Bukit Tinggi

Bukit tinggi - high mountain


I'm here!! We're about 950 meters from sea level, and the temperature is just perfect 25 celcius. The combination of boat - wait for the bus - bus took about 22 hours. The bus trip was 16h, with the driver driving insanely fast on the tiniest of roads. Somehow everything still worked out and no-one got hurt. We stopped to pray at 04:00 and had breakfast at 08:00. Again people we're asking a lot of questions, ending the query-spree each time with a "thankyousoverymuch".  I've got to learn Bahasa Indonesia better though, people seem to be quite good at asking questions but lack somewhat in the area of understanding the response.

I was supposed to hike to the Gunung Merapi volcano this night, but it's raining. Gunung is the most active volcano on Sumatra, but no worries, it hasn't done much more than puffed smoke in a while. So due to the rain we're skipping the sunrise at 2891 meters and try again in the morning at 05:00. The trek takes a bit less than 12 hours, and we're doing it together with my guide Moli. The trek costs 400 000 rupiahs, meaning around 33 euros. It would be cheaper if done with two people, each paying 250 000, but there seem to be no turists here I must go alone.

I'm going through a huge spending spree! First the trek, then on Wednesday I have a four day all inclusive surf course close to the city of Padang and I just bought flights to Ambon for the 2nd of March. In total I spent 350 euros! So to compensate this reckless behaviour I'm going to eat something really cheap for dinner (1 euro noodles in stead of 1,30 euros sate).

If the volcano behaves I'll try to add some pictures tomorrow.
-Me


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