Climbing the volcano Batur

Two days ago we spent a night in a guesthouse on the foot of the volcano Batur. The next day we planned to climb the volcano. Our travel guide book  said that there was no need to take some real guide to take us to the top of the volcano. And even though the guys from the guesthouse said we must have one guide per 4 people (so we would actually need two of them), we decided not to take them (it was really expensive - they required us to pay them around 600 000 Rupiah per a guide) and to go on our own. We woke up at 4 o clock in the morning.  We drived to the village called Selatan. From here the hike was supposed to be just 1 hour. We started hiking and realized there was a motorbike  following us. Two local guys came and told us we need two guides otherwise we cannot hike. They offered themselves to accompany us (and of course wanted lot of money for that). We tried to ignore them, however we could not find the right way leading to the start of the hike so finally we gave one of them little money (50 000 Rupiah) to show us the right way. He took us to the path.  He looked quite unhappy with such a little amount and started to act a bit stupid, but we ignored him and finally he gave up and we got rid of him.

We were so stupid and took no water with us. Luckily, at the peak there was a guy running a little stand with drinks. Miso says this guy was one of the few large-minded people he met in Inodonesia. He even knew where Slovakia is and he wrote down how to says thank you in Sovak. To me the guy seemed to be like some clever "mountain guru".

Moneky on the top of Batur

...by Miso