Mt. Kutu (15-16th Dec 07)

Gunung Kutu is located at Kuala Kubu Bahru. After passing the dam, following the signboard of Kg. Pertak, turn right after crossing the bridge, we reached the modern aboriginal settlement at 3.30pm. This is the starting point of the trekking. The first 1/2 hours was walking on the wide jungle path which can be easily accessible by the 4 wheel drive. After crossing the bridge for 2 times, I remembered we still have to cross river (which doesn't have bridge) for 2 times. Then, the real journey began. We met one large group of high school students after an hour. They told us that the fallen bamboo blocked the way and they couldn't proceed. So, they decided to descend. Man Tack and Kok Yuen are experience hiker. So, they proceed and found out we can still proceed by taking the small path beside the blocked way.
The fallen bamboo kept on blocking the way. We lower down the body or sometimes have to remove the bagpack and crawl like the snake in order to pass through. By 5pm, we came to a rest point. It's a place which sheltered by the large piece of rock. We rested there for almost half and hour.

The longer we rest, the more lazy we are. So, we have to move on in order to reach summit before night fall. I remembered I kept on asking Ah Tack " how far we are from summit" ? Then, he will answer "Very near". Finally, we reached there an hour later. It took us 3.5 hours trekking from the mountain foot until the peak. I was fascinated by the unique of Mt. Kutu summit. There is a chimney, ruined staircase and base pillars there. It seems like there was a castle or bungalow there long long time ago. The most incredible is there are two wells at the peak - one is dry and one is with water. It's a nicely built well. I do not know any history of this mountain, so not able to tell why there is a water well and ruined bungalow structure up there.

Sunday morning, while waiting for Kok Yuen to cook the porridge, Ah Tack brought us to the highest point of Mt. Kutu - a big rock that stands at the summit. It's just 3 minutes walk from the campsite. With the help of Ah Tack, I managed to climb up to that big rock. The 360 degree view from the top is very beautiful. Actually, it's quite dangerous to stand up at the big rock, especially when the wind is strong. The scenery at the top of Gunung Kutu is definitely worth the hike. It's the raining season. But we were lucky as the weather is quite good throughout our trip.

Kok Yuen can't wait to join us at the top of the mountain. So, he left the porridge that still being cooked and climbed up to find us. We enjoyed the scene, the air, the view and the moment until we forgot about the porridge. As a result, we have to eat the burnt porridge as the breakfast. :p

Northern Vietnam (5th Sep-18th Sep 07) Part 3

13th Sep 07 – Lao Chai and Ta Van Village
A visit to the Hmong village in Lao Chai and Ta Van was our last itinerary in Sapa. We transferred by minibus to from Sapa town to Lao Chai. Once we got down from the minibus, the Hmong women and children approached us to sell the walking sticks, handmade bag etc. We ignored them and trekked down to the valley. But they were not easily gave up, followed us for quite a long journey and bug us with the phrase “You buy from me?” .

We trekked through the rice terraces. The landscape is quite impressive. We visited the primary school and having lunch at one of the Homestay in Ta Van. Besides Hmong, we also met other hill tribe in Ta Van, eg: Red Dzao. I will recommend those that interested to visit Sapa to trek at Lao Chai and Ta Van village. The trekking took us about 4 hours including the lunch time. But the scenery it offered is definitely worth the visit. The trip ended around 3pm. We took the train from Lao Cai back to Hanoi at night.

14th-16th Sep 07 – Halong Bay – Cat Ba Island – Hanoi
The train reached Hanoi at 5am. We took the taxi from train station to the agent office. The office is not yet opened. We took our breakfast at the stall beside the road, and then sat beside the road from 6am – 9am, watching streets from quiet become very busy. 套用海波的一句话- 我们看着河内渐渐苏醒.

We board the minibus to Halong bay at 9am. Halong bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site which consists of around 2000 islands. Halong bay has become a “must go” destination for tourist that visited Hanoi. We get on the boat and enjoyed the cruise. In the afternoon, we visited the Sung Sot Cave – the largest cave in Halong bay. Then, we stopped at one of the island for swimming. I did not swim but trekked up to the island to get the view from the top. We stayed overnight at the boat.

The next day, we pack our things and move to a smaller boat that will take us to Cat Ba Island. On the way to Cat Ba island, we stopped for kayaking. Halong bay is very suitable for kayaking. We didn’t feel it’s in the ocean because the water is very calm. I didn’t know how to kayak but luckily I have Lai as my partner. She loves kayaking. So, due to my laziness, she did the kayaking most of the time. I am just resting and enjoying the scenery. :p

We reached Cat Ba island at noon. After lunch, we went for a short, relaxing hiking trip and visited a cave in the island. After the trip ended, we rented the bicycle to explore the island. We went to the beach, the pier and red light district of the island. I enjoyed the day very much.

We left Cat Ba and Halong bay the next day. Accommodation is the first thing that we need to settle once we back to Hanoi. A young man approached us, gave us a hotel brochure and offered the room at his hotel for USD 5 per person. So, Tack, Liow, Karen, Lai and I followed that young man to check out his hotel. The hotel is located inside the small street, different from the brochure stated. Then we found out what he offered is different from our expectation. He only gave us 2 double rooms and 1 triple room for 10 persons. We spent a lot of time to bargain with him. Just before we would like to give up and find other hotel, he agreed to give us 5 double rooms includes breakfast with USD 5 per person.

At night, we went to watch the water puppet show. I think all of us doze off during the show. Well…..what I can remember about the show is some puppets moving in the water, with the Vietnamese traditional music as background. I don’t know what the story is behind and slept most of the time. For anyone of you that would like to visit Hanoi, I will advise don’t waste the money to watch the water puppet show unless you really know how to appreciate the art.


17th Sep 07 – Perfume Pagoda
Perfume pagoda is located 70km from Hanoi. We walked in a tour agency and booked a private tour for perfume pagoda day trip. The package costs USD 11 per person which include the transport, guide, entrance fee and lunch. Perfume pagoda is not only one temple but a cluster of temples located on the limestone rock of Huong Son Mountain. We were surprised by the golden-yellow paddy fields along the way. It’s the harvest season. The villagers stacked the harvested paddy beside the road. They still use the traditional way to harvest the paddy.

About 11.30am, we reached a small village where we have to sit into a boat and row by the locals to the perfume pagoda. The weather is not too hot, which made the boat journey very nice. After about 1 hour and 15 minutes boat ride, we were told to get down from the boat. There is cable car service to take the tourist to visit the pagodas uphill. But we decided to trek up instead of sitting in the cable car. We visited few pagodas on our way up. It took us about 1 hour to reach the highest pagoda. To our surprise, we met Yeap – one of our hiking friends at the highest pagoda. He was traveled with his family. I knew that he is traveling to Vietnam but it’s such a co-incidence to see him there.

We didn’t spend much time there and decided to trek down to have our lunch. After lunch, we visited the Thien Chu pagoda before took the boat back to the village. The perfume pagoda is not special but the journey is remarkable. The boat ride and the golden paddy fields had made the trip memorable.

September is the raining season but I never expect to experience the flood at Hanoi at the last night of my trip. Rains started to pour when we walked back to hotel after dinner. The rain was getting heavy. Ah Ming, Tuck Seng, Liow and I were having bia-hoi at the street, seeing the water rise up to the knee level within an hour time. We wait until the rain was getting smaller, then wade through the water along the flooded street to go back to our hotel.

18th Sep 07 – Back to Malaysia
Tuck Seng and Foong Kiew took the morning flight back to Malaysia. The rest of us took the night flight. So, we have more than half a day to go for shopping. We went to Dong Xuan market. Dong Xuan market is mainly for the wholesalers to get their supply. So, not all of the shops will entertain us as they only sell to wholesalers. We had quite a bad experience of shopping in Hanoi. The sellers are not friendly and scold us when we did not buy from them after take a look. Actually I had a bad impression of the Vietnamese attitude. From the 2nd day until the last day of the trip, we had encountered quite a number of rude treatments from the hotel staff, tour guide, post office staff and the sellers. I don’t like Hanoi and also don’t have the intention to visit it again.

However, the trip is still full of laughter, especially the drama between Hai Poh and Karen which had given us lots of fun. I appreciate the travel moments with you all. Hope all of you enjoyed it as well. ;)

Northern Vietnam (5th Sep - 18th Sep 07) Part 2

10th-12th Sep 07 – Mt. Fansipan

Mt. Fansipan is the highest mountain in Indochina, at 3143m. It’s the main focus of our trip. The minibus brought us from Sapa towards Silver waterfall and stopped at the starting point of the climb. Just before we started the climb, it rains. It was very misty, visibility was low. We were not able to see the beautiful view of forest. We felt disappointed and prayed that the weather will be good for the next day.

Our package includes porter service. But the porters only carried our food, not our backpack. We had trekked for 6 hours before reached the campsite. A simple bamboo hut was built at the campsite for hikers. As we were the only group there, we occupied the whole bamboo hut. It’s still raining out there. But surprisingly it wasn’t very cold. The dinner was prepared by porters. After dinner, we played cards until the guide urging us to bed.

11th Sep 5.30am, we took our breakfast, carried the light backpack, put on our headlight and started to hike up to summit. The weather was bad, still raining and misty. The trek was muddy. After 4.5 hours trekking, we climbed up a vertical wall (straight up at an almost 90-degree angle) using rope. All of us were excited because we thought summit should be within 5-10 minutes journey after climbed up the wall. But apparently we were wrong. After half an hour hiking, summit is still not in sight. The trail seems like endless. Initially, Lai, Ming, Tack, Karen and I were together. But after a while, Lai, Ming and Tack were disappeared. They were too fast, I couldn’t cope with their pace. Karen and I were exhausted but kept on pushing ourselves to move forward. Finally, I had reached the summit at about 10.50am, took me 5.5 hours from the campsite. 9 of us had arrived at the top. The weather was not good, very cloudy. We really regret to have not seen the spectacular view across the peak of Mt. Fansipan. While waiting for Tuck Seng and Liow to arrive, I recorded a video at the summit. My friends, still remember what did you say?

Tack : 这么容易的山，下次不要叫我来爬。没有比我想象的冷。
Lai : 我觉得不容易 lor, 看我的脚。(point at her muddy leg)
Hai Poh: 我们蠢事做尽，终于上来了。因为我们有罪。
Karen: 终于给我过关了。
Ming: 很高兴，可以和他们一起来爬山。
Soo Ching: 来，我拿国旗。越南国旗， Mt. Fansipan, yeah!
Joshua: 我要感谢国家，感谢上帝。
Ah Kiew: 我希望快点吹走那些云，爬得那么辛苦，坐飞机来到这里。
Jing Yee: 好辛苦啊。刚才爬的时候一直不到顶的，终于到了。

At last, Liow and Tuck Seng had arrived. We welcome them by singing the songs. http://travel.webshots.com/video/3099187230066465503bHhjXZ

The journey wasn’t ended as we still have to trek back to the campsite. We started to descent at 12.30pm and back to campsite at 5pm.
12th Sep 9am, we descended after having breakfast. We chose to descend to Sin Chai village instead of following the original route. Although the Sin Chai village route is longer, I think we had made the right choice because the scenery there was very beautiful. Sin Chai village is isolated and seldom visited by tourist compare to the commercialized Cat Cat village. Our Mt. Fansipan hiking trip was ended at Sin Chai village.

Northern Vietnam (5th Sep - 18 Sep 2007) Part 1

5th Sep 07 – Fly to Hanoi by Airasia
I went to northern vietnam at September with my friends and spent 14 days there. We were altogether 10 persons, fly to Hanoi in 2 groups. 6 of us (Lai, sook ching, liow, tuck seng, karen and I) reached Hanoi on 5th Sep 8 something at night. The remaining group members (Hai Poh, Tack, Kok Ming, Foong Kiew) will arrive at Hanoi on 6th Sep. The agent had arranged a driver to pick us up at airport. We changed the vietnam dong in airport with the rate 1USD = 16200 Dong. We stayed at Camellia 2 Hotel for the 1st 2 days in Hanoi.

6th Sep 07 – Old Quarter
On 6th Sep, 6 of us explore around old quarter area. Started from our hotel, we walked towards Hoem Kien Lake which located at the center of old quarter. The traffic at Hanoi is very messy. There are a lot of motorcycles. You can never find a time that is suitable for road crossing. So, to cross the road, just walk across with consistent speed. The interesting part is the motorcyclist will automatically adjust their speed and avoid us. We went in post office to send the postcard. There are a lot of small streets in old quarter area. These streets are named as “36 Pho Phuong” (36 streets). Each street sells different category of goods, which mean there is a street that every shop is selling shoes; another street every shops is selling glasses, clothes, toys, Chinese medicine, junk food, rope, steel etc. We visited museum of revolution and cathedral church. Both places are free entry. We discovered a place that sells pure fruit juice with only 5000 Dong (about RM1) just beside the cathedral church. We walked from day till night, almost walked through every part of old quarters.

7th Sep 07 – Hanoi City Tour
All group members had arrived in Hanoi. We bought the Hanoi city tour package with USD10 per person. There are a lot of travel agents in old quarter area. I can’t remember I had seen how many travel agents with the name “Sinh Cafe”. Since Sinh Cafe travel agent is quite famous among the travelers, so there are a lot of travel agents use this name to do the business. Who is original and who is pirated? We really cannot differentiate. In fact, what we do is just compare the prices, services and itinerary of the package of every agent and opt for the cheapest. Hahaha…..It’s the private tour for our group. The services include a tour guide, transport, lunch and entrance fees. We visited Museum of Ethnology, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, One Pillar Pagoda and Van Mieu (Literature Temple). Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is closed on Friday. So, we just took the pictures in front of it. At night, we took the train to Lao Cai.

8th Sep 07 – Lao Cai – Sapa – Cat Cat Village
We reached Lao Cai train station around 6am. From Lao Cai, it took us about 1.5 hours to reach Sapa – a hill town, very similar to Cameron Highlands. Then, we met up with our mandarin speaking tour guide – Xiao Chen. We thought the weather at Sapa will be very cold. But it turned out to be quite warm. Xiao Chen brought us to visit the Sapa market and walk around Sapa town. In the afternoon, we visited Cat Cat village which is about 2-3km away from hotel. It’s a very relaxing and leisure walk within the village. We climbed up a small hill that doesn’t have obvious path. Tour guide didn’t follow but wait for us down the hill. We assume that is the highest point in Cat Cat Village. The scenery is beautiful up there. Shouts and laughter fill the air. After we came back from Cat Cat village, 7 of us rent the motorcycles to explore the other part of Sapa. We had steamboat as our dinner.

9th Sep 07 – Bac Ha Market
We went to Bac Ha, which is 80km away from Sapa to visit its Sunday market. The road condition to Bac Ha is not so good, which made the 3 hours journey quite painful. Once we arrived at the market, the ethnic minorities in colorful costume catch our eyes. In this market, not only the clothes, handmade craft, vegetables and food are sold, but also horses, buffalos and pigs. The visit to Bac Ha market gave us the chance to see part of the lifestyle of the mountains community.

We went back to Sapa after having lunch and reached in the evening. Then, we met up with Joshua and Vince in our hotel. Joshua is one of our hiking friends. He was in Vietnam because of the company trip. One day before we departed to Vietnam, he found out that we will go for the Mt. Fansipan climbing. So, he decided to meet us at Vietnam and join us for the hiking after his company trip. At night, we met up with our hiking guide – a 22 years old guy that speaks good English for briefing of tomorrow itinerary.

Putrajaya Treasure Hunt (29 July 07)

The group of friends that I knew during Penang Bridge Run was looking for people to participate in the Putrajaya treasure hunt. I decided to join them since I never participate in the treasure hunt event before. Eventually, 2 teams are signed up. Each team consists of 4 persons. Ding, Yan Nee, Wei Chun and I are in the same team. Ding is the driver, Wei Chun is map reader and navigator, Yan Nee and I are communicator. Hui Meia, Chak, Keen Yee and Sew Yong are another team. Hui Meia is the driver, Chak is the navigator, Keen Yee and Sew Yong are communicator. Each of us plays an important role in the hunt. Team work is always very important. :D

A day before the actual event, we went to Putrajaya to collect the goodies bag and attend the briefing. Each participant is given a goodies bag with a t-shirt, participant tag, cap, a pen and tourism Malaysia booklet. Each team is given RM20 petrol voucher and required to buy a Putrajaya map with RM5. In open category, there are 100 cars participated. For closed category, there are more than 100 cars. In the briefing, we had been informed that the treasure hunt consists of 2 parts. First part, we have to drive to the location given according to co-ordinate and perform the task. 2nd part, we have to answer the treasure hunt questions and buy the treasures. We had been warned that handphone, camera, PDA, dictionary are all not allowed in part 1. The team will be disqualified if caught by marshals. After briefing, we drove around to get familiar with the places in Putrajaya.

Sunday 5.45am, Ding, Chak, Yan Nee, Keen Yee and I are in front of Keen Yee’s house, tried to put the stickers of sponsors on Ding’s car. The car needs to be ready with the stickers before queuing up for the flag off. Suddenly, rain started to pour. We quickly put all the stickers on and proceed our way to Putrajaya. One of the sticker flew away on the way. The car emergency break, then Chak went down to collect back the sticker. Luckily it’s very early in the morning, there is no car there except us. We arrived about 6.20am, lined up at the end of first row. There are about 20 cars in each row. Free breakfast (coffee and cereal with milk) is served. As rain was still pouring, we stayed under the tents while waiting for the event to start. Hui Meia and others came afterwards and line up almost at the end of second row.

7.30am, we had another short briefing. Then 8am, the organizer started to flag off the cars. All of us are very excited. In the first part of treasure hunt, we will need to go to 5 locations (A-E) and perform the task. Location A-C are opened at the same time. So, hunters can choose to go to which location first. We find out the location according to co-ordinate given, and then choose to go location A first which is Equestrian Park. At Equestrian park, 10 pictures of the interesting places in Malaysia are displayed. We are required to write down the state it located.

After complete the task, we get the chop from the organizer and proceed to location C – Taman Wawasan. At here, pictures of Malaysia’s Prime Ministers are shown. The task is to write down from which year to which year they become the Prime Minister of Malaysia. We are all not good in history, even cannot recognize correctly which person is Tunku Abdul Razak and Tun Hussein Onn. :p

After that, we went to location B (Laman Duta) and the task is to match the National day logo from 1998 – 2007 with it’s theme. After we got the chop from location A-C, we need to go location D – Yayasan Kepimpinan Perdana. This place cannot be found in the map. So, we spent quite sometime to drive around, checked the signboard and finally found the place. At here, we are given a set of questions about our country history. Luckily all answers can be found in this place. At last, we checked in at location E - Taman Pancarona. The final task of part 1 is to re-arrange the characters given and list down the name of the ministers. 10 groups of characters are given. We spent around 1 hour there. Wei Chun is very good at this task. The most incredible thing is we simply put a name for a question that we are not able to get answer and we got it right!! I guess I will not forget who our tourism minister is now. Hahaha…. Generally, I think we did quite well in this part 1. Strategy and teamwork is very important in this part 1. Ehem……friends, you knew what I mean. ;)

The part 2 of the treasure hunt started at 1pm at Alamanda, Putrajaya. We are required to answer the questions, buy the treasures according to the clue. Teams have to submit their answer sheets and hand in the treasures they bought by 2.30pm. 15 minutes penalty time will be given. 1 point will be minus for every 5 minutes after 2.30pm. We have no problem to identify the treasures but those treasure hunt questions really give us the difficult time. For regular hunters, they know the technique to interpret and answer these questions. They also know how to find the answers from the clue given. We tried our best to answer all questions. It’s almost like the examination, if really clueless, just simply put in one of the shop name as answer. Other participants will also cover their answer sheets, wouldn’t share any of the information or probably give wrong information to other teams. It’s almost 2.30pm, we all quickly filled in all the answers and rushed to submit the answer sheets and handed over the treasures. No penalty for us. The treasure hunt was ended. We all went back for rest and came back at night for the dinner and prize giving ceremony.

The dinner started at 8.30pm. I believe the top 20 teams that won the cash prizes are all regular hunters. The organizer then gave us the answers of all the treasure hunt questions. Eg:
1. Question : Jails.
Answer: NewsNow.
Explanation: Jails can be re-arranged become “Salji”. In Malay, “Salji” means Snow. There is word snow inside “NewsNow”.
2. Question : Dalam gazebo ni ada apa yang dicari.
Answer : Bonia.
Explanation : « gazebo ni ada »
3. Question : Gambar kemerdekaan sebahagian sahaja kelihatan.
Answer : Fotokem
Explanation : Gambar => Foto , take part of the « kemerdekaan » => kem , so become FOTOKEM
4. Question: Small testimony regarding money?
Answer: mini statement @ CIMB bank ATM
Explanation: Small can be interpreted to mini; testimony can be interpreted to statement. ATM machine is something about money. At the screen of CIMB ATM machine, there is an option call mini statement. So, combine all the clues, answer is mini statement @ CIMB ATM

We really couldn’t figure out those tricky questions. Anyway, we still can answer some of the questions correctly. Eg:

a) Question: Kacukan durian Perak
Answer: Guardian
Explanation: We tried to find the word “durian” in any of the shop name. So, we found durian in "Guardian" .
b) Question: Jalan untuk menjadi jutawan?
Answer: First Millionaire Avenue Money Changer
Explanation: Jutawan => Millionaire, Jalan => Avenue
c) Question: 1st head master transformed
Answer: Hamster London
Explanation: 1st head => H , combine with the re-arrangement of the word “master” becomes “Hamster”. There is a shop call Hamster London.
d) Question: Old speed indicator related to the boycott of Harry Porter
Answer: MPH Bookstores
Explanation: Old speed indicator => MPH. There are Harry Porter books at the display window of MPH Bookstores.

The dinner and ceremony ended around 10.30pm. Although we didn’t win any prizes, we did enjoy this event very much. We had a lot of fun and it’s definitely a wonderful experience for us.

Bali (7 July - 10 July 2007)

Day 1 (Kuta)
I took 4.40pm AirAsia flight together with Huay Mein, YCK, YCK’s sister (Karen) and Kok Yuen to Bali. We arrived at Bali 7.40pm as scheduled. We walked out from the airport and there was a taxi driver approached us. He offered Rp 200,000 to take us to Kuta. The price sounds ridiculous for us. Then, another taxi driver came by and finally we agreed to take his taxi with Rp 80,000. We knew that it’s still very expensive but to save the hassle of finding another taxi driver, we just took his offer.
At Kuta, the taxi driver refused to go into Poppies II Road with the excuse of traffic jam. He dropped us at one of the main road and told us to walk into Poppies II road. At first, we had problem to locate the road. We walked into a small dark street where a lot of dogs barked at us. But luckily after asking around, we had finally reached the guesthouse – AP Inn and checked in. At night, we met up with Ying and Jane who took the morning flight to Bali.

Expenses for the day:
KLIA Transit (Putrajaya – KLIA) : RM 6.20
Bus (KLIA – LCCT) : RM 1.50
Taxi from airport to Kuta : Rp 80000 / 5 persons = Rp 16000
Dinner : Rp 20,000
Room (with breakfast) at AP Inn : Rp 175,000 / 3 persons = Rp 58,333

Day 2 (Kintamani - Ubud)
We chartered a van to take us for Ubud and Kintamani tour. We paid Rp 400,000 for 8 hours service which includes van, driver, guide, petrol and soft drink provided during the trip. Batubulan is our first destination. This place is known for Barong dance. The dance is 2 hours and cost Rp 50,000 per person. There is a group of musicians play the traditional instruments for the dance. The storyline of the dance is about the battle of the good and evil force where Barong (sacred lion) represents good force. I am not the artistic person. So my personal opinion for the dance is boring, boring and boring.

On our way to Kintamani, we stopped by Tegalalang to see the rice terrace. Then, we proceed our way to Kintamani – a place that offers nice view of Gunung Batur and Lake Batur. We were having our buffet lunch at one of the restaurant that overlooking Gunung Batur. The food is not nice and expensive. Basically we paid for the scenery rather than the food. After lunch, the guide brought us to a place for free coffee. It’s in an orchard and there is a shop there to sell coffee, lemon tea, aroma therapy set etc. We stayed there for about an hour before we moved to the next destination. We didn’t visit the temple at TampakSiring because it was closed for ceremony. The last attraction that we went was Pura Goa Gajah. We need to wear the sarung to enter the temple. No additional charges for the sarung as it’s included in the entrance fee.

It about 6pm after visited Pura Goa Gajah. We went to Ubud to look for the hotel. A guy that was playing badminton beside the road beckons us. We followed him into a small garden to check out the rooms. We like the rooms and it’s definitely value for money. Fan room with attached bathroom, triple sharing and breakfast included only cost Rp 90,000. The room is very clean and the environment is nice. So, we finally settled at Merthayasa Bungalows at Monkey Forest Road for the night.

Expenses for the day:
Transport (van) : Rp 400,000 / 7 = Rp 57,142
Lunch (Kintamani) : Rp 72,600
Entrance Fee of Kintamani : Rp 2,000
Entrance Fee of Pura Goa Gajah : Rp 6,000
Room (with breakfast) : Rp 90,000 / 3 = Rp 30,000
Dinner : Rp 26,400

Day 3 (Ubud - Tanah Lot – Mt Agung)
Huay Mein, Karen and I woke up very early in the morning and walked to the Ubud market. It took us about 20 minutes to reach the market. A lot of things can be found in Ubud market, eg: wood craft, souvenirs, clothing, handbags etc. We didn’t have much time to shop as the van that will pick up Huay Mein and others for day tour will arrive at hotel by 10.30am. We shop until 10.20am and ran back to the hotel. Then, Huay Mein, Karen, YCK, Ying and Jane checked out the hotel at Ubud and went for Bedugul, Taman Ayun Mengwi and Tanah Lot day tour . They will overnight at Kuta afterwards. Kok Yuen and I stayed at Ubud until the night because of Mt. Agung climbing. We arranged the climbing with the agent in Ubud.

Ubud is a nice place. It is quiet and relaxing. Kok Yuen and I went to the Dirty Duck Restaurant to have our lunch. This restaurant is recommended by my colleague - Shiao Peng. We walked into the restaurant and immediately impressed with it. Paddy fields are behind of the restaurant, or shall I say the restaurant is actually built at the paddy fields. It’s really nice to have lunch beside the paddy fields. Besides, the food there is good and the price is reasonable for the portion of food that they served.

After lunch, we hired a car to Tanah Lot. Tanah Lot is the main tourist attraction of Bali. I was fascinated with the coast, the rock formation and the temple that built on the rock. Tanah Lot is the famous spot for sunset. I visited Tanah Lot in the afternoon around 3.30pm. So, the tourists are lesser. We went back to Ubud after an hour and arrived at 6pm. Then, I went for the spa. Almost all the shops at Ubud were closed when I came out from spa. Kok Yuen and I just picked one of the restaurants that not far away from hotel to have our dinner. Then back to hotel to pack our things. At 10.00pm, we took off to Besakih.

It took us about 1 hour to reach Besakih. Besakih is about 1000m above the sea level. I felt cold once I got down from the car. So, I immediately put on my jacket. We met our guide – Getir, which I guess is about 21-25 years old. He checked and made sure that we brought sufficient water and food. We started the journey around 11.30pm.

Expenses for the day:
Transport to Tanah Lot from Ubud: Rp 200,000
Lunch : Rp 101,000
Dinner: Rp 51,750
Room: Rp 35,000
Entrance Fee of Tanah Lot: Rp 125,000
Spa : Rp 125,000
Miscellaneous: Rp112,000
Mt. Agung hiking package : Rp 450,000

Day 4 (Mt Agung - Kuta)
There are 2 starting points for Mt. Agung hiking, from Pura Pasar Agung or from Besakih. The route from Pura Pasar Agung is shorter but doesn’t go to the actual peak and only offers 180 degree view from the top. We chose the longer trail from Besakih which will go up to the summit that offers 360 degree view.

We climbed the stairs, towards Besakih temple and then slowly by passed Besakih temple. Soon, we saw two guys together with their guide climbed up the stairs. The guys are from UK, one of them speak very good Indonesian language. We were the only 2 groups that climbed Mt Agung from Besakih that day. We reached Pura Pengubengan about 35 minutes later. Our guide did his prayer at this Pura before continue to hike up. He told us that every guide that climbs Mt Agung will pray here for the safety and smoothness of the trip.

The night was cold. The dark sky was full of stars. The night scene of Bali was beautiful and quiet. On the way up, we stopped quite often for 2-5 minutes to rest and enjoyed the night scene. We switched off the light from our headlamp. The darkness had made the stars brighter and lights at far clearer. Our guide pointed to us which pool of lights is Besakih and where Kintamani is located. The trail was steep all the way up. The temperature was getting lower when we went higher. It was about 10 degree Celsius when we left the forest trail and started to hike on the rock. I couldn’t stop for more than 5 minutes, had to walk continuously to keep my body warm.

Mt. Agung is a volcano. I heard that the last eruption was at year 1963. This was my first time trekking up a volcano. It’s very different from the mountains that I trekked before. I need to be very careful when trekked on the terrain with steep passage on loose and rocky ground.

It’s 4.30pm. We had trekked for 5 hours. The guide told us that we were 1 hour away from the summit. He asked us to stop for half an hour. The reason is sunrise will be at 6am, we can’t stand the wind and the cold at the summit if we arrive too early. Our guide made the fire for us. 6 of us – Kok Yuen, 2 UK guys, 2 guides and I stayed close to the fire. I felt very sleepy and nearly fall asleep. I don’t know is it because of trekking through the night or the thin air. It’s 5.00 am. We continue our journey to the Mt Agung peak.

20 minutes to 6am, the sky on east had started to change color. We seem so close to the peak. I was excited and had moved faster. But when I climbed up the top that seem like peak, I found out that there is still another slope in front. So, I continue the climb. After I climbed up that slope, there is still another slope in front. I was tired and slow down. The two UK guys bypassed me. Finally, I reached summit. We started at 1000m and the summit stands 3143m from sea level, which mean we had climbed up 2100m in 6 hours time. But the magnificent view that offered by Mt Agung is definitely worth for the hike.

I was standing at the highest point of Bali island. The temperature was low (5 degree Celsius). Looking east, the sun was slowly rising. Mt. Rinjani at Lombok Island looks mysteriously from far. On the east-north part, it’s the splendid sea of clouds. Looking south, it’s the spectacular view of Mt Abang, crater of Mt. Batur and the Lake Batur which lies within the crater. As the sun went higher, it threw the shadow of the Mt Agung to the west. I was very happy and felt lucky that we were able to see this beautiful scenery.

7.30am, we started to descend. It’s a long and dangerous journey. We only stopped for one time for breakfast, and then descended towards Besakih without resting. We took 4 hours to reach Besakih. My knee was extremely painful after the long hours descending. Mt. Agung climbing is only recommended for those with hiking experience as it’s really strenuous to hike at high elevation over the rocky terrain and descend in the same day. I visited Besakih temple before transferred back to Kuta.

I reached Kuta at 3pm, took the late lunch and walked to Kuta Beach. I met Huay Mein, Karen and YCK at Kuta Beach. We went for the final round shopping. Then we went to the airport and took 8.10pm flight back to KL.

Expenses for the day:
Lunch: Rp 50,000
Transport to Airport: Rp 50,000 / 6 = approximately Rp 9,000
Dinner: Rp 23,600
Airport Tax: Rp 100,000
Bus from LCCT to KLIA : RM 1.50
KLIA transit (KLIA - Putrajaya) : RM 6.20
Miscellaneous: Rp 41,000

Total Expenses for the trip: RM 944
Flight : RM 253

Meal: Rp 345,350 /2550 => RM 135.40

Transport: Rp 282,142 /2550 + RM 15.40 => RM 126

Accomodation: Rp 123,333 /2550 => RM48.40

Entrance Fees: Rp 133,000 /2550 => RM 52.20

Mt. Agung hiking: Rp 450,000 /2550 => RM 176.50

Miscellaneous: Rp 164,000/2550 => RM 64.30

Spa: Rp 125,000/2550 => RM 49

Airport Tax: Rp 100,000/2550 => RM 39.20