Dear Donna

This morning I got up very early and climbed a volcano. It was a very beautiful experience. There is nothing quite like getting to the top, just as the sun is peaking over the horizon, lighting up the world in beautiful colours and the sense of achievement that goes with it. The view from the top was certainly worth it. The sun appears over a neighbouring volcano and sends sparkles across the lake in the valley, lighting up the villages and fields, the early morning clouds drift across the view, obscuring everything for a moment, restricting the world to a few feet in front of you. But then they quickly pass and when they do, the world opens up again, like seeing it for the first time, the sun has climbed a few fractions up the sky, changing the colours all over again.

A view is always more valued when you have had to earn it and I definitely feel like I earned it. If getting up at 1.30am wasn't enough, I then had to endure the worst breakfast I have had on this trip (and that is saying a lot). I tried to feed mine to the starving dog by the roadside café but he was having none of it. I am not always the best at interacting with other human beings first thing in the morning and that certainly isn't helped when the other human beings happen to be a large group of young Australian girls with a penchant for inane chatter. All that before I even had to climb up a mountain…

Mount Batur standing at 1800m is not the highest volcano in Indonesia but it is the most active, having erupted at least 23 times since 1963. But don't worry. It is perfectly safe to climb because the locals have a foolproof method for predicting when an eruption will occur. Apparently all the monkeys that live on the volcano can sense when it will blow. They all run down the mountain into the village. So if you see a monkey in the village then it is best to run like hell. We saw a couple of moneys on the volcano rim and they were very chilled out so I think we were safe.

One interesting thing about the village at the bottom of the mountain is that it claims to be the biggest village in the world because it has over 30,000 inhabitants. Now, forgive me for quoting my rudimentary GCSE geography skills but isn't a large village just a town?

Mount Batur is a rather odd looking volcano. It is a bit lumpy and has two pointy bits on either side. Imagine a German Shepherd's head and you get the picture.

The first stage was to climb to the top of the head and the second to the top of one of its ears. The ground alternates between hard volcano rock, which feels like walking on ceramics and grey volcanic dust. The dust was particularly fun on the way down as it was easier to run down than walk, taking giant strides you literally felt like you were jumping off the edge of the world, but with a safe-ish landing every time.

I am a bit broken now. By tomorrow I think I am going to struggle to walk up or down any stairs so it might be time for you to repay all the piggybacks I have been giving you but it was worth it.

The only thing missing was having you there at the top with me to share the wonderful moment together. I hope one day I will have the opportunity to bring you back to Bali and climb it again so we can watch the sunrise together.

All my love

Jim

PS I hope your tour to go and see how salt is made was just as good