The Great Dopamine Rush of 2025

Today started with a nice stretch , and a beautiful bowl of Balinese porridge at the resort. From breakfast we met up with Rama, from Monk climbing and 3 other climbers. Rama picked us up in his white shit box with no suspension to be found and we sped off to the Mt Batur Caldera to do some climbing and visit some hot springs.

20 minutes into our drive, Rama’s shit box blew a tire. Now with Brian, myself and the other 3 climbers, who all seemed like pretty capable men, the tire was changed in less than 10 minutes, and off we sped.

Going into todays trip, All I knew of Mt Batur was that it was an ancient volcano and still is an active volcano, now the ancient Volcano is Absolutely huge. I mean it is like 4 or 5 kilometers across and several hundred meters deep. With the new Mt Batur poking up in the middle. I mean this place is incredibly beautiful, it was breath taking as we drove over the edge of the Caldera into the crater. The Caldera is just stuffed full of farms growing every fruit and veggie you can think of. And then there is the two massive lava flows from 1963 and 1986 , which were the last two eruptions. Huge black swathes across the caldera.

We stopped at one of the lava flows for a quick photo, which was so cool, and then we headed through some farms to the basalt rock wall of the caldera to do some climbing. I’ve never climbed basalt before and it was a nice change from the razor sharp limestone of Thailand and Cambodia, It was not without its own challenges as it was very smooth and much slicker than limestone. So a move easy on limestone was hard on basalt. Thats a super fun part of climbing though, learning all the types of rock.

We climbed a plethora of routes throughout the day of many different difficulties. The guides brought us a simple lunch of chicken and rice with a spicy sauce which was great. from the crag we went to a local hot spring for a relaxing dip, which in my mind is the best recovery after a big day climbing. We all were absolutely thrashed at this point and it was so needed.

After the hour long ride back to the resort, Brian and I went to the pool and had a cocktail before dinner. We ate curry, nasi goreng, and mi goreng for dinner. It was lovely. I’m absolutely falling asleep writing this if it seems sloppy.

Tomorrow we head back to the coast, and Brian goes back to continue his holiday with his parents in Uluwatu. Its been really rad spending time with him. Especially doing all the hilarious couple’y things we have done just for shits and giggles.

Till tomorrow.