Here is a video I made of a day trip I took just outside Amed in northeast Bali. They video and audio quality are not great as I recorded it on my phone. But hopefully you can get a feel for the place and the experience.
Showing posts with label Hiking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hiking. Show all posts
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
RINJANI PHOTOS (DAY 2)
Drinking tea and warming up after swimming in the hot springs.
View of our goal for the following morning; Rinjani's summit.
The porters carrying all the tents, food and water. 20kg each on bamboo poles.
The porters navigated even the trickiest parts in simple cheap flip-flops.
Ascending further above sea level.
We begin our descent to the lake.
To the right you can see a new cone of the volcano formed from a recent eruption.
Taking a welcome break for a photo and catching our breath.
Very fashionable locals fishing/hanging out at the lake.
Ditto.
Argument because Ronan thinks I like him more than Karol and vice versa. Calm down lads! I like you both.
Sunset dinner. My hair's not really that ginger; it's just the light.
Sleeping in the tents was so cold even fully dressed and with two sleeping bags. But Ronan still wouldn't let me cuddle. Damn that stubbornness!
View of our goal for the following morning; Rinjani's summit.
The porters carrying all the tents, food and water. 20kg each on bamboo poles.
The porters navigated even the trickiest parts in simple cheap flip-flops.
Ascending further above sea level.
We begin our descent to the lake.
To the right you can see a new cone of the volcano formed from a recent eruption.
Taking a welcome break for a photo and catching our breath.
Very fashionable locals fishing/hanging out at the lake.
Ditto.
Argument because Ronan thinks I like him more than Karol and vice versa. Calm down lads! I like you both.
Sunset dinner. My hair's not really that ginger; it's just the light.
Sleeping in the tents was so cold even fully dressed and with two sleeping bags. But Ronan still wouldn't let me cuddle. Damn that stubbornness!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
RINJANI MOUNTAIN, LOMBOK
I just spent a month in Indonesia. Well, actually just the islands of Lombok, Gili and Bali. It was my first time properly backpacking in three years. Little brother Ronan flew over for a couple of weeks and my mate Karol came for three.
The highlight of our trip was a three day hike to the summit of Rinjani Mountain. Rinjani, on the island of Lombok, is Indonesia’s second largest mountain and said to be the most beautiful in the country. It also happens to be an active volcano. But the last eruption was over a year ago, so things were pretty safe. The hike is notoriously difficult with reports of lots of people crying, puking and quitting. So of course, this is just the kind of “holiday” that calls out to me. The summit is just over 3700 meters and the volcano has a crater-lake on top as well as natural hot-springs. It’s a three-day hike with the goal being to reach the summit for sunrise on day three (which requires a 2:30am start).
I felt pretty confident about the hike to be honest because I’ve done longer and higher hikes before. But my confidence quickly dissipated after receiving a link to a tripadvisor page from Ronan. Reading the experiences/complaints of the other hikers, I reassessed the situation. I spent August hiking every weekend to get in decent shape, even hiking up to three times a week when possible. Unfortunately, most of the mountains around me in Seoul are about 600 or 700 meters high, so it certainly wasn’t perfect preparation.
The holiday plan was for us to climb the mountain as early into the trip as possible before the hedonism took tole on our bodies. But it took a couple of days to get orientated and travel from Kuta Bali, our meeting point, to Rinjani by public transport. And by the time we were ready to go, there was already a considerable dent in our four litres of duty-free Jameson whisky.
We intentionally didn’t book in advance as I’d learned from past experience that we could get it much cheaper if we haggled on arrival. It worked out perfectly well. We paid only 700,000 Indonesian Rupiah each. Much cheaper than anyone we met and half of the 1,400,000 the guidebook cited as the going rate.
Our group consisted of us three, four Germans, our guide and five porters. Everyone was real cool. The Germans were all university students and surprisingly well-traveled and worldly. The porters were nice, hardworking and friendly. And the guide, seemingly a teenager, was a cool kid, but appeared to be in the worst shape of the whole group. Perhaps due to his incessant cigarette smoking. In fact, we felt so bad for him on the first leg of the trip, Karol offered to carry his backpack for him.
I brought my phone on the hike and made a couple of short videos. It was my first time to ever try this so I apologise for both the video and narration quality.
And here in this second video you can see Ronan and me at the top of Rinjani, tired, but elated to have achieved our goal.
And this third video is kind of pointless I guess, but I hoped to show the view a little better from a different angle.
The highlight of our trip was a three day hike to the summit of Rinjani Mountain. Rinjani, on the island of Lombok, is Indonesia’s second largest mountain and said to be the most beautiful in the country. It also happens to be an active volcano. But the last eruption was over a year ago, so things were pretty safe. The hike is notoriously difficult with reports of lots of people crying, puking and quitting. So of course, this is just the kind of “holiday” that calls out to me. The summit is just over 3700 meters and the volcano has a crater-lake on top as well as natural hot-springs. It’s a three-day hike with the goal being to reach the summit for sunrise on day three (which requires a 2:30am start).
I felt pretty confident about the hike to be honest because I’ve done longer and higher hikes before. But my confidence quickly dissipated after receiving a link to a tripadvisor page from Ronan. Reading the experiences/complaints of the other hikers, I reassessed the situation. I spent August hiking every weekend to get in decent shape, even hiking up to three times a week when possible. Unfortunately, most of the mountains around me in Seoul are about 600 or 700 meters high, so it certainly wasn’t perfect preparation.
The holiday plan was for us to climb the mountain as early into the trip as possible before the hedonism took tole on our bodies. But it took a couple of days to get orientated and travel from Kuta Bali, our meeting point, to Rinjani by public transport. And by the time we were ready to go, there was already a considerable dent in our four litres of duty-free Jameson whisky.
We intentionally didn’t book in advance as I’d learned from past experience that we could get it much cheaper if we haggled on arrival. It worked out perfectly well. We paid only 700,000 Indonesian Rupiah each. Much cheaper than anyone we met and half of the 1,400,000 the guidebook cited as the going rate.
Our group consisted of us three, four Germans, our guide and five porters. Everyone was real cool. The Germans were all university students and surprisingly well-traveled and worldly. The porters were nice, hardworking and friendly. And the guide, seemingly a teenager, was a cool kid, but appeared to be in the worst shape of the whole group. Perhaps due to his incessant cigarette smoking. In fact, we felt so bad for him on the first leg of the trip, Karol offered to carry his backpack for him.
I brought my phone on the hike and made a couple of short videos. It was my first time to ever try this so I apologise for both the video and narration quality.
And here in this second video you can see Ronan and me at the top of Rinjani, tired, but elated to have achieved our goal.
And this third video is kind of pointless I guess, but I hoped to show the view a little better from a different angle.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
HIKING AT HOME
Every time I go home, I like to climb the Slieve Donard, our town's highest mountain. This trip home was no different and we had the best weather ever for the hike giving beautiful, clear views from the top.
In the photos below; little brother Ronan and his Polish girlfriend Beata and there's also some tired, weak Korean girl being carried up the hardest part of the hike ;-)
In the photos below; little brother Ronan and his Polish girlfriend Beata and there's also some tired, weak Korean girl being carried up the hardest part of the hike ;-)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
WINTER HIKING
I went for my second winter hike last Sunday. Three Korean friend and I went to Cheongae Mountain. Although there was still a lot of snow, it was bright, warmish and breezeless so it felt more like spring that winter. Before this year I had never hiked in snow, but now am really starting to enjoy it. Though for safety, I must really get a pair of crampons soon if I don't want to continue bruising my bum.[My hiking partners]
[Hyunjung's unique and energy-efficient method od descending the mountain.]
[Mijung, the weakest of the group, collapsed after only an hour.]
[Yours truly.]
[Hyunjung mixing it up with some freestyle sliding. Mijung and Jungoo laughed at her. Bad friends!]
[Two ladies and a wannabie gangster.]
Sunday, August 16, 2009
HIKING/CLIMBING TRIP
I went to Bukhansan last Saturday for a spot of hiking and climbing. What should've been a five hour, moderate hike with a little recreational climbing turned into a tough, ten-hour, bloody and dehydrated expedition.
I went with a group of people I met on a rafting trip the week before. They were nice people. But to be honest I felt their standard of safety could/should've been higher. Especially since I'm inexperienced at outdoor climbing I would've liked to feel more confidence in the people I was with. And how exactly they predicted it would only take five hours, I'll never know.
I picked up one injury. As we were ascending a climber above me knocked down a rock. It hit my arm and cut me quite deep on the inside of my elbow, deep enough to see white (fatty tissue I think). It bled a lot and my arm was quickly covered in blood. But my attention was more focused on the climber below me whose face was covered in blood cuz the rock and hit his forehead after bouncing off my arm. But we were both ok and after five minutes and most of my water supply we were cleaned up and heading for the summit.
Despite the usual Seoul smog, the views were quite nice. Temperature was soaring though and as the long descent dragged on we all became pretty dehydrated. When we finally made it back to the forest the sun had set so we had to hike in the dark for about an hour. Luckily I'd the sense to pack my headlamp just in case.
Then it was time for beer and Korean pancakes with tofu and kimchi and to forget about the sweat and blood. Although it all ended happily ever after I have a new respect for outdoor climbing. I always knew it was dangerous. But on our descent I saw just how easily it would be to die, from any careless mistake. But what bothered me most was how easily it would be to die because of some other idiot's careless mistake. So, to be honest, I don't think I'll be doing anymore outdoor stuff. The rewards (pretty views and stuff) are not worth the high risk (death or pissed off parents) when I can see pretty views just from hiking and get my adrenaline buzz from indoor climbing. And I certainly will not be doing anything else with that group of hikers.
I went with a group of people I met on a rafting trip the week before. They were nice people. But to be honest I felt their standard of safety could/should've been higher. Especially since I'm inexperienced at outdoor climbing I would've liked to feel more confidence in the people I was with. And how exactly they predicted it would only take five hours, I'll never know.
I picked up one injury. As we were ascending a climber above me knocked down a rock. It hit my arm and cut me quite deep on the inside of my elbow, deep enough to see white (fatty tissue I think). It bled a lot and my arm was quickly covered in blood. But my attention was more focused on the climber below me whose face was covered in blood cuz the rock and hit his forehead after bouncing off my arm. But we were both ok and after five minutes and most of my water supply we were cleaned up and heading for the summit.Despite the usual Seoul smog, the views were quite nice. Temperature was soaring though and as the long descent dragged on we all became pretty dehydrated. When we finally made it back to the forest the sun had set so we had to hike in the dark for about an hour. Luckily I'd the sense to pack my headlamp just in case.
Then it was time for beer and Korean pancakes with tofu and kimchi and to forget about the sweat and blood. Although it all ended happily ever after I have a new respect for outdoor climbing. I always knew it was dangerous. But on our descent I saw just how easily it would be to die, from any careless mistake. But what bothered me most was how easily it would be to die because of some other idiot's careless mistake. So, to be honest, I don't think I'll be doing anymore outdoor stuff. The rewards (pretty views and stuff) are not worth the high risk (death or pissed off parents) when I can see pretty views just from hiking and get my adrenaline buzz from indoor climbing. And I certainly will not be doing anything else with that group of hikers.
Monday, June 08, 2009
JIRI-SAN
My former student and good friend Mingu recently invited me to climb Jiri-san, peninsular Korea's highest mountain, with him and his coworkers. Mingu is a new intern at a large Korean company and this was to be an employee team building trip, so I felt flattered to have the opportunity to attend.
However, hiking Jiri-san in a day is no easy feat. It takes about five hours to get there by bus and our scheduled 'challenging' (AKA 'bloody hard') route was to take about nine hours and not even include reaching the summit. So I was a little anxious about my hiking abilities compared to the others going, and about the overnight bus.
The private bus that was hired for our group of twenty-one Koreans and one Irish departed from their office building where we had congregated. The journey itself was awful as the driver was a psycho; accelerate, brake, accelerate, brake, swerve, and repeat again. Actually maybe it wasn't that horrible since no one else seemed to mind. I was probably just grumpy becuase I can rarely sleep on buses and apprehensive about the doing the big hike exhausted.
We arrived at the base of the mountain about five thirty and had breakfast in a traditional restaurant there. I'm sorry Korea, but it was horrible. Something I've never experienced before, a big terrible-smelling bowl of soup which contained fermented soybean (I believe) and turned my stomanch. There was no escaping the smell as the steam from twenty-two bowls wafted in my direction in the cool early morning air. And of course, being the only foreigner and guest, I felt obliged to be polite and try it eat as much as possible. After a few token mouthfuls and nearly gagging, I gave up. I tried to get as much rice and pickled vegatables into me as possible for energy, but that was hard with the smell. I would have to depend on my stash of peanuts and m and m's to for fuel.
My grumpy start to the day however, took a 180 when the managers who were organizing everything started handing out tuna-filled rice balls. Upon receiving mine one of the managers smiled and asked 'room for beer'? I gladly accepted a cold can of Korean beer wrapped newspaper as did everyone else. And as we were lacing up our boots one of the kind interns, noting my suffering, brought me a hot, sweet cup of coffee. Realizing I was with a bunch of fun and generous people, my mood lifted with the rising sun and I prepared myself for a tough, but fun day ahead.
The initial stretch was really tough. In the first two hours we ascended about 900 metres over very rough, mostly unpathed terrain. Everyone seemed to find it tough which made me feel better, and they were a good group of people, likable and funny, cheering each other on and joking around. And of course it wasn't long until I'd found the weakest member in the group to tease and make myself look better.
At eight o'clock we passed a man lying on a rock snoring. The interns told me he was probably already drunk. Haha. We stopped thirty minutes later for another breakfast and beer. And at nine we recommenced hiking. After five minutes I felt very weak and realized the beer was a terrible idea. By 09:30 my legs were telling me they couldn't take any more. I soon after realized that everyone was in the same position. Well, at least us young ones, the older guys seemed to be having no problems and were sipping from whisky flasks as they went. We took another break at about ten thirty and I kindly declined the offers of a shot of whisky. No thanks!
By the time we finally stopped for lunch of hot noodles and more beer, I was feeling pretty weary and beat. But the forty minute break must've helped because when we started hiking again I was finally 'in the zone'. It was mostly downhill in the afternoon, again the 'path' was mostly huge, randomly situated rocks which we had to ramble over, battering our poor joints and threatening twisted ankles and knees. But nonetheless it was fun and the high sun was penetrating into the deep forest as we passed many rivers and small waterfalls.
We stopped at one of the small waterfalls to wet our hair, and then later at an icy river to soak our feet (and watch one of the crazy managers jump in). This was really refreshing and afterwards I felt like I could hike all day.
At two o'clock I got a second wind and broke ahead of the crowd to listen to some Christy Moore on my MP3 and appreciate nature. And as three o'clock hit our hike was over. We had completed the sixteen kilometre course. So in typical Korean style, it was time to get drunk.
Following some locally made tofu sidedishes we drunk a bellyfull of makoli, a Korean rice alcohol infamous for it's hangover and usually poured from a big cheap kettle or pot into little cheap plastic bowls. I'd drunk makoli before but was disgusted and opted to leave it for Korea's students and homeless people. But it was actually very delicious and enjoyable after such a grueling hike and now I see why Koreans love it so much.
Of course being the only foreigner, I was treated like a guest of honor and sat at the management table and not with the interns. But of course this meant accepting all the toasts by the managers and acting as strong-drinking-ambassador for Ireland.
By the time we got on the bus I was pretty tipsy. And that's when the real drinking started. God, by the time we had our first toilet stop I could hardly walk, ha! What a day.
So in conclusion, it wasn't a very beautiful hike, we didn't summit, it was tiring before we even started and the route we took wasn't overly enjoyable. But I do understand the Korean company mentality of doing something difficult together to bond as a team. And I do appreciate the invitation I hospitality I received. And I did feel a sense of accomplishment for not dying en route. And I enjoyed pushing myself under those conditions. But, I will never do it again :).JPG)
However, hiking Jiri-san in a day is no easy feat. It takes about five hours to get there by bus and our scheduled 'challenging' (AKA 'bloody hard') route was to take about nine hours and not even include reaching the summit. So I was a little anxious about my hiking abilities compared to the others going, and about the overnight bus.
The private bus that was hired for our group of twenty-one Koreans and one Irish departed from their office building where we had congregated. The journey itself was awful as the driver was a psycho; accelerate, brake, accelerate, brake, swerve, and repeat again. Actually maybe it wasn't that horrible since no one else seemed to mind. I was probably just grumpy becuase I can rarely sleep on buses and apprehensive about the doing the big hike exhausted.
We arrived at the base of the mountain about five thirty and had breakfast in a traditional restaurant there. I'm sorry Korea, but it was horrible. Something I've never experienced before, a big terrible-smelling bowl of soup which contained fermented soybean (I believe) and turned my stomanch. There was no escaping the smell as the steam from twenty-two bowls wafted in my direction in the cool early morning air. And of course, being the only foreigner and guest, I felt obliged to be polite and try it eat as much as possible. After a few token mouthfuls and nearly gagging, I gave up. I tried to get as much rice and pickled vegatables into me as possible for energy, but that was hard with the smell. I would have to depend on my stash of peanuts and m and m's to for fuel.
My grumpy start to the day however, took a 180 when the managers who were organizing everything started handing out tuna-filled rice balls. Upon receiving mine one of the managers smiled and asked 'room for beer'? I gladly accepted a cold can of Korean beer wrapped newspaper as did everyone else. And as we were lacing up our boots one of the kind interns, noting my suffering, brought me a hot, sweet cup of coffee. Realizing I was with a bunch of fun and generous people, my mood lifted with the rising sun and I prepared myself for a tough, but fun day ahead.The initial stretch was really tough. In the first two hours we ascended about 900 metres over very rough, mostly unpathed terrain. Everyone seemed to find it tough which made me feel better, and they were a good group of people, likable and funny, cheering each other on and joking around. And of course it wasn't long until I'd found the weakest member in the group to tease and make myself look better.
At eight o'clock we passed a man lying on a rock snoring. The interns told me he was probably already drunk. Haha. We stopped thirty minutes later for another breakfast and beer. And at nine we recommenced hiking. After five minutes I felt very weak and realized the beer was a terrible idea. By 09:30 my legs were telling me they couldn't take any more. I soon after realized that everyone was in the same position. Well, at least us young ones, the older guys seemed to be having no problems and were sipping from whisky flasks as they went. We took another break at about ten thirty and I kindly declined the offers of a shot of whisky. No thanks!
By the time we finally stopped for lunch of hot noodles and more beer, I was feeling pretty weary and beat. But the forty minute break must've helped because when we started hiking again I was finally 'in the zone'. It was mostly downhill in the afternoon, again the 'path' was mostly huge, randomly situated rocks which we had to ramble over, battering our poor joints and threatening twisted ankles and knees. But nonetheless it was fun and the high sun was penetrating into the deep forest as we passed many rivers and small waterfalls.
We stopped at one of the small waterfalls to wet our hair, and then later at an icy river to soak our feet (and watch one of the crazy managers jump in). This was really refreshing and afterwards I felt like I could hike all day.
At two o'clock I got a second wind and broke ahead of the crowd to listen to some Christy Moore on my MP3 and appreciate nature. And as three o'clock hit our hike was over. We had completed the sixteen kilometre course. So in typical Korean style, it was time to get drunk. Following some locally made tofu sidedishes we drunk a bellyfull of makoli, a Korean rice alcohol infamous for it's hangover and usually poured from a big cheap kettle or pot into little cheap plastic bowls. I'd drunk makoli before but was disgusted and opted to leave it for Korea's students and homeless people. But it was actually very delicious and enjoyable after such a grueling hike and now I see why Koreans love it so much.
Of course being the only foreigner, I was treated like a guest of honor and sat at the management table and not with the interns. But of course this meant accepting all the toasts by the managers and acting as strong-drinking-ambassador for Ireland.By the time we got on the bus I was pretty tipsy. And that's when the real drinking started. God, by the time we had our first toilet stop I could hardly walk, ha! What a day.
So in conclusion, it wasn't a very beautiful hike, we didn't summit, it was tiring before we even started and the route we took wasn't overly enjoyable. But I do understand the Korean company mentality of doing something difficult together to bond as a team. And I do appreciate the invitation I hospitality I received. And I did feel a sense of accomplishment for not dying en route. And I enjoyed pushing myself under those conditions. But, I will never do it again :)
.JPG)
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