Friday, September 9, 2011

Tangkuban Prahu Volcano, Java

Tim arranged for a car and driver for us to use for the next two days – a car, driver, and gas cost 45 dollars for 12 hours and 65 dollars for 20 hours.
Thursday, we went to Tangkuban Prahu Volcano, about 30 km north of Bandung.  The driver chose a narrow road that wound its way through small villages, valleys and hills and we were rewarded with some great views of the city. The car drove through some forest areas where magnificent pine trees and their tall bare trunks towered overhead, revealing a mossy ground covered in pine needles.
The cost to get into the volcano park is higher for tourists because we don’t pay tax – the driver is free.
The road goes directly up to the summit of the 2000+ metre high volcano and stops at an overcrowded parking lot with tourists, stalls, and hawkers. Before even getting out of the car, guides were at our window offering their services. Tim had warned us about this so we quickly said “no thank you, we’ve been here before” because who needs a guide to walk you around a well marked path?
Unfortunately, the tacky stalls offering everything from tshirts to postcards to pop bottles full of volcano ash (that supposedly cure all when added to your bath water) can detract from the view and many go no further. Thanks to Tim, we made our way through the vendors and came out on a view with fewer tourists. Across from the volcano is a spectacular view of the country:

- and here is one of the volcano’s crater.
It’s interesting how the ash looks like snow in these photos but it’s quite grey. According to the Lonely Planet, years ago the centre of the volcano collapsed under the weight of built up ash thus explaining the summit into the caldera.
The trail around the ‘Queen Crater’ was easy to walk and we saw few people.  The sun was warm but occasionally we would feel a cool breeze, especially in the shade so it made for a pleasant walk. Every once in awhile, we’d get a strong whiff of sulphar coming from the volcano and I was glad for the breeze.  The gas was clearly visible:  

The weather was perfect for a short-sleeve top but many visitors wore tuques, scarves, and winter jackets. Once we got to the other side, the trail became a little trickier with rocks and some climbing down, but it was well worth the effort.



On this side, we came across a couple changing into their wedding clothes for a photo shoot which according to Tim is a pretty popular thing to do. On route around the volcano, I was asked to pose for a photo with someone visiting the site. This happens a lot to us.
The volcano was fascinating with its black, grey, and browns full of ash, rock and mud. The gas sounded like water constantly running – Ian and I found it all so interesting we easily spent a couple hours here.
The following photos are of the ridge we walked along - one up close, the second is from further away:

On the other side of this ridge is a secondary crater called Kawah Upas – a huge, grey cauldron with names spelled out with rocks left by visitors. Ian and I decided not to descend into the crater to spell our names out (especially as there were several POISON signs up everywhere).

You can walk all the way around the crater but the going gets very tough – Tim said it’s harder than climbing the volcano they climbed in Berastagi so needless to say, we did not attempt it.
We made our way back around to where we started so that we could begin our descent down to Domas Crater where our driver was waiting to pick us up. The descent was straight down along man-made steps of bamboo and dirt for about an hour. It was a relatively easy walk but by the end of the trail, my legs were wobbly. 
There were few people here and being able to walk out onto the caldera was worth it. You can see Ian off in the distance in a green tshirt.


There were areas of bubbling water where people sat with their feet in the hot water. This is a much smaller pool of water bubbling from the heat underneath. 
Ian got quite close to the geysers but the smell proved too strong for me so I kept my distance instead keeping myself busy watching the steam coming out of the rock and ash.
It was an absolutely amazing experience, well worth the very long walk down and the 1km walk to the car park.

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