

09.00 AM: Arrival at Toyabungkah village and board car to go back to our hotel.

11.00 AM: Arrival at our hotel

And yes, sunrise in Bali happened at about 6.30+am, so we had to leave our hotel at 230am. Just saying, my 2 lovely friends still had time to put on some foundation and prep themselves up, so do not fret my friends, this trekking itinerary is completely doable and totally worth it! (believe me, we are major sleepers) 

We trekked up in our yoga pants, good pairs of sneakers we didn't mind getting dirty of, crop tops/usual T-shirts, and sweaters/windbreakers. To be honest, the coldest part of the trek was when you were just starting out because the wind there was CRAY! like actually crazy. But the best thing was that if you forget to bring a thick enough jacket for this hike, you could find so many local sellers offering up jackets for rents. 1 jacket for the entire hike cost ~$5, and honestly, they were all of great condition and best of all, not stinky. 10/10 for convenience. 

The first part of the trek was on winding asphalt road and it was not that tiring, actually. We trekked for a good 45 minutes before stopping at a rest stop that let us overlook the nearby lights from sleepy Toyabungkah Village. By then, we were sweating enough to take off our jacket and trek with just our tops and yoga pants. The wind was chilly, but it was comfortable and refreshing. Following this, you will see more people streaming into the trek roads as this stop is also the highest part where cars and motorbikes could park at. 

Following this, the trek got harder—the roads were no longer asphalt, but they were filled with loose gravels that were slippery, to say the least. Along the way, you would hear people blasting Old Town Road off their speakers (aka us) while concentrating really hard to not fall down lol. Honestly, this part of the trek was not that fun and mesmerising as we were all concentrating on the ground instead of the views we're surrounded by as the traffic of people was really high, and that meant that more loose gravels and thuds of people's butts on the floor were heard more frequently than ever. We took another 30 minutes+ hike to reach the semi summit and rested for a bit. There were also people with torchlight selling crazily inflated beverages at this semi summit. After a while, we wanted to continue trekking to the summit for the sunrise.

After another 45 minutes and more slips here and there, we finally made it to the summit!! Our guide prepared breakfast for us in a small hut nearby and we sat at the edge of the road(?) to warm up. It was sooooo surreal watching the dark blue skies gradually brighten. It was like this vast dark blue blanket surrounding you slowly break to reveal a concoction of the richest red and yellow hues at its seams, and the flickering of sun rays slowly warming your soul with a cup of hot coffee/tea as you gasped on. It was honestly so beautiful. And we were so lucky that the weather was so clear that we could spot Mt. Agung (an active volcano nearby) from the top. We just took pictures and chatted for a long while after our hike. Oh, even talking about it now makes me want to trek again! Super recommended peeps. Please slot this in your Bali itinerary if you can! :) <3

Here are the pictures that I believe did not do the whole experience justice but still are a feast to the eyes: 

view upon reaching the summit at 5.45+am

the neighboring mountain and a crater lake starting to show up... 

right at sunrise <3 x

A couple caught in action teehee

sun was completely up by then

  THE ultimate golden/rosy hour you can get...😍

 

 beware of cheeky monkey(s) that are lurking for your breakfast(!)

 or attract them intentionally to get cute pictures like this i guess o_o

After the hike, we were completely gone. Like dead-in-the-car-i-don't-care-anymore type of gone. So we just deadass slept like babies once we sat on Putu's comfortable car seats. Oh, and also, another important thing is to remember to tip your trekking guide! They earn minimal amounts from a regulated local tour company in order to become a licensed Mt. Batur guide, so your tips go a long way. Our guide was so nice that he held my friend's hand most of the way because damn girl, I got massive anxiety from her mini screams whenever her feet lost their grip on the sandy grounds. We gave him ~$30 and we thought it was a decent amount to tip your guide with so, be generous and 

Initially, we planned to check the Uluwatu temple I believe, but on the way back we were too tired to bother getting outta the car, so we decided to skip it and just go back to the hotel to check out immediately and head to Seminyak! 

1230—we arrived in Seminyak and we went for lunch at Revolver. It was pretty decent, like a 7.5/10 cafe food rating I'd say. !0/10 for varieties, though. Singapore gotta catch up with their cafe food options, mate :/ Since were famished, we over-ordered (again) and it cost us ~$70. Not the cheapest, but again, decent! We basically just chilled a little bit in the hotel and then scoooted out for our Yoga class at Yoga Shala :} Oh and we stay right smack in the middle of Seminyak at Amadea Resorts and Villas which I would say was pretty basic with okay amenities and facilities but hey the location was 10/10 so nothing to complain about, really. And yes, we managed to sneak in a third person without them knowing again. I feel like as long as only 2 people are there during check-ins, you should be fine.

fish taco was really not good... we didn't finish it lol others were decent!

1600—yoga time! As a first-timer, the instructor, Ms. Delia, was super understanding and nice. What's best was that the class consisted only of the 3 of us, so we literally giggled our way through the class without judgement. 10/10 would recommend if you want to just stretch out your tired body from the hike and chill out for a little bit with your friends. Yoga lasted for an hour and we paid ~$7 for Indonesian citizen aka me and ~$14 for foreigners. This was a little bit on the expensive side for Bali, but since the class consisted of just the 3 of us, it was worth the money, I'd say!

1930—Potato Head Beach Club. Honestly, we were lowkey tired af on that day, but we decided to go anyways. Potato Head was just as you'd imagine it to be, and I'd recommend going for a dip there in the afternoon because the sea was just right outside it so it must have been beautiful during sunset and really snazzy for tanning. But still, the vibe was great, food was a solid 8/10 and they had a lot of cocktail selection. Potato Head truly lives up to its reputation, I'd say. Perfect place for a cozy night out. 

Pictures below!

Annnnd that concludes our Day 3! It was eventful as always, and I cannot wait to share my cafe recommendations to you! The rest of the days in Seminyak are pretty chill honestly, so I won't bore you with our meager itineraries and I'll get straight to what I feel is a must-go and what you can skip! See yalls in part 4 xo

Loads of love,

Maretta Simon 

10 reasons why you should visit Nepal

A country full of stark juxtapositions... embodied by both the people and the silent survivors of the deadly 2015 earthquake. That is probably the best way to describe how Nepal is as a country as of now, as seen through my lens in my one-week-trip to Nepal.

 a random villager's house at Pokhara

sunrise slowly creeping out from a seemingly nearby mountain from the Australian Base Camp

another beautiful moment before the sun rises!

As many of you know, it is a country still rebuilding and recovering from the disastrous earthquake in 2015, yet there are so much more than mere shambles and messy infrastructure of Kathmandu that I saw and lived. I was initially shook by the state of disorderliness Kathmandu was in when I first step foot on the crowded pavements and unregulated traffic on the streets, but as I leave Nepal, I could not cease to smile at the beautiful bright skies, the warmth of the locals and the hopeful eyes of the little children I talked to during the school visits. To give you a context of what I did*, my schoolmates and I basically helped build a wall for a local government school pretty high up in the mountains, discuss current issues and talk about comparisons of culture mainly between Singapore and Nepal to students younger than or of the same age as us, as well as trek one of the mountains to the Australian Base Camp (I guess it was called the Annapurna mountain range?). 

It was a fulfilling trip as never have I ever see myself to be so deeply impacted by the small things a short trip can give me, given my skeptical nature on short-lived projects where my commitment is not a priority. This trip has allowed me to truly see the qualities of oneself from within, as there was imminent language barrier with some of the students, yet their sincerity and eagerness to learn about my culture and promote their beloved Nepali culture was invigorating, to say the very least. Yes, I only spent a day with the students, but that experience left so many unanswered questions in my head: when was the last time I actually feel that eager to learn about something I can search on the internet? Have I forgotten the joy of truly disconnecting from distractions and just focus on building relationships with new people? Have I lost touch of the extent subtleties of unexpected poignant moments can impact my perspective because I have been too comfortable in what I have been doing this whole year?

It was a mass of contradictions--my mind was puzzled after the overwhelmingly positive outcome of that short visit. I felt so liberated just talking to new people there. It was a humbling experience to realise how little I know of this world and how small my empirical reality of my own bubble actually is. Thus, I learned to learn, all over again. I came with the mindset of sharing experiences and exposing the Nepali students to international cultures by befriending them as they may not have appropriate platforms where they can have international friends, but in the end I felt that it was more educational for me instead of for them. If I have to choose one word to describe the whole experience, it has to be Introspection.

Introspection is something I lack doing, as the surprising experiences should not strike me as hard, especially since I used to live in a developing country with similar circumstances and beautiful sceneries. Therefore, I am thankful to have the chance to visit Nepal, where I can relive those memories of childhood and reconnect with long-lost friends I never get to befriend across the globe away as our differences in backgrounds really did not matter. I was quick to complain about things I have, quick to judge my own abilities, and even quick to analyse social situations, yet I 'forgot' that I am fundamentally flawed in connecting with my own self for the very assumptions that I have grown and moved forward from my past self. I guess that is because I focus too much on self-improvement that I do not see the bigger, more important picture of coming to terms with my past and piecing the mosaics of my past experiences first in order to build an improved front. Hence, by introspecting on my recent visit, it helped me sieve through the social problems underlying the society back at home, retrieving those desires to do something bigger in order to also impact others just like how the Nepali students impacted me. Thus after reflecting on this wonderful journey, the real question: what can you do to alleviate their slow growth and or impact their lives as much as they have impacted mine still remain. But this trip has certainly reconnected me to my “supposedly” humbler side who still look at the world as how it really is, instead of through a rose-tinted screen where i take things at face value while making excuses such as “yeah ill think of what happened today when i am less busy”.

As you can tell, i have drifted quite a lot from my intended title, but Nepal truly is a country you guys should include to your bucket list simply for the indescribable experience you will get, especially if you are not used to the landscape of a developing nation. It should not be “10 reasons why you should visit Nepal”, but “the reason why you should visit Nepal: people, scenic landscapes, ah just because Nepal.”

*I also did other stuff but probs I'll share with you some other time in a different post or... I may just keep it to myself

ps there are more pics of my friends and I on my Instagram if you want to check them out! Also I do not have any pictures with the children because their child protection policies are pretty strict in Nepal for fears of human trafficking.  :)