Camping in the clouds

6am breakfast then we load our small day packs into the back of a pick-up, climb in ourselves and we're off. About an hour later we drop the porters off then go to register at the park office before beginning the trek in good spirits at about 8.30am. We have three porters carrying our gear. There are no facilities on this trek so they need to take food, water, tents, mattresses, sleeping bags etc. They use a different method to anything we've seen before with a thick stick of bamboo going across one shoulder and a basket, piled high with stuff at either end. They swap shoulders as they go, walk quickly (in flip flops of course) and take regular breaks ... it looks like hard work and Fred admires the many thighs and butts of steel as she lets them pass her on the trek.

Dan seems like a really nice guy and we chat along the way. Our guide, Surya, is also cool and feeds us regular snacks as we slowly make our ascent. His pack seems to be full of water, fizzy drinks and chocolate bars .. good man. There are many other people on the trek too and we stop for lunch with a few others. Our porters cook us up a feast with roast chicken, rice, tempe, veg, prawn crackers and fruit for afters. Whilst some other groups do just as well, there are some eating instant noodles so we feel pretty lucky. We had read, you get what you pay for with this trek, and we paid a cheap to middle price so we're happy.

As we continue we begin to see people coming down who have done the summit this morning, taking a different route to our planned one. Some look kind of OK but others look shattered and weak legged ... hmm we wonder how we will feel tomorrow.

We've been going up slowly all day but it begins to get steep for the last hour or more and we are pleased to reach the campsite around 4.30ish. Our porters are there with the tents set up already, including our toilet tent which is a hole in the ground with some canvas around it. Some people are going over the edge so at least we have a little privacy we guess. There is a fair bit of litter around which we'd read about before coming. It's such a shame but many of the cheaper providers don't clear up after themselves it seems. Our guys are taking all the litter with them we are pleased to see.

A lovely curry for dinner, with some baked banana topped with chocolate and cheese for desert, a beautiful sunset above the clouds and we settle into our sleeping bags early for a 2am start tomorrow to make the summit for sunrise. Surya tells us it will be hard but we should just follow him and take it slowly. Let's hope we get some sleep ... it's cold out after dark but our sleeping bags are thankfully warm and we even have pillows so we're comfortable enough.