What You're Looking For

Our hiking team for Mt. Rinjani

Yep, we destroyed the ring.  Derek's friend Alan messaged him when he heard of our plans to hike a volcano in Indonesia and asked, "You guys are hiking a volcano.. Do you have a ring you need to get rid of or something?"  And the Lord of the Rings references continue.

My trip to Indonesia with Derek was an absolute blast.  Before I left I thought of our three weeks we spent in Laos and could anything compare to that  It did, but in a much more exhausting way.  It started with days full of beaches, motorbike rides to remote towns where we were definitely the 'foreigners on display', and confusing travel.  We arrived at Denpasar's "biggest bus station" according to Google Maps, only to be two of about eight people there including three people sleeping on the benches looking like they were waiting for a bus to the afterlife.  Then there's the guy who just wants us to get in his van.  The only way he could've been creepier was if he'd offered us candy.  Alas, we got in the van and ended up in a mountain town, next to the beach, in a room for $10 USD. 

chicken saté

The temples are incredible

Next came the Mt. Rinjani hike.  We spent the better part of three days and two nights on a mountain on the island of Lombok, just east of Bali.  In three days we trekked about 30 km and had a total elevation change of over 8,000 m.  It was the most challenging hike I've ever done.  Here's a photo of the still active volcano that sits inside of the 13km x 10km caldera formed by the original volcano's eruption.

Yes, all of that is the crater left by the blast back in the 12th century.  The crater is so big it has a lake.  At one point I was sitting in a hot spring under the lake, the lake was feeding a waterfall that fell next to me, and there were clouds forming up the hill in front of me because the caldera creates its own weather patterns.  It was unreal.  This is a photo from the crater rim; we hiked to the rim, down into the crater, around the lake, and then back out of the crater before we began our descent.

They woke us up on the second day at 2AM so we could summit Mordor and see sunrise.  Us little ill-prepared Pearls didn't have flashlights, or warm enough jackets, or a lot of things we needed including a pair of pants because mine got wet.  We're close to the summit when someone asks me if I'm cold, "No, I'm fine, just fine."   It was bloody cold!!  People say it was our mistake when we took shelter close to the peak to grab a breath and rest for a moment, that this is why we didn't summit.  I am glad we didn't summit.  It still kinda breaks my heart that I didn't, but we had guides telling us it was much more windy and dangerous than it usually is, when I stopped my blood slowed and my feet numbed a bit, and the cold wind was howling.  We did it, we did what we came for and I'm happy with that.  And we were treated to an epic sunrise.

Dawn

I'm just fine

At the end of the second day my body was tired I was making silly mistakes on the descent.  The ground was hard but had enough small gravel to make it slick.  After about my fifth fall I was bruised, bleeding a bit, and let out a scream in frustration.  I was done with this damn mountain.  And then there's Derek, "just a few more steps Mr. Frodo. I can see it now..."  God bless him, laughter heals all.  I was back on my feet and down to our second camp spot with a little less cursing.

Sunrise in front of a volcano

I love bridges

These porters were heaven sent!  They packed most our stuff up and down the mountain in these bamboo baskets and did it all in flip flops.  They insisted on a picture at the end.

Afterward we went to small island that we literally walked around.  Gili Air was peaceful and we met some really cool people here.  That hike resulted in the best and worst beer I've ever had, I earned it and damn did that make it delicious but Bintang sucks.

After Gili Air we spent my remaining time in the country in a town called Ubud, back on Bali.  It held a few more days with motorbike rides, temple visits, coffee plantations, more volcanoes, and a case of some of my own eruptions.  Damn you Bali stomach bugs, ya got me.   An incredible trip that didn't last long enough and a very quick goodbye on my birthday.   See you again soon here in Thailand Derek!  Miss ya already bud.

Notables

I thought I'd written about this before, but I just looked back through a couple of blogs and didn't see it.  Before I set out to move to Thailand I was saying goodbye to some people and a few told me a similar thing, "I hope you find what you're looking for."  It always made me think.  Hmm, am I looking for something?  Is that why I am moving?  Three years later and I still think of this well-intentioned wish.  I may not have had a quest with an clear end goal, but I did find what I was looking for.  I still don't know how to put my finger on what that is exactly, but what I do know is that I am happy, I am finding adventure, I have a job that challenges me and makes me happy teaching, and somehow by the grace of God I found a silly little lady that wants to be with me.  So yeah, I found what I was looking for.

I haven't been the most social person lately, and that's for a variety of reasons, but I still consider all of you Chantha-berries my homies.  You guys rock.  Sometimes it's hard to make friends with all of the newcomers just because there are so many of you.  However, it has been awesome to watch you guys find what you're looking for too.  I watch a lot of you grow as people and as friends and it's a pretty great thing.  I really intend to get out and see all of you more and more.

Cheers to all of you back home too.  I'll be back home for Christmas and we have some serious catching up to do.  Please get those Keystones cold...like a whole lot of them ya know.