Mount Batur, Lava Fields, Coffee

Another start of 3am. Due to the tropical cyclones scattered around Bali, we opted for a Jeep tour of mount batur rather than hiking it (yes the stormy weather not me trying to get back into robins good books after Ijen).

We drove to the start point and had tea and coffee with biscuits. It was not raining yet as we reached the viewpoint. Across the lake we watched as lightening illuminated the cloudy sky. As expected the sunrise was unremarkable. Way too cloudy. It also began to rain. Hard.

We drove down to the lava fields from the 1929 eruption. The last eruption was 2000 but no lava, only ash and smoke.

From here we went to the hot springs. Mount batur is host to some mineral rich springs. We spend hours warming up and relaxing.

Next stop was a coffee plantation. We learnt about the Balinese coffee style. The plantation specialized in weasel (luwak) coffee. The weasel eats the coffee beans and poos out the bits we like. The beans are then washed and roasted to create a unique tasting coffee.

We got to try over 8 different hot drinks the plantation produces: black coffee, coconut coffee, vanilla coffee, ginseng coffee, mocha, avocado coffee, coco, spiced tea, lemon tea, ginger tea, mangosteen tea, rosella tea, pandanus tea.

Feeling shaky we were driven to the restaurant for lunch. I had satay and Robin had her new favourite, nasi goreng.

The rain did not stop all morning and so once back at the hostel we had a nap.

After dinner and packing our clothes away we are going to bed with a full on day planned tomorrow!

-M