I love to walk wherever I go — the beach, streets, hills, forests, parks, you name it.
It’s a whole different story when you go into real nature, leaving the hectic daily life of people behind you.
Being out in the wild, doing exciting things, lifts your spirits to another level.
It frees your mind and allows you to open up your heart and emotions to the real world.
The real world being natural calm: the beauty surrounding you. You find inner peace.
Volcanos.
My absolute favorite day trip in Bali is going to Kintamani early in the morning, where I’ll hike up Gunung Batur — an active volcano.
Gunung stands for fire mountain, and it’s hot when you get to the top.
You can enjoy a natural steam spa once you reach the summit — a fantastic sensation.
Seeing that walking is my primary aerobic fitness and relaxing activity, hiking up this volcano makes the walking time sensational.
Besides the excellent exercise for your body, the hike and then reaching the top to see magical views lifts your senses and thrusts your creative juices sky high!
I try to make a point of going into deep nature at least every two weeks.
When I make it out, I’m so happy to find myself alone on these paths, with nobody to bother about.
On the other hand, I marvel why so few people venture to this magical place and instead stay in the bustling areas of Bali.
Is it laziness, lack of interest, or knowledge? I don’t know.
But I always do my best to recommend to folks to make the trip alone or join me — but they rarely do!
Waterfalls.
The next favorite spot of mine is the Aling Aling Waterfalls in the north Singaraja Region of Bali.
Tucked far away in the jungle, you’d never know it’s there.
After my volcano hike, I’ll drive my motorbike through the rugged mountain terrain over to Aling Aling – a sensational experience in itself.
Here you start to descend what seems like hundreds of steps until you reach the first waterfall.
As far as I know, there are 7 waterfalls there. You can jump off 3, which is. exhilarating and takes nerve.
The first one is 3 meters and great to dive off — if you’ve got the steel and skills.
The second one is 10 meters high — best to jump for safety reasons!
Even I don’t have the nerve to dive off this one!
And the third, well, feels gigantic, and it’s around 15 or 20 meters high! It’s scary as hell to do, but once you go, wow, you feel like you’re on another planet!
Last time it took me about 10 minutes to gather my strength and jump.
Walking up and down this set of waterfalls is an incredibly energizing experience.
The smell of the trees and water is sensational — a complete sense of freedom engulfs you. It truly feels like being lost in nature!
The last time I hiked Batur, drove on to Aling Aling, walked, and jumped the falls, I clocked around 30.000 steps!
I wasn’t even tired when I got back to the hotel that night — the opposite — I was elevated and thrilled! A dream day had come true.
In Summary.
Combining hiking up stunning mountains, walking, and doing crazy things connects you profoundly to nature.
You become one with nature.
Sadly, I can’t do this every day, as much as I’d love to. However, making sure you walk as much as possible daily, working out a little along the way using your body as your gym is a great way to build fitness, health, and an incredible mindset.
No gym required!
From time to time, though, do remind yourself to go out into nature on an adventure and do something special.
You’re allowed to treat yourself to real-life away from all the madness.
It works wonders if you do!
Thanks for reading,
Rob
