One of the most exciting things I've done so far was a spur-of-the-moment 3 day volcano trek. It was a very cold and wet period of my life but all the hardship was well worth it!
I have decided to go on a 3 day/2 night trek and bought the trip on Gili Trawangan, where I was enjoying the beautiful beaches at the time. The price of such a trek varies a lot, depending on how well you bargain and how many people want to go. I had a travel companion that week and the price they normally start with for two people is anything from 1,5 to 1,2 mln rupiah (in Kuta Bali the starting price we got was 1,8 mln). We thought 1 mln to be a decent price but I didn't have that many rupiah on me and the $ exchange rates on this little island are pretty bad. So we made an even better deal and settled on 100$ per person (around 930k rupiah, on Gili itself - not more than 880k). The price included transport, so a boat from Gili T to Lombok, a car transfer to their office, which was also our trek's set out point, and later taking us to our destination of choice (back to Gili T, Mataram or Senggigi on Lombok's west coast); a guide; entry fee to the park where Rinjani's located; porters; food; tents and raincoats.
We boarded a small local boat leaving for Lombok at 7:30am, found our jeep and waited about half an hour for fellow travellers. We were then taken to the office, which was located in Senaru village. We had breakfast (banana pancakes, what else :) ) and got on a very colourful and experienced minibus. It was loud, smelled of smoke most of the time (the steep road was quite a challenge for our poor car), uncomfortable and probably very dangerous, I totally loved it!
We started the first part of the journey at round 11:00 am and were told that we had about 7 hrs of trek ahead of us. The scenery might be nothing much, but the lush green that surrounds you, the promise of an adventure and the mysterious fog that covers your tracks all made it quite exciting.
I was totally unprepared when it comes to gear (a pair of sneakers, a pair of linen pants, a pair of jeans, 2 tops, one sweater, 1 pair of socks, 3 pairs of knickers and a raincoat), so was a bit worried about the weather. Our experienced guide assured me, however, that no rain should ruin our day.
No Michellin restaurants here ;)
No restaurants, but rain of course we did find! And it stayed with us for the whole three days causing a lot of distress. We were wet 24/7, our clothes and gear had no place to dry and it was cooold...
Our luxurious resort. So luxurious that the porters didn't know how to put up a tent correclty (in their defense, they were putting them up in the dark and in pouring rain), so I was awaken by water in my tent in the middle of the first night.
But the view was great!
Cold and grumpy in the morning.
On the second day we started with a trip to lake Segara Anak, where we had lunch (instant noodle soup, like every other meal apart from breakfast, when we were served banana pancakes) and enjoyed the view of the wide lake and the steaming crater...
... to later arrive at the hot springs where we could finally get a bit warmer. Sitting in the volcaninc hot water for half an hour definitely cheered us up. Plus, we got to take a shower, the only time during the 3 days we were there. It was a blast!
The path leading to the summit
Refilling our water supplies on the way back to Senaru on the last day.
Victorious on the 3rd day, almost back in Senaru.