Indonesian Independence Day: Mount Batur

The girls climbing Mt. Batur!

   

       We spent Independence Day (Friday, August 17th) in Bali. We booked a couple of drivers to come and pick us up from our hotel by 1:30 am. One of them was on time, and I think the other one was still sleeping. We were definitely not happy about that. Nicole called him, and he said he would be at our hotel in 30 minutes. We needed to leave by 2:00 am to be there on time. You are probably thinking, where on earth would be going at 2 am? It was funny, because there were people just getting in from being out, and we were just waking up to go out. Haha. The first group left for our destination, and left the other group behind to wait for the other driver. 
     After about a 2 hour drive, we arrived at Mt. Batur. I could not believe that I was going to be climbing this volcano at 4:00 am! After a guy explained the hike to us and gave us a couple of guides, we were off. The walk just to get to the base of Mt. Batur seemed tiring, and we weren't even climbing yet! Haha. As we started climbing, I really didn't think I was going to make it. I was moving pretty slowly up the side of the volcano. I pretty much had my own guide, because they can't leave anyone behind. It was so sandy, so it was very easy to slide while you were trying to go up. After we got to the top, or what I thought was the top, we took a break and took some pictures. We stopped here to watch the sunrise. It was so beautiful; like nothing I have ever seen before. It was a great experience that I will never forget. Too bad that I forgot my camera...I will have to steal some from the others that took pictures. Since it was Independence Day, there were large groups of people with Indonesian flags singing the National Anthem. It was really neat. We were able to sing a little with them, since we sing it once a week at school.
     After watching the sunrise, we took off for the rest of our hike up the volcano. It seemed like it was taking forever...haha because it was. I was definitely not prepared for it at all. After many "water breaks", we reached the top of Mt. Batur. They told us that when we reached the top, they would serve us breakfast. They served us a banana sandwich and hard boiled egg that was cooked with the hot steam from the volcano. How cool is that?! We sat around and ate our breakfast, while enjoying the beautiful view from the top. When I looked out, I could not believe that I had made it that far. Climb a volcano in Indonesia. CHECK! That's one off my bucket list. Of course we weren't finished yet. We still had the journey down the volcano, and it was kind of scary. 

     They warned me that it was going to be a little scary, and they were right! OMG, I thought I was going to die. There were points when we were crawling on the side of the volcano finding rocks to put our feet on so that we could make it across. I don't think this would ever be allowed in Amerika, and we didn't even have to sign a wavier or anything before we went up! It was so sandy! You could just slide down the side of the volcano and hope that you didn't fall. Danna had a fight with the volcano. Score ended up being Volcano: 2, Danna: 0. Poor girl. She has the battle scars on her legs. We moved pretty slowly down the volcano. I was so afraid that I was going to fall. The guide was very patient with us, and he even taught us some Indonesian and Balinese language on the way down. I kept telling him that I was just going to roll down the side of the volcano. It would be much easier and faster right? Haha.
     About an hour later than we were supposed to be, we made it down the volcano. I could not believe that I just did that. I haven't done any hiking in over a year, and I just hiked up and back down a volcano! I did it super slow, but I still did it :) We thanked our guides, and got in the car for our two hour car ride back to the hotel. Everyone was so tired that we slept on the ride home. 

Bali: Seminyak Beach

     We went to the beach multiple times while we were in Bail. It was amazing!! I was so excited to be at the Indian Ocean :) The water was so nice, and actually clean. When we first got there, we walked along the beach trying to find everyone else that was already there. When we found them, we had people coming up to us right away asking us if we wanted to rent beach chairs?! So strange. Who would have thought you would ever have to pay to sit in a chair for a couple of hours. We ended up paying about $5 US for two hours.
     The water was a little chilly at first, but once you got in, it was just fine. It wasn't nearly as cold as when I was in the Atlantic Ocean in April (brrr!!!). We decided to fight with the waves that were coming in. Haha, one of them actually knocked me over and I went underwater for awhile. The guys were out farther than us jumping in the waves too. I was not brave enough to go out as far as them. I didn't want the water going quite so far over my head. I couldn't believe how strong the waves are. You can't stand up when they hit you. There were lots of shells, but none of us collected any.
     While laying on our beach chairs, you had to watch out for the people that would walk by and try to sell you things. They would try and sell you food, clothes, jewelry, sunglasses, etc. If they walked by and you told them no, they would still keep asking you. Some of them were pretty aggressive. They really wanted you to buy something from them. A couple of the girls did end up buying a couple of sarongs from a lady. They were actually very pretty, and I wished that I would have gotten one. Oh well, I found one that I bought later on.

The Indian Ocean :) 

T.I.B.B.Y - Holiday :)

     T.I.B.B.Y: This is Bali, Bali Yo.

     So, we came up with a new saying while we were in Bali. Instead of saying "TIJ" we came up with TIBBY. We had a short week at school with only two days!! I was pretty much checked out, and so were the kids. Haha. On Tuesday we celebrated the Indonesian Independence, so we had a special program in the morning and art projects with our kids. I only had to teach in the afternoon. After school I had so much to do: tried to make it across town in the busy traffic before an office closed (failed), dinner with Nicole, laundry, and packing. I actually didn't finish packing until Wednesday morning right before we left. Anyway, on to the trip! 

     After we arrived in Seminyak, we went straight to our hotel (Centra Taum, Seminyak, Bali) where we were greeted with a drink from the staff. What a welcome!! :) It was delicious. I never imagined that our place was going to be as nice as it was. The dining/lounge area was all open near the pool. So beautiful :) We had a room near the pool with 3 bedrooms (1 king size, and 2 twin rooms).

Our welcome drink :) 

Living room area

Kitchen

Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

My bedroom

Bathroom

Poolside! :) 

     After we got settled in, we ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant. The first night was pretty chill. We just walked to the restaurant, and checked out the area a little bit. The lounge at the hotel was pretty nice, so we found an area where most of us would go and sit at night before going to bed.
     Our hotel offered a delicious continental breakfast every morning. It included rice, omelettes, potato wedges, sausage, bacon, etc. We would get up and go eat breakfast every morning before going out and about.