Miss Traveler

Thurs, 9th Sept 2010

SilkAir Flight brought us from the energetic efficiency of Changi Airport Singapore to the small local airport in Mataram, Lombok where we would begin our adventure to climb Mount Rinjani, Indonesia’s 2nd highest mountain at 3,726m or 12,224ft high. After being picked up at the airport, the guide briefed us at the hotel about the plan for the next 3 days.

The Mount Rinjani hiking plan.

Day 1: Drop off at Sembalun.Meet porters and guide. Trek across grassy asavannah to the foot of the mountain. Camp at plateau, start at 2am for the summit sunrise.

Day 2: Back to base camp then to Sagara Anak Lakeside and the hot springs.

Day 3: Descend the mountain for pickup from Senaru to Sengigi for some beach time!

Friday, 10th Sept 2010

We are up nice and early to make the 3 hour drive to Sembalun. It’s the first day of Idul Fitri which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadhan, so many families are on their way to the mosque for prayers. Despite the bouncing of the van, I manage to drift into slumber. I’m awakened when the van stops for our first view of Mount Rinjani that we will soon meet. The guide points out a cloud on the mountain and informs us that there is where base camp is located. To my eyes, that looks very, very, VERY high up. Gulp.

After picking up our porters and guide, we start walking through grassy fields. The small villages and paddy fields slowly melt into vast stretches of grassy savannah. There is a desolate, wild and untouched beauty to the landscape. I’m starting to enjoy the walk and soon after, we make our first stop for lunch. All the food is cooked for us on the spot by our guide/cook. In fact, we only realize how fresh the supplies are when we hear clucking coming from the porters’ bags!

After 2 to 3 hours of walking, we finally arrived at the foot of Mount Rinjani. Alas, the gently sloping hills had to end sometime and so we began the real grunt work of climbing Mount Rinjani. There was a fair bit of heavy breathing, teeth gritting, possibly a tear or two and most certainly a lot of sweating. After several hours of climbing, we turned around to see the most beautiful rainbow over the vally. It was as if our legs had a new strength and we bounded up the last 10 vertical meters to the view from the crater’s plateau overlooking the Sagara Anak Lake, just as the sun dipped below the horizon.

After the sunset, the remaining light started fading quickly and the thick clouds enveloped us as we hurried along the narrow path to the campsite on the plateau. It would be an extremely early start tomorrow at 2am and our legs were screaming for rest and our stomachs growling for a hot meal.

The night passed in a blink of an eye and it was soo time to ascend to the summit. Mount Rinjani is known for its difficult climbing conditions, where the sand on the slopes causes climbers to slide back 2 steps for every 3 steps we take. We are no exceptions and after several hours, it became a battle of willpower and stamina. The sun peeked out behind the mist and bathed the valley and lake in color.

The view was good, but it couldn’t compare to the feeling of accomplishment that we’d made it. In the daylight, I could see how the narrow paths fall away to drops hundreds of meters down. To descend we slid and glided down the sandy slopes as if we were skiing on dry land. A hot cup of tea sure felt good back on flat ground!

Since it was too late for us to continue to the Sagara Anak Lakeside which would have been our next base camp, we stayed where we were and took the opportunity to visit the small fresh water spring which provides the camp’s fresh water, play with the monkeys, build a fire and stargaze until the fire died. Not rushing to the lakeside meant that we could enjoy the view. The next day’s sunrise was spectacular.

Being up on that plateau was a great opportunity to sit back and enjoy eht most amazing natural spectacles including a night sky stuffed with constellations of stars that are never visible in the brightly lit cities and the opportunity to have conversations with friends away from the distractions of mobile phones and mp3 players. But 2 nights were long enough without running water and flushing toilets so with a fair degree of anticipation we packed up and descended the same way we had come.

At the beautiful Santosa Resort at Sengigi Beach, we stayed in the hot showers long enough to turn our fingers and toes into prunes and placed our camping gear into separate bags so that they could release their odours onto any unsuspecting person who opened the bags, such as baggage inspectors and dry cleaners.

Then we set out to sample the famous Indonesian massage and also because we believed that having little Indonesian ladies knead our sore legs and feet into a soft pulp would help us the next day. Either way, a good meal was surely deserved. I didn’t manage to get many food photos as the food didn’t last long on the plate once it was served, but it was very delicious and fresh. Thumbs up for the seared scallops and fresh basil pasta.

Lombok really is the stuff that postcards are made of. I really hope that it stays this way.

Our local guide took us to several of the temples around Lombok. Although a majority of Lombok’s population is Muslim in comparison to the majority Hindu population of neighboring Bali, all religions are openly practiced here. We visited the Pura Batu Bolong on South Sengigi Beach. It location is a god place to watch ships come into Lombok. Further into town is the almost 300 year old Meru Temple devoted to the Hindu Holy Trinity. The jasmine flower is the national flower of Indonesia symbolizing purification and is most commonly used during religious rituals. And it smells really good too!

In one of the small back alleys at Meru temple is a family industry for traditional hand loom cloth weaving We were curious to see what was for lunch and our guide didn’t disappoint. The restaurant serving Lombok food had open air pavilions where you could sit cross legged and elevated above the ground. And then the food! A veritable feast of grilled and barbecued fish and “kampung chicken” – chicken that’s been running around the village and organic in the truest sense of the word. With iced honey and coconut drinks, Teh Botol, sambal and steamed rice all around, we waddled with full bellies and sore legs (yes, still sore) back onto the flight to Singapore.

Lombok, we shall be back!

x

Shi