Day 1, Mt Rinjani “leisure” photography hiking trip with Luar Biasa Group, 23~28 Jun 2012
I post a short entry here about my Mount Rinjani trip here , today I gonna expand it a wee bit more (and if you’re a visitor who happens to be a Malaysian, whom the Gomen already declared who dontch like to read *hence the Gomen “Read More!” campaign sometime back. Eh, you dont even tead that oso no?*, I illustrate this blog entry with some pictures for you to look at. Some might be overexposed, some might be underexposed. Some may have flare, some may got the WB slightly off, but they’re still pictures for you to look at so there lah!) with some pictures to illustrate the entry oso laarr…
We took an AirAsia flight to Denpasar, Bali from LCT. On the way there, while up in the air, I managed to see this view…
…Bromo Tengger Semeru from (maybe) 50,000 feet from sea level…
..yeah, I will be visiting Mount Bromo later, a week after this trip, but that’s another blog post already leerrr (tunggu lah entry tu dalam minggu depan nanti 
)
Once arrived I get to see 1st hand how lah the ground crew handle our luggage…
..aye, that’s my 15 year old wrapped Karrimor™ Panther being handled by AA ground crew in Denpasar, Bali…
..later we managed to catch a flight to Mataram in Lombok. Reason being, if we took the ferry it will be a 5 hours journey, as some of the Luar Biasa Group (now the time to drop names lah like Dr Jamal Rahman, Ali Shamsul Bahar, Hisyam Rahman, they’re all famous dewd and I’m proud to say that now only that’ll they’re my friend in fesbuk they’re also my friend IRL heh heh heh) have been attempting to summit Rinjani before.
(Doc Jamal point of view detailed entry here (say, did I mentioned that he’s feymes? Well, he’s a friend of mine )
On the way to Senaru base camp, I noticed the traffic is as heavy…
..a snapshot of heavy evening traffic in Lombok…
…we’re also greeted with a magnificent sunset view while on the road…
..a snapshot from a moving vehicle on the road of a sunset in Lombok…
…then it’s dinner time…
…dinner time! Similar fares as Malaysian food…
Browsing thru the dishes available I was mainly worried about wether my tummy can take the food as almost all dishes looks quite pedas (“hot”) with loadsa chillies visible! In the end, I had some fried fish (was it tilapia? I can’t recall) and later ordered some beef stew (sight unseen. Order ajer!) Well, I worried too much, the stew was hot after all (from a level of 1-10, 10 being hottest, I rate it at 11) and my tummy can take it.
Happy to report I didn’t contract any cases of “Delhi Belly” here (where the food burns twice, once in your mouth and again in your behind later) in Lombok, Indonesia.
That night, after settling in at Senaru base camp, we went out for a wee bit of Milky Way shooting…
..the Milky Way (what a silly name. I prefer the Sanskrit derived Malay term, “Bima Sakti”, it has a nice mystical ring to it…
We can see the Bima Sakti with the naked eye! I immediately try to picture myself as a people of ancient times, when science and technology were not present, where Man were gaining a toehold in the Universe, looking up at the night sky and sees all these myriads of twinkling lights and imagining some guiding hands showing them the way as they navigate thru the night and standing in awe thru God creatings and all..
..fuh! Almost letting my imagination run away with that one! And I can share with you, I have quite a lot! (Editor: pergghhh, aku rasa ini lah statement paling poyo dalam blog si Ted kali ni.)
Anyway, if you wanna see the Milky Way with your own naked eye, you dont have a passport (to travel to a foreign country) nor the stamina (to climb up a mountain, you know who you are) just go to Semporna. They will still be some light pollution on the horizon but yea, if you look up into a moonless and cloudless night you can see the Milky Way too.
(Go and try see it for yourself lah! You dontch really believe everything you read on the Internet, no?)
——————
The next morning was a blur of activity, I get to borrow Bro Ali Shamsul Bahar trekking pole for a wee bit of comparo photography session with Mount Rinjani in the background…
..a Tale of Two Trekking Poles…
Did I told you this is my first photography mountain hiking trip in over a decade? I consider myself a newbie again. In fact, during preparation for the trip I rely a lot on both Doc Jamal and Bro Ali’s advice lah. Without their guidance I probably will suffer more “pain and agony” (more on that in the next few entries nanti..) in the trip.
Eh hold on, “pain & agony” dontch rhyme with “leisure” as per this blog title no? *grins*
We got ourselves an ojek ride to Pintu Rimba, the gateway into Rinjani proper. My left knee was grateful for that (part of the “pain & agony” equations that I will expand more on my next few blog entry lah), it probably save us about an hour extra hike.
Bro Hisyam who organised the ojek rides for all 14 of us!
Earlier this year I bought a mini supermotard motorbike as my personal transport (You can read about it here). I never take it off road yet, nor will it ever be tearing up jungle trails nor climb up hills. But that day I get to experience all that (sans safety gears! shock horror!) Small mopeds piloted by locals who weight probably about 1/2 my weight bouncing along rutted tracks and almost flipped over ascending a small rise. I just hang on to dear life. At one point the little moped that I rode pillion almost crawled to a halt while the engine is screaming (did I smell some burning clutch?) I jumped off and give it a push and jumped on again and the fella casually look over his shoulder and grins, “Enggak perlu pak!” (“There’s no need, sir!” and ride on.
Ride on we did, and he dumped me at this Villager doorstep (which is just besides the trail to Pintu Rimba)..
A Smoking Villager of the foot of Mount Rinjani…
Had a small chat, with his permission, took some photograph and we say our goodbyes. I have a feeling that I will meet him again *winks*
———————-
On the trail they are no other people except some fellow hikers, and the porters…
…porters coming up to Mount Rinjani…
..some of the items that they carries…
..aye, everything can be carried up a mountain, even pineapples, for a price of course…
..some will even cook for you…
..these are not our porters tho. I think they all passed us by when we hang out with the Smoking Villagers. uh oh, that means we’re (we’re the slowest in the group) lagging behind, time to catch up!
————
(Editor: We’re edit out a few paragraph and some photograph from this section as we deemed it too boring as Ted was rambling on & on about some philosophical nonsense and the photograph was all in available light photography which we feels muddled up “Ted Adnan” the “Lighting Photographer” branding. Sorry for that.
———–
It’s almost dusk, we can starts to feel the chill and we’re still hiking. Good thing I followed Doc Jamal advice earlier in the morning to have some protection just in case it gets cold, and got cold I did, whenever we stopped to rest. I put on an extra layer of clothing and on top of that I put on a windbreaker…
A Bak Bakan tree in a small clearing at the Pintu Rimba trail where you can see the top of the crater rim in the background…
..the sun stil provide some warmth, but when we moved in the shades the chill is noticeable. Then I met this kid and his dad…
..a local villager bathed in the sunset at Mount Rinjani…
He and his dad passed us by on the trail, and they reached Pos 2 just before we did. The kid act as a translator for his dad, from what we gather they’re out to gather some medicinal plants and they’re camping there for the night. And I noticed they have no tents, and just the clothes on their back.
The kid was gathering firewood when I asked for a photograph. He was shy at first, then he gave me a most dignified look. There’s loads of strength there in the eye. After I say my thank you he started a fire and he and his shivering dad sat huddled closed together by the fire.
Before we left, we pooled some money and whatever snacks that we have and gave it to them.
… a snap shot of a setting sun in Pos 2, Mount Rinjani…
When we climbed a small ridge (one of many that we would climb that nite) to continue to Pos 3, further below in the dying lights, I saw smokes rising from Pos 2, with a tinge of sadness, I wished both the father and the kid well.
More to come…