April 17th: Lovina to Baturiti – 39km
Day 186
My original plan for crossing the island was through Lake Batur then heading south. However, after reading many negative reviews on the region (accommodations are pricey, the lake water is murky, etc.) we decided to cut across from Singaraja, which will take us to Lake Buyan and Lake Beratan. From Lovina, Ubud was only 80 km away.
As soon as we started heading south, it was continuously uphill. We were inching forwards in the heavy traffic, hoping it would be less crowded once we were in the mountains. I was in high spirit, enjoying the tropical garden view along the way.
Before noon it was hot, but later we climbed towards a rain storm. Unfortunately my twist shift gear decided to go on a strike and refused to give me the easiest gear anymore. We made several stops trying to fix it, but in the end I settled for not shifting once I managed to get into the easiest gear. Good news was the uphill was not gonna end anytime soon.
It started raining soon after we put on our bag covers. The rain provided temporary relief from the heat, but before long the gentle cooling rain turned into horrendous downpour. The climb was unreasonably steep, at several points I couldn’t help but cursing the engineer who planned the route. And much to our dismay, the traffic didn’t lighten up at all. So here we were, peddling on a very steep climb at the speed of 3kph in a storm, with cars, scooters, trucks trying to go around us on narrow roads. When we looked back, we could see the sunny coast where we came from. How I miss the sun now!
Heading into the storm.
Mountain stream? Looked like a perfect dumping spot for me!
20kms in, every turn started to look like the end of ascent, but we were disappointed every time. We were completely drenched, cold, tired and hungry. We stopped at a roadside snack shop, and all they had for a meal were instant noodles. I was ready to settle for the cup of noodles, but Chopper insisted that at the price of 5,000 rupiah it was a ripoff. So we were back in the rain, with empty growling stomach. Another hour passed and 3km further, we stopped at another snack store. Again, Chopper claimed everything to be overpriced, but I insisted on having a sprite soda for 5,000 rupiah. Either the overpriced soda or I drop dead on the spot, I threatened. We finally settled for some buttered bread and some pastries, and of course I shared my overpriced soda with Chopper. She did try to charge us 10,000 for a 3,500 soda, and even though that’s only a difference of 50 cents in USD.
Another hour later and 3km further, Chopper had to make a coffee stop at a coffee stall. I was not in the mood for stopping in the rain again, but the hot coffee was good for the moral on a climb that seemed never end. (From Chopper point of view: initially Cher didn’t want to stop and refused my offer to buy her her own coffee, but she willingly accepted my offer to share. As long as I served it to her while she moped on her trike in the rain. It was a hard day for both of us.)
At the 28km mark, we finally saw the light at the end of the ascent, which was marked by a mass gathering of fluffy monkeys, it was already 4pm.
Almost there!
Monkeys begging for food.
Luckily the rain stopped, but we still needed to put on our rain jackets to block the wind on the downhill. As we shivered in our wet clothes and our fingers went numb, we swore we would stop at the first hotel with a hot shower and not care about the budget. The first hotel we stopped at was cheap, but had no hot water. We turned to the other down the road, which upon initial inquiry was 1,000,000 IDR per night. After some bargaining, we could get a discounted room for 300,000 IDR. When we were showed the room, it was a fancy cottage overlooking the lake. In the hot tropical weather carpeting was a bad idea and along with an indoor fireplace, the room smelt like wet burned wood and mould. We turned away and kept on searching. It was getting dark and another hotel sign lead us onto an unpaved bumpy road. It didn’t take us long to give up searching and go back to the cheap hotel without hot water.
Most of the time, the cold water is warm enough to shower with in Southeast Asia countries. However, this was not the case with the cold water on the mountain top. The tap water was icy cold, and we were already shivering and numb from our wet clothes we had been wrapped in all day. We went to bed that night without a shower and neither of us had the energy to wash our clothes. What happened to our swearing that we would find a nice hotel with hot shower? We are more dedicated to our budget than we know.