Our accommodation near Mount Batur was fairly basic but when you have another 3am start, its proximity to the volcano is more important than its facilities. We had an early dinner and were in bed by 9pm.
The climb wasn't as bad as I'd feared as I'm hardly the world's most energetic person. It took about 90 minutes to climb, accompanied by a 13 year old guide, a child lugging bottles of soft drinks to sell at the top and a packed breakfast of horrible sugary bread, a boiled egg and a banana. Sadly the views were often obscured by the mist so the sunset wasn't as spectacular as it usually is. Groups of people at the top were looking quite bemused by their breakfast of banana sandwiches and boiled eggs!
I didn't enjoy the climb down as the path was full of loose rocks and I constantly felt like I was going to fall over. It's probably a miracle I only fell once. I don't think I stopped to appreciate the views and couldn't wait to get to the bottom! Despite that, I'm glad I did it and felt a sense of achievement at having climbed a volcano half asleep.
We went to some very nice hot springs afterwards and it was a great way to relax and soak our weary limbs. Their nasi goreng (fried rice) was pretty good too! Like everywhere on this part of the trip so far, the scenery overlooking a lake was beautiful. Guess that's why this part of the tour is called "Beautiful Bali"!