TGTI GO CAMPING (part 2): HIKING

Hey Greensters!

Watch your step!

PATRICIA here :) 

Last time, I talked about camping in TGTI Go Camping (part 1). Today, I'm going to talk to you about our hike in Baturiti. Around 10 AM, Mr. Kadek the owner of BOF (Bali Outbond and Farmstay) gave us some guidance before we went hiking in 'hutan lindung' area. It is a kind of protected forest in Bukit Melingkuh (Mount Melingkuh). Mr. Kadek said that the hiking would be a combination of hiking, trekking and adventure in a forest! It will be different with the last hike we joined where we just went around the fields in the village. So excited! 

But, Mr. Kadek gave a very strong advice that we have to be very careful with a plant named Lateng Ngiu. Mr. Kadek said that his son named Fargas was experiencing Lateng Ngiu when he accidentally touched the plant. The explanation about this plant will be written by Vanessa my sister in the next article. For a safe hiking, Mr. Kadek advised us to wear long trousers and a long sleeves t-shirt (or just wearing sweater, jacket, etc) to avoid your skin being in contact with any dangerous plants accidentally. 

Riding on the back of a car!

So, let's the adventure begin! We took a car ride up to the starting area of our hiking trip. It took us around 15 minutes to get to that area at the edge of the forest. All of us that joined camping also (obviously) joined hiking. The car ride was fun. We rode on a pick-up truck. The boys sat at the back and us girls sat inside the car. It was fun! The air was cold up there so we didn't need to use the AC… instead, we rolled the windows down so the fresh air could go in. 

Downhill bicycle in the forest

During our hike, we saw soooooo many things. We saw people doing motor cross ( It was AWESOME!!!!) and downhill bicycle. Those activities were organized and conducted by Mr. Kadek also. We all wondered how they could be so brave! I mean like, the road is so…. broken! Aren't they afraid to fall? But it was exciting watching them ride on challenging bikes. They rode up and down the crooked hills. The motor cross was the most interesting, the bikes jumped in some parts of the hill.

Motorcross in the forest

Hiking may sound easy but don't be fooled. It is really hard! One of the hardest thing about hiking is that the road is slippery and crooked, so it has holes here and there and it is so easy for us to lose our balance. Going down is hard, but going up is tiring. The track when you go down has lots of holes. The track is also really steep. The way up is really tiring! We needed to use all our energy to climb up the hills.



If you're not familiar with hiking and don't know what to do, i have some tips:

• DON'T wear skate shoes or heels or anything slippery! Instead, wear sports shoes. The kind that doesn't make you slip easily.
• DO bring a bottle of water. You'll get really thirsty up there. 

  

  At the edge of protected forest in Mount Melingkuh

• DON'T bring too many things inside your backpack if you bring one! It will just make you more tired.
• DO have breakfast before you go hiking so you have energy. But, don't make your stomach too full.
• Bring wooden stick for hiking. During our hike, our leaders who guided us made some sticks from Kaliandra trees for us. A stick will help your balance when you hike. 

Thank you for reading :) 

Have a nice day!

Best regards,
Patricia xx