Climbing To The Top

Ever have one of those experiences that you wish you could preserve forever in jar or capsule or something of the like? And then when you profoundly missed that experience in the future all you’d have to do is simply open the container to relive the very moments that once took your breath away? Here is my attempt at doing so with words.

Last week was a holiday in Vietnam to honour the Lunar New Year – Tet. 2013 welcomes the year of the snake and to celebrate, Vietnamese families spent the holiday together, eating, drinking, exchanging money, and best of all – not going to work! So four of my friends (Dan, Steph, Heather, and Christian) and I decided to spend the week in Bangkok and Bali; we spent a few days in Bangkok and an eventful 5 days in Bali! Bali... I don’t believe there are many words I can use to describe Bali that will do the place justice. Everything was incredible from the beaches to the sunsets to the views to the people. Last week was also a week of extreme activities! We surfed, climbed Mount Batur (an active Volcano on the island standing at over 1,700 m), white water rafted, parasailed (is that a word?), and snorkeled! Surfing was incredible though I felt something like a rag doll being tossed around by towering waves. But my favourite activity by a landslide was climbing Mount Batur!

We woke up at 130 AM to get ready and left our hotel at 2 in the morning to begin the climb at 3:30 AM. The first part of the climb was exciting to say the least – a little chilly, ashy, and reminded me of a horror movie scene in which a bunch of campers get lost in the forest and start to disappear one by one (yes, I watch too many horror movies...). But as we continued to climb, adrenaline pumping and our anxiousness to get to the top before sunrise serving as a drive, each step became easier despite the upward slope. Once we hit the second rest stop we had passed the morning fog and when I looked up, the dark morning sky was studded...covered...embellished with stars! Never have I seen that many stars in my life! It was wondrous! I almost lost my balance upward a couple of times because I was so distracted by the striking picture of hundreds of white specks against the dark backdrop. I’ll never forget the image for as long as I live.

Occasionally I recall passing areas where hot air was emitted from the earth (signs that the volcano is active); this was pretty cool (and warm ;p). As we got closer to the summit I remember using both my hands and legs to haul my body over the rocks multiple times. But finally at 6:40 AM, feeling mighty and accomplished, we reached the top! Watching the sun peak over the horizon from the top of a Volcano in Bali would definitely go on my list of 5 most memorable life moments. Just imagine it. The experience made me feel like a piece of a great big puzzle in which all the pieces are scattered over cities, countries, continents, planets, and even solar systems that exist; I felt like a small yet significant part of something huge and magnificent we call “the universe.”

Even though we got hardly any sleep the night before the climb, even though I banged my knee pretty badly on a rock, and even though after returning to the hotel I felt like I just came back from battle (as my friend Christian would like to say), I would relive the moments at the top of Mount Batur again and again.

Madiha

We climbed this! 

Yes we did!

Sunrise from the top of Mount Batur - Breathtaking!

Me doing yoga on the beach (Photocred: Stephani Higgs)

Stumbled upon this in Bangkok