Hiking the rim of Batur crater in Kintamani Bali: part I

Monday morning I got up at the guest house to a blazing sunny day. The dump trucks were already in full swing patrolling the road past and some of the trekkers to Mt. Batur were returning after their 4am start. My goal was to check out the back of the caldera a look for a hiking trail that snaked the ridgeline. Easy to find when looking at the map, a little trickier when actually figuring out which rutted 35 slope the book refers to. I was aiming for a village called Blandingan, which is accessed via Penelokan, Kintamani and Penulisan. If the rim of the crater were a clock, I would be riding from 6 all the way around the high numbers to 1.

The first part of my ride was back up the steep hill that leads into the crater. On the way I passed a couple of tourists on bicycles. 'Kasihan deh luh' I thought, poor you for putting yourself through that struggle. Straight away I hit the rim and back on the main road cruised through Penelokan and Kintamani. These 2 villages have to be the shit-hole capital of north Bali. Every time I ride though it brings me down. Situated on the west side of Mt Batur and in between Mt Catur, they are almost always in cloud. Grey crappy brick building line the street and a hodge-podge of nasty looking places tell the visitor 'there's nothing here for you'.