Cold mountain

I was awake before the fog clouded over Danau Batur.

It was 5 in the morning. Yahya the Made, Azwa the Wayan and Fiza the Ketut were still sleeping, hugging tight the sweet dream they were having and slidding their tired body deeper into the warm blanket..

5:00 a.m. was freezing -- the temperature of Danau Batur area IS already chilling. I din put on any sweater, for some unknown reasons. Staying frozen in the highland of Bali could be some kind of cool experience, maybe.

I was waiting for a spectacular sunrise, which I was not so sure about. Gunung Batur and Gunung Abang were in front of me, guarding the crater lake, Danau Batur, which was formed after eruption of volcano. It is hard to imagine how a volcano eruption could happen in such a beatiful, peaceful, quiet place.

I believe Danau Batur, or Lake Batur, must be a kind of compensation given by Gods, as an apology after all the catastrophic eruptions happened on this land.

Don't tease me for being sentimental, you must come here and see it, or maybe, feel the gentle but sorry touch of Gods. (..but, 5:00 a.m. ..,ok?)

The fog started to cloud over when it was about 6:30 a.m. Danau Batur was fully covered by a blanket of soft white cloud. Mt Batur laid back into the darkness of the sky, but not Mt Abang. The outline of Mt Abang could be clearly seen, even the silhouette of the trees on the mountain was clear against the sunrise.

But it was freezing still. Sun lights did not penetrate the mountain, neither the warmth.. and out of a sudden, I thought of Cold Mountain, and the opening line of the movie, voice of Nicole Kidman just touched my heart..:

"Dear Mr. Inman, I began by counting the days, then the months. I don't count on anything anymore except the hope that you will return, and the silent fear that in the years since we saw each other, this war, this awful war, will have changed us both beyond all reckoning. "

As touching as the story, some warm-hearted feeling and some appreciation seeped into my heart. I know I've been sentimental in this post, that happened when some precious memory slipped in, about the journey in Bali, about the journey in life.