Today ended up being more of a road trip with short pit stops which is just as well as I was still a bit nackered from yesterday's transit. Immediately after leaving the hotel we stopped off at Batu Cermin (mirror rock), a vast calcium formation with impressive stalagmite/tites. Its namesake refers to a phenomenon where allegedly at certain times in the day the sun shines through a narrow hole in the wall and bounces down the corridor. Unfortunately I came at the wrong time to catch this display. None-the-less the cave was sweet. It was a short tour and personally I would have preferred to explore independently. A dark, quiet space of bats, spiders and cave crickets. I thought of Tolkien dwarf communities whilst inside.
Afterward we barreled our way over windy mountain passes for endless hours. The jerky starts and stops wreaked havoc on my equilibrium. Still fatigued from yesterday I drifted in and out of fitful slumber. We took a brief stop to view a unique rice patti. The land below our perspective sprawled, shadowed by mountains. The people here have devised a peculiar method of dividing family plots fairly amongst relatives. The result is a network of radial sections partitioned into pie slice forms which from our vantage proved aesthetically compelling.
We stopped for lunch in a town called Ruteng before making our way to Danau (lake) Ranamese. It was real tranquil, surrounded by dense vegetation and high cliffs. The result of an ancient volcanic eruption, the depth is said to exceed three hundred meters.
Onwards we rolled. Alexy began to drive riskily, wanting to make a certain hot spring before dark. We pulled in with about half an hour of daylight to spare. A hot sourced pool spills its banks violently, flowing into a cool river the mixture of which produces the perfect bath water.
Night falls. We head off to nearby Bajawa for dinner and then to bed. Up early tomorrow so as to reach Lexy's home village in time for Xmas eve. More excitement awaits.
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