Since the Mountain Mafia has taken control of Mt. Batur and I wasn't going to climb it, I decided to check out another cool little hike with a view. By riding around the western side of Lake Batur you come to the village of Songan. Another mile or so you come to the lovely temple at Pura Ulun Danau Batur. A 30-minute hike up the cliff behind leads to the rim of the caldera (larger crater) in which Mt. And Lake Batur sits. I jumped on my bike and headed off around 2pm, only to run into a Balinese procession. Asking a local I heard there was an odalan ceremony at the Pura Desa (village temple) in Songan. It was a lovely scene with brightly dressed Balinese people coming out of everywhere to join the throng towards the temple. I had to stop as the narrow road around the lake was blocked with pedestrians.
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Riding into the Kintamani area I blazed through the shake-down (police stop) at the top of the main road where the road from Ubud joins the roads that circles the crater rim in Penelokan. They stop anyone with a white face, locals zoom through. They are on the look out for cars and SUV's and hit then up for money. According to Lonely Planet the rates charged are adult/child 3,000/1,500rp, plus 100rp insurance, plus 1,000rp for a car or 200rp for a bicycle. Tourists are advised to keep these tickets or be hit up again and again.
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According to the sign in the office the purpose of the Mangrove Information Center is collecting useful data, establishing technology to recover mangrove forests and setting up of technical and managerial methods for the sustainable Mangrove Management System. I walked to another building which was empty except for an office and on the way noticed tanks with models of mangrove forests with flowing water. The ladies in the office gave me a free map of the place and promised to look after my helmet. Strolling out into the boiling sunshine I found the start of a boardwalk and continued along totally alone. The brochure explained a bit about the type of mangrove found here and also that garbage, in the form of plastic bags and other eco-unfriendly items, actually was part of the cause of the deforestation.
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Gunung Batur (1717m) , the large volcano located in the eastern highlands has caused all kind of trouble in the past from its eruptions, which have occurred more than 20 times since 1800. A 1917 eruption killed 1,000 local people and amazingly the boiling lava stopped just short of the temple at Batur village. In those day the village of Batur was located on the west side of Lake Batur, which is inside the crater.
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Here in Kedisan I see a decent amount of tourists. It still quiet (apart from the dump trucks) but there are British, Irish and French people as well as a few Indonesian tourists I've seen.
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This evening I am in the Kintamani area checking out some of the hiking opportunities and looking at hotels. It's a flying visit and I won't have the time to do a travel guide. I am gathering info for the upcoming Baliblog guided tour.
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Arriving in Bali after a long flight here are some quick tips that might help you.
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Gunung Abang is located across Lake Batur from Gunung Batur in the highlands of Bali. At 2153m it is over 400m higher, but way less visited. Gunung Abang is known as Red Mountain and the climb is very different. While is rather barren and affords sweeping views of the surrounding landscape, Gunung Abang is forested like Gunung Catur. Some people may find this more enjoyable as climbing during daylight hours you will get shade from the searing sunlight.
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