Bali Indonesia (Part 3)- MT. AGUNG

Mt. Agung (3142m) – The 10^th highest mountain in South East Asia, a bit higher than Mt. Apo (2954m) the highest mountain here in the Philippines.  

http://bisean.blogspot.com/2007/08/10-tallest-mountains-in-southeast-asia.html

Nov 30, 2009 at around 1am, the driver from the travel agency (contacted by Neri) fetched us from the hotel. With no enough sleep, we excitedly went ahead. We arrived at the jump-off after 30min or so. We met our guide there, his name is Kutot. We also met a German climber together with her guide. After climbing some few steps, we arrived at the temple where the guides put some offering and prayed. I also prayed for a safe climb behind them.

 At around 5:30am we can already see the peak, it seems so near yet so far (he he), steep rocks ahead of us. According to our guide, it will take 1 to 1.5 hrs to get us there. Ouch! How can we reach there before sun rise? 

 

 After our coffee break, Emman & I decided to go ahead with our guide, Kutot,  hoping that we can make it. Neri decided to stay where we had coffee for safety reason, she’s wearing a running shoes. With her was the German lady, Ingge (I hope I remember her name right :D), with her guide.

 

The remaining part of the trail was actually intimidating, it’s very STEEP! The only motivation I had was the sunrise! We have to make it faster because we were running out of time.

There’s one specific vertical spot there I won’t forget, this is where I can’t hold on to anything. My heartbeat became faster and I thought my life will end there (at the back of my mind, dying that way is not that bad, because I’m gonna die while doing my passion). Thanks God, I passed thru.

Since the sun was starting to rise, Emman & I decided to stop just near the crater/peak. We enjoyed our pictorial. And gosh! It’s another breathtaking experience :-)

SUNRISE, one of the reasons why I want to climb mountains, 

I will never see this magnificent view if I don't !

At the back of Emman is the part we haven't reached.

Thanks Emman for this shot ;-)

Another above the clouds experience

Going down with Kutot

Video clip while going down

Trekking down with the whole team

Monkey along the trail, playing with Emman

 

I find this video cute & funny :-))

This one is funny also ;-D... it's about mountaineering creed :)

The temple at the foot of Mt. Agung

Our climb team

I still wanted to visit Besakih Temple, the biggest Hindu temple in Bali, which is near Mt. Agung, but we haven't brought extra shirts. Aside from that, all of us were tired and sleepy already, so we decided to go back to Nick's Hotel instead.