Ubud, Amazing Mount Batur Sunrise Hike and to Uluwatu I Go

I took advantage of my last moments in Ubud before I headed to Uluwatu, my third city in Bali. I was so sad to leave Ubud because it was such a nice city, but being near the ocean again will be a blessing and I heard this is one of the more favorite spots on the island as it's more chill and home to the most beautiful beaches. I had an early morning today, let me tell you about it. 

There is a famous hike in Ubud called Mt. Batur sunrise hike, you pile into a van at 2am and you are driven out to the base of the mountain and climb up it in the dark in order to make it there before sunrise. The wake up call was quite harsh, I got three hours of sleep, lacking the discipline to go to bed at 9:30pm when I was all ready but instead I stayed up on my phone a bit to relax from the day and go through some photos. But, at that point, what’s a couple minutes when I already shaved off hours of lost sleep in my night. I had a feeling I would be fine, many a time in college I’ve survived off minimal hours of sleep whether it was to go there and back from St. Louis in the same day to see a Drake and J Cole concert, or to stay out with my accounting friends until 4am and then promising breakfast with my roommates early the next morning, I had a feeling I would be fine and the exercise would no doubt lift me into consciousness.

Until I get that extra oxygen in my brain from all the blood pumping, I was a zombie. I got separated from Liv and Freya who I booked the hike with, we were assigned separate vans and I tried to go with them but they had a strict list on who was where, understandable. I did end up getting in the same van as Charlotte and another really nice girl named Jess, who, lucky for our group, majored in photography in college. I sat by those girls and their was another 3 guys in our group to make the six of us the pack for the day. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the guys, one was a bit older (as in not in his early 20), and the other pair was 2 guys from London who were about my age. I found out after some conversation that they are together, I was elated because there’s nothing I love more than gay British men because they are some of the funniest people that walk this earth. It made the trek up the mountain and our time seated up there ever the more fun. So that was the crew, back to the tour details.

We got picked up at 2am, and then we drove about 15 minutes to make our first stop for breakfast and a bathroom break. They served banana pancakes, knowing I couldn’t eat them I asked for a banana instead, and I got three. Yes, I ate all three. I also drank some tea and tons of water to stay hydrated for the upcoming hike. We were there almost 30 minutes, part of me questioned the logistics of this tour and why we had to make this stop and just gotten the extra sleep instead, but at least I got the bananas and to go to the bathroom before heading to the mountain.

We all slept in the van ride to Mt. Batur, it was about an hour to the base, and when we slowed down and turned into a rocky parking lot, we all naturally lifted our heads and opened our eyes as it was game time.

We all didn’t know what to expect for the difficulty of the hike. We heard so many mixed reviews, some saying that it was easy, others that it was quite challenging, no one thankfully saying that it wasn’t doable. At the very least I knew that I could do it, and with my love for hiking and prior trails that ran me to the ground, I had a feeling this one would land somewhere in the middle of my experience level, difficulty wise. 

Before we started the hike we were given a to go box with some more snacks, and the assortment was quite unique. We got a banana, perfect, my fourth for the morning but this one I planned to save. I also received a single white piece of plain bread, and a boiled bird egg. Offering the bird egg was how I broke the silence with the other hikers in my group, but no one had the stomach this early in the morning to digest that. We all did gnaw on our white bread, a last kick of carbs to get our engines going. We were huddled in a circle, it was pretty cold and I just had a hoodie and long travel pants on and was still pretty cold. But I am Minnesotan, I know that once you get moving, despite it being only 50 degrees outside, you’ll want to shed every layer you have on. From playing hockey in the winter at home, I learned a sweatshirt is all you’ll need to stay warm, and if its 20 degrees when we do that, I knew in no time I would heat up from the ascent we would soon undertake. 

We got our own guide who knew the trails and different routes to take up the hill, and then 6 of us followed him as we stepped onto the flat trail that led to the trailhead. We had an easy walk for about 15 minutes. It was a bit deceiving, questioning if this would be the “hike” we signed up for. But, we stopped at a fork in the road and were asked whether we wanted to take the more challenging but less crowded trail, or the easier but busy path… we had a fit crew and they spoke up requesting the less crowded option. I was down for it, knowing it would be nice to get off the beaten path. 

I don’t think it ended up being that much more challenging, but we did find ourselves walking through fields and farms growing food for the island. I twirled my flashlight around to see all the plants that surrounded me and to get a glimpse of the nature that was out of my view and covered by the darkness. The first leg of the hike was quiet, we were all still waking up and shaking off the cold, thankfully the walk was starting to grow the internal heat and bring us to a more comfortable temperature. 

We had our first break, checking in how the hike was going for everyone, seeing if there was anything anyone needed, and that’s when I chimed in. I needed some music. It was so quiet and no one was walking near us, so I boldly asked if anyone brought a speaker and wanted to hop on aux to bring some more energy to the hike. Thankfully, Mason from the UK had one, and him and Harvey even made a euphoria playlist for this trip. Now isn’t that just perfect. They put it on and it was exactly what I needed to feel wide awake and take on the harder part of this hike. Some people in the group were chatting with each other, and now that I was more awake, I was ready to join in on the conversation. I was walking just behind Harvey and Mason, selfishly wanting to be closer to the music to hear it better, and I started talking to them. 

I loved getting to know the two of them and almost instantly could hear the causal tone in their voice and the interest of friendship with me. I was so grateful to have gotten to talk with them almost the whole way up, especially through the more challenging part of the hike because our topics of conversation completely distracted me from the difficulty of the hike. 

I can confirm for those who are curious, the hike did end up being hard. I do a good job at hiding my pain while hiking because I want to keep up with the group and I love the view on top that it justifies the hours of struggle beforehand. As I already stripped the sweatshirt off me and packed it away in my backpack, now some sweat droplets were collecting on my forehand and dampening my face framing hairs. I was really feeling this hike, and I wondered if it was the same for the others. Thankfully I wasn’t alone when Harvey and Mason admitted they too were dripping in sweat and felt as those there were also being challenged by this mountain, no easy hike to say the least. But I do see where some people are coming from, if you are a more experienced hiker, it was less than three miles and an increase in elevation of 1700 feet. My absolute max is 3000 feet and 10 miles total, so yes, in reference to that, it was more middle of the pack for my typical hike, but still hard enough to break a sweat and pray that the view up top would be clear and worth all the effort we were putting in now. 

As the clock slowly creeped up from 3:30am to 4am to 4:30am, we finally made it to the top of the hill. The last leg was probably the steepest part of the hike, but that was when I was deep in conversation and didn’t even notice when we finally made it to the top. Yay! We did it and not scarred from the difficulty of it whatsoever. Our guide found us a spot to sit, laying some mats down first as it was just some lose dirt and sand that we would’ve sat on otherwise. I got a prime spot with Harvey and Mason to one side of me and Jess the photographer on the other. The four of us bonded and became best friends on that hill waiting and watching the sunrise. 

I brought my camera up there and was in heaven when the photographer got the best shots of me looking out at the sunrise over the mountain. Everyone took turns taking photos on my camera as well, I knew it would be a bit challenging dispersing all of those out to people as I don't have a good system going with it yet, but I was happy to help provide my new friends with some cool shots on a quality camera. Funny enough, Jess ended up taking the photos on my camera of the guys even though she had her own fancy one. It made sense though as she had her camera in manual and mine was a quick auto click away from a solid photo. We had so much fun on the hill, chatting more and more, and of course laughing. We got a sweet photo together and formed the most fun friend group. I was so sad that I was leaving Ubud today as they all planned to grab some ice cream tonight.

The sunrise was absolutely gorgeous. We got lucky with the weather and the clear skies that exposed the bright colors in full force. To witness each stage of the changing colors and intensity of the blues, pinks, and oranges, I was in awe and so happy that I woke up to do this hike. I treasured the time that passed and the evolving painting in front of my eyes, until soon it stayed still in it’s design and the sun was to it’s brightest point. 

As the night bloomed into the morning, that’s when the monkeys came out to play. I could not believe how many there were and where they all came from. But they were here for the food, having enough from the stranglers ditching their garbage that they thankfully had no interest in my not-so-delicious backpack and camera. 

Our tour guide returned to us and we stood up from our spots to begin our walk down the hill and back to the van. We put the music back on, this time some more upbeat tunes now that we were wide awake from staring at the sun rising up from the horizon. On the aux was Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and some catchy house music that lifted spirits and further united our pack. 

The walk down was a bit slippery, the lose dirt and small rocks easily giving way as you took sideways steps down the hill trying to get as much traction as possible. I was just in some Nike Air Forces with little grip on the bottom, and I lost my balance a few times but nothing too major that I couldn’t catch myself within a couple moments. As we bonded with the guys, they along with the tour guide looked out for us and made sure we had a hand when needed and made it down the hill safely. Once we got to a flatter part of our walk down and the dirt path turned into a pavement road, our van met us, saving our joints the pain of crashing our body weight into our knees and toes each step down the hill. 

We hopped back into the car, and it was all fun and chatty until we slowly opened our phones to look at photos, and then closed our eyes to get in a quick nap. At this point, I was desperate to use the restroom. There wasn’t anything near the hill, at the bottom nor top, and it had been at least 5 hours since we stopped for breakfast at 2:30am. Thankfully, our van had to stop for gas and when I woke up from the change in the state of motion, I woke the others up so I could get out from the backseat and quickly use the restroom. Not much longer we were back in Ubud and dropped off at our hostel around 10am. 

Upon arrival I immediately ordered my pancakes, inhaled them as I chatted with my new friends that I would soon go on to say goodbye to. I had to head back to my hostel room and quickly pack up my things as check out was at 11am. Down to the wire, I threw my backpack on my shoulder and brought it down to the front desk to check out. There were some last minute things i needed to do, one being to redo two polished nails that sadly fell off within days of getting them done. Thankfully, I went to a nail salon a minute from my hostel and they kindly redid those two. I was also on a hunt for a postcard, but with no luck, I returned back to my hostel with the intent of ordering a Grab and getting myself to Uluwatu for the day.

I was debating getting a scooter and squeezing myself and my backpack on the backseat of one, but from the fatigue of the hike, I was in no state to complicate and challenge myself to save a few dollars. I sat down in my lobby to get the Grab when a girl with a huge backpacking bag on her back walked past me to check out. I saw her pull out her phone to order a Grab when I spoke up and asked where she was headed. My eyes doubled in size and gleamed when I heard the word “Uluwatu”  leave her lips. There was no way that I finally found someone to share the cab there with and how perfect of timing that it was when we both planned on going. It ended up being her and her friend that were traveling down there, and she thankfully let me join in on their ride. By pure luck, I saved $20 on a cab and made some new friends. At first, I was frustrated about my new pedicure falling off so quickly, and now I am beyond thankful I had to get them redone as that was the reason I stumbled on my Ulu travel companions and new friends the exact moment that I did. 

I was planning on reading or journaling during my long drive down, but we ended up talking the whole time. They were 19 years old and about to head to college in the fall, asking me about my experience and digging into what university in America is really like. I gave them my best advice and shared with them about my time in Madison. I learned more about them, Natalia and Paulina, and they were truly the sweetest girls. We exchanged numbers so that we could hang out more while here together, they were leaving a few days before me, but we still had a good amount of time in the same city and I would not pass up the opportunity to have some friends there. 

I am not staying at a hostel in Uluwatu as they were booked up and a lot of other hotels were either extremely expensive or terrible in quality. It is the nicer area of Bali, with the best beaches, waves to surf, a chill relaxing vibe, and the home to the most incredible sunsets. It pulls the Australians in to escape their southern hemisphere winter, declaring this month busy season for Bali. I thankfully found a relatively affordable place to say and kept it booked even though that would mean I would be alone in the new city. But, now because of them, I wasn’t.

I got to my homestay, checked into my room, and then headed out for some food. It was now around 2:30pm and lunch was in store. The ride from Ubud to Uluwatu took a while because of the traffic, but at least I had more time to establish a friendship with Paulina and Natalia. I found a cafe near me that I walked to and brought my laptop with me so that I could work on some things. I ended up booking the rest of my trip, every hotel and flight left, officially solidifying my plans to travel to and stay in Philippines, even though I don't really want to leave Bali because I love it so much. But, I know this is what’s best for me and will allow me to see more of the world. I am extremely excited for Philippines, but I do wish I gave myself more time on this beautiful island. 

A friend I made on the Ubud day trip, Sabrina, had also just gotten to Uluwatu so we made dinner plans and went to Mana, a nice restaurant to watch the sunset. I left the cafe and made my way there, ordering some mini tacos as I was still pretty full from my lunch. We talked through the night; I had gotten to know her from the day trip and learned more about her life tonight and what it was like living in Korea and being from USA. We made plans for the next morning to go to yoga, saying goodbye knowing that we would see each other there at 9am the next day.