Pura Pucak Mangu on Mt. Catur

"What's the plan for next weekend?" That was a question from a friend after we did Mt. Lesung for the first time a week ago. So during the weekdays I searched for any possibility, and one of the mountain which is still in the same area seems to be good. Plus I found a nice blog about 10 Highest Peaks in Bali.

Mt. Batur 1717m, Bali

It is probably the most famous and common mountain(volcano) to climb in Bali. The reason is it is not a hard trek, quite short and low altitude, has amazing view, and many tourist package for that. I don't want to say how many times I have been there, because I might go again in the next weekend :) Many of my friends said that we have to pay and they will force us to use a guide as it is dangerous, they will follow you, bla..bla..bla.. But it never happen to me even when I bring foreigner friends. If you want to know the start point, write me an email to winaajah@gmail.com or contact my phone number +6285737159359. Sorry I can't share directly here because I don't want the association to start checking that way. Let's keep it free!

The first time I went there was 6th October 2013, with my roommate, Callista. It was 9pm when I suddenly had an idea to climb Batur, and I asked her where is the start point. She was worried, so she offered to accompany me. We started at 12am from Jimbaran, where we lived together at that time. I don't really remember what time did we start to hike and what time did we arrived on the top, but it was quite early.

Gitgit Waterfalls

Gitgit is name of village in the south of Singaraja, which has some waterfalls and fresh air. From Denpasar you can go to Singaraja direction, after Bedugul, only 30 minutes up and down. There are few waterfalls I've been, the first one from Denpasar direction is Campuhan or twin gitgit waterfalls. Need to pay for parking and 1$ for entrance ticket. If some local offering to be a guide, don't use it, they will give you crazy price. Anyway the path is only one, so you don't need guide for sure. From parking area need to walking down, and there will be a bridge in the middle of two waterfalls. Better if you choose the left side first, walk beside the river and this is it! Twin falls with big pool. And also there is a root to swing like a Tarzan, nice to try :)

Gitgit Twin Waterfall

Mt. Abang 2151m

Mt. Abang is not as famous as Mt. Batur or Mt. Agung, but it's located between them. As it is not a volcano, so the trek is in the forest. The start point is located in -8.369231, 115.503197. To get there we need to drive to Kintamani first, about 1 hour in the north of Ubud. I started at 5 am from Ubud, with a friend of mine, an Estonian girl. We stopped at Kintamani to see the sunrise view.

There is the mountain we are going to

Mt. Agung 3142m via Pura Pasar Agung (2-3 May 2015)

Mt. Agung is the highest volcano in Bali. I've been there once with 3 friends of mine, via Kubu, the rare route people take. Here is the full story of that moment. Anyway, after more than two years, I wanted to try again. This time from Pura (Temple) Pasar Agung which located at 2010 meters above the sea level. I have 3 friends coming with me, none of them have been to this volcano before.

We started from Ubud and Sanur at noon, it was a raining day, and have been raining for like a week. We met in Klungkung and go through Sedimen, and then make a stop for early dinner, just before the road going up to the start point. We had some conversation after meal, as only one of them is my real friend, and the others we met from Couchsurfing. And then we continue driving to the temple. One of the motorbike wasn't strong enough, as the road is quite steep. The good thing is the weather getting better, we could see the volcano.

Bedugul, Gitgit, Sekumpul and Lovina (1st March 2013)

Im hosting a bothers from USA, Ford and Casey Quarterman. So i showing them some of my favorite places in North Bali. We come from Penatahan, a village where im living, heading to the north. Passing the Bratan Lake, stop by monkeys, and the Gitgit Cascade waterfalls. Keep going to the north and then take a route to Sekumpul Waterfall. Back to the north, stop by the black sands beach, Lovina, and back home. We got a chance to watch cock fighting as well.

Sekumpul Waterfall and Mt. Agung (22-25 January 2013)

Few weeks ago I hike a mountain near my place, Mt. Batukaru, with Igor. And he offering to hike another mountain in Bali, the highest one. He came with his friend, Sergey who is Russian as well, but he can't speak either Indonesian or English. And another friend also join with us is Roma from New Zealand. So our plan is start in the morning, go to north area of Bali, stop in Jatiluwih Rice Terrace and Sekumpul Waterfall, then start to hike Mt. Agung at night so we can see the sunrise on the top.

Pura Leak, Tabanan

Suatu hari saya berniat mengunjungi pantai bernama Yeh Gangga yang berada di daerah Tabanan, Bali. Pantainya memang tidak terlalu menarik, berpasir hitam dan panas, tetapi ada batu besar yang membuatnya menjadi unik.

Bedugul Area

Bedugul is a name of area in the middle of Bali Island, which is famous with the floating temple on the lake and fresh air. Actually there are 3 lakes in that area, Bratan, Buyan, and Tamblingan. But the most famous is the biggest one, Bratan, because easy to get (on the way Denpasar-Singaraja), and famous with Ulun Danu temple and some water sport facilities. To enter the temple, we need to pay around 3$ per person for foreigner. If u rent some boat, u can see the temple from the lake but cannot step on that area.

Air Terjun Seganing

Menyusuri setiap bagian Pulau Nusa Penida, Bali memang mengasyikkan. Banyak kejutan yang kita dapatkan, salah satunya ialah Air Terjun Seganing.

Sebenarnya, saya tidak yakin tentang adanya air terjun di pulau yang kering ini. Tapi, temanku menemukan petunjuk bahwa ada air terjun yang tepatnya berlokasi di daerah Sebuluh. Sesampainya di sana, kita bertanya pada penduduk setempat sembari makan siang di sebuah warung sederhana. Ternyata memang ada air terjun. Lokasinya di dekat laut, harus menuruni tebing dan jalannya berbahaya setelah hujan.

"Di daerah sini ada air terjun ya Pak?" tanyaku pada seorang penduduk lokal Nusa Penida, Bali. "Ya, tidak jauh dari sini. Tapi, kalau habis hujan licin, bahaya!"

Pantai Bias Tugel

Padang Bai adalah tempat kapal-kapal menuju Nusa Penida atau Lombok bersandar. Banyak traveler yang menyambangi pelabuhan ini, namun tak banyak yang menyambangi pantai-pantai di dekatnya.

Ada dua pantai, yakni di sebelah kanan dan kiri pelabuhan Padang Bai. Sebelah kirinya yakni Blue Lagoon, sementara sebelah kanannya adalah Bias Tugel. Jaraknya sekitar 1 Km, melewati jalanan kecil namun cukup baik, dilanjutkan dengan berjalan kaki menuju pantai.

Pantai Atuh

Pantai Atuh dari atas bukit

Berkeliling pulau kecil bernama Nusa Penida di Bali merupakan pengalaman yang tak akan terlupakan. Pantai pertama yang kami kunjungi ialah Pantai Atuh. Dari pelabuhan kita menuju ke arah timur, sekitar 15 km, tanyakan saja pada penduduk setempat.

Pantai Suwehan

Ini Pantai Suwehan, bukan Dreamland :)

Ini Dreamland ya? Kok sepi?" Begitulah komentar salah satu teman, ketika aku meng-upload foto pantai di jejaring sosial.

Batukaru Mt 2200m asl, my first time to hike (9 January 2013)

I moved to Bali (since November 2012) and stay with my boyfriend (Russian) in Penebel, North Tabanan. Every good weather i can see 3 hills in the north side, Batukaru is the highest one.

View from Jatiluwih (17 November 2012)

One of my friend tried to hike few weeks ago, he is a runner. He said it's easy and need 4 hours to go up and down for him. It can be around 4 hours to go up for me, maybe.. I never hike any mountain before, but i really want to try. The problem is, i scared to try alone, and my boyfriend lazy to do it. If he want to do it, he already do it long time ago because he stay here more than 1 year.

One day, his friend from Russia come to Bali. Igor is a strong guy, he did hike many mountains, including Kerinci 3.800m asl (highest Mt of Sumatra island), Semeru 3.676m asl (highest Mt of Java island), Agung 3.142m asl (highest Mt of Bali island), Rinjani 3.726m asl  (highest Mt of Lombok island), Trikora 4.750m asl (2nd highest Mt of Papua) and one more in Sulawesi or Maluku, i cannot remember. But the highest mountain he have been is about 7 thousands meters above sea level, and i just open my mouth when he tell me about that. :0

Nusa Penida, The Other Side of Beautiful Bali (8-11 December 2012)

Nusa Penida is one of 3 islands in Southeast Bali. There are many way to  go there, from Sanur and Padang Bay by fast boat for high price and flexible  time. But i take the cheap one, from Padang Bay by ferry. They have 2 ferry and go one time per day, both Padang Bay - Nusa Penida (1pm) and Nusa Penida - Padang Bay(12am). But better if we go to harbour at morning to make sure that we will get the ticket (some articles said many people cheated about ticket). We start from  Denpasar at 8am, arrived around 9am at Padang Bay Harbour and buy ticket for 2 people  and 1 motorbike, cost 53k IDR. (Our plan is just 2D1N in that island, so we prepare 120k IDR each person.) Some police will checked if u come with vehicle, so prepare the car/motorbike paper and driving license. But the ferry will start at 1pm (passenger must be there one hour before), so we still have 3 hours and decided to go to a small beach, not far from there.