We chose to climb Gunung Agung, the highest point in Bali, then we quickly found out a religious festival had blocked all routes... No problem, Gunung Batur instead! (1717m http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Batur)
You have to book up in advance due the locals dwelling by the mountain carrying on the Balinese tradition of blatant extortion (there is a theme here you may realise), but that was cool as it was over an hours drive away and we wanted to so the sunrise summit, descent and then do half a days guided cycling too; got to keep busy right?
It was a 2am bus pickup and, once we'd navigated the aforementioned Mafia, the hike itself was pretty straight forward...by our ever changing standards that is; so it was seriously steep and killing casual walkers, but we were up in 2 hours, enjoyed great views from the top [including that of Gunung Rinjani all the way over in Lombok which we intended to climb later in the trip] and we were back down for breakfast by 8am!!!
Admittedly, we looked and sounded insane to the rest of the cycling party; they had just arrived fresh whereas we had tales from the dust spewing behemoth viewed from the terrace from which they were enjoying tea and toast. In fact we were covered in volcanic ash and felt like heroes. Win.
[Breakfast view]
The bike ride was easy but great. All downhill and amongst the paddies which engulf nearly all of rural Bali. Our guide stopped us at various sites of cultural interest (we drank coffee made with beans that had "been through a cat") and before you knew it we had lunch and were back in Ubud ready to pack and move on... Bali had some highlights, today had loads, but for the most part we were more than ready to move on. [for now, we'd be back]
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