Our guide for the 3-day trek to Indonesia's second largest volcano joked that there would be as many "bintangs" as I wanted once we reached the "hotel". I realised my error straight away when I asked if the "hotel" had "Bintang", because the name for Indonesia's most popular beer is the word for "star". He was right - there were millions of stars in the night sky, as seen from the "hotel" - a few tents, some tarpaulin and a camp fire perched on the narrow crater rim at about 2700m.

It was a tough climb to the first campsite. We didn't quite make it before dark, so missed the sunset view down to the huge lake below, which sits within the imposing walls of the crater. But the 4-hour pre-dawn climb to the crater's summit at 3726m was not only the toughest climb of my entire trip, but quite possibly the toughest I've ever done. Next time I try to ascend through snow or loose scree, I will try to remember what it was like climbing through volcanic ash in the dark. You never know if the next step forward will hold, or you will be sliding back down 4 or 5 paces.

After breakfast back at base, and recovering from this energy sapping game of snakes and ladders, the two French couples in our team decided they had had enough, and joined a group heading back down. This left only myself and a German woman called Andrea with two porters and a guide for the next two days, on which we ventured down to the lake (quite an awesome sight) and back up to the crater rim on the opposite side of the valley for a second night of camping. Having been walking since 3-0AM, it was an exhausting day.

The green, forested lower slopes of the volcano were also very attractive, and once we had completed the knee-jerking descent I had a very real perspective of the sheer scale of this mountain. To say it dominates the island of Lombok doesn't really do it justice - the mountain "is" Lombok, pretty much. We had been able to see most of the island's coastline from the summit, and also had views of the neighbouring islands of Bali and Sumbawa.

Lombok is now the fifth of Indonesia's main islands that I've visited, and I'm beginning to realise how vastly different each one is, in both geography and in culture. This one takes me back into Islamic Indonesia, and I don't know if I'm being slightly biased because of the recent sunny days which have so far been in short supply, but from the coastline to the lush green village streets, it's a stunningly beautiful place.