Mt Agung

Let’s rewind to September, when seismic activity had increased around Mt Agung and over 100,000 people were evacuated from the area surrounding the volcano. The rumblings and volcanic earthquakes were extremely frequent, and it seemed like an eruption could be imminent. But it became a waiting game, with no eruption occurring, and even a dwindling of seismic activity in October.

A small phreatic eruption occurred on November 21, but it didn’t affect flights (that was the day of my quick roundtrip to Jakarta and back). On November 25th, however, a magmatic eruption occurred, with a plume that rose somewhere between 1.6 and 4km above Mt Agung. Another eruption occurred on November 26th, ash was spreading to the southeast, lahars were reported, and the airport was definitely closed.

I did not take this photo. I do not live this close to the volcano.

Here is another dramatic photo that I did not take.

Meanwhile, on Sunday evening (November 26) I was in Kuala Lumpur trying to get TO Bali (see my last blog post for the exciting details!). In typical Southeast Asian confusing way, I still managed to check into the flight and received my ticket. But when I double-checked at a service counter, I was told they wouldn’t be flying to Bali for “at least a week.”

“Lombok?” I asked.

Nope.

“Anywhere in East Java?” (I figured I could travel to Bali via land / boat).

I received a blank stare and a “Name a place?”

At this point I was trying my hardest to get to a natural disaster zone – I had to be at work the next day. Because really - let’s be clear - Bali is a HUGE island and Agung is quite far away from my office and apartment (yes, ash travels far and yes volcanoes are dangerous, but it really, really hasn’t been that bad).

I contemplated flying to Surabaya and then taking a bus to Denpasar - this would take about 24 hours. So I’d arrive at best on Monday night. Tuesday I was supposed to fly to Jakarta for a meeting anyway, so I decided I might as well fly there. I texted the trusty Wests, and sure enough they had a mat and sleeping bag for me so I booked a flight to Jakarta that evening. Then I rewarded myself with several delicious treats at the airport and hunkered down, praying that Richard and Tara wouldn’t judge how stinky I was when I arrived at their apartment in a few hours.

The flight was delayed over an hour and seemed to take forever. As we began our descent, an announcement was made about not needing customs forms in Vietnam.

VIETNAM?!

Things were about to get a whole lot more interesting… but luckily it was a mistake. Haha. Phew.

The plane landed in Jakarta and within an hour or two I had made it safely to Richard and Tara’s apartment. It felt so nice to be with friends that evening (as much as I wasn’t scared of the volcano, it definitely made for stressful air travel). Tara had assembled the most adorable makeshift bed for me (that was super comfy), and I was grateful to be spending the night there.

Camped out at the West Hotel

I spent the next couple of days working from different cafes (and continuing to watch Stranger Things – shoutout to Jane’s Netflix account for being the real hero of this story).

Eventually Agung settled down and the airport in Bali reopened, though it was unclear how long the window might be. I hastily booked a morning flight for Thursday November 30th and all went smoothly. It felt like such a relief to be back in Bali, oddly enough. I haven’t seen or felt anything from Agung since I’ve been back. There have been no major eruptions, though the volcano is still technically in an eruptive state (if I can understand the volcanologists’ reports correctly), so it could cause further disruption. Until then, it continues to be a waiting game, especially for all of the poor people who are still in shelters, having been evacuated from their homes that are too close to the volcano.

Peering at Agung, shrouded in cloud, from the plane

Equipped with ash protection just in case!