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.

In Bandung

The other day, I had an interesting experience – Tim took me to an acupuncture specialist. For a long time now, I have been curious as to this procedure having heard many people swear by it.  All summer long, my feet have been acting up (plantar fasciitis) and nothing has helped (which is really unfortunate considering all the walking we’re doing) so I decided to give it a go.

Apparently this specialist is quite famous in Bandung and has studied and practised Chinese medicine for years.  He asked me several questions then had me lie on a bed where I rec’d needles in my hands, inner knees, and sides of my ankles. I remained still for 10 minutes then all needles except those in my hands were removed. He wanted me to walk about the room to see how my feet felt. Of course, trying to get off the bed with pins in my hands was an impossible feat and one of the needles moved, causing me excruciating pain (as well as, contorting it into a weird position) – a little flick by the good doctor and all was well again. My feet didn’t feel any different but I had had enough so he removed the remaining needles. He said I might need another treatment but I had already decided that was the last one for me. Acupuncture was not my thing.

A better experience was last night’s movie event.  Tim had been telling us for some time about the ‘Premier’ movie opportunity that cinemas provide here so we decided to give it a whirl – the Fast and the Furious was playing so Ian and I bought the tickets earlier in the day.  We went to the usual box office location but were directed to the ‘Premier’ cinema through a set of glass doors.  A woman ushered us to take a seat in two very nice chairs in front of her desk where we were waited on. We had to choose our seats in advance and the computer screen revealed a very tiny theatre (maybe 20 seats). The three tickets totalled 15 dollars.

Let me tell you – this was the BEST movie experience I have ever had.  One arrival, we were SHOWN to our seats: large leather lazy boy chairs (I kid you not) with side tables and cup holders. The usher demonstrated the lever that reclines the chair and then opened the drawer under our tables to reveal warm soft blankets. He then took our drink and food orders. We removed our shoes, covered ourselves with the blankets, and reclined our seats. I had popcorn (of course) and Ian had noodles served on a china plate with silver cutlery. The movie was pretty bad but we didn’t care.

Ian and I went for a couple of walks in Tim’s neighbourhood. I discovered that around the corner, right up against his house, is a shack with roosters and hens owned by a local. This explains the rooster crowing at all hours.  It amazes me how there are these incredible homes right beside little shacks.  We found a beautiful subdivision with landscaped gardens, a community park with tennis courts and swimming pools and HUGE homes – this road ran alongside the subdivision:

Note the ‘sidewalk’ we have no choice but to use. It actually looks better in this shot than it was – pot holes and loose gravel made it a dangerous path. Inside the subdivision (the entrance is manned by security guards) we found some interesting plants running along the street:

This shot is of one of the smaller homes in this particular neighbourhood.

On the other side of Tim’s neighbourhood are narrow streets only big enough for motorbikes to get through.  Ian and I also walked along those streets:

On the left of this shot you can see vendor carts for food: noodles, rice, meatballs, and other various dishes are sold from these carts.  There seems to be little government control of vendors – they can set up shop anywhere, often right out onto the street causing serious traffic issues. Tim says the current mayor isn’t dealing with the problem and probably won’t get re-elected.

Bandung, Java, Indonesia

We arrived at Tim’s in Bandung, just east of Jakarta in Java, Indonesia. Bandung is Indonesia’s third largest city and is set 750m above sea level so it’s a bit cooler – especially in the evenings. Our flight was relatively short, about 2 hours, and was uneventful. The airport was very tiny – only one luggage belt in a small room so it was overcrowded with people wanting to get their bags.

We went to a grocery store to get a few items and thought we should get some bread for breakfast. I got a loaf of what I thought was brown break but when the server sliced it – it was green and discovered there was ‘pea’ in it (it ended up tasting fine). The store itself was small but very bright and clean. When you get veggies or fruit, you have to take it to a separate counter to get it weighed and priced.   Other visits to grocery stores have been to Hypermart located in malls - large with lots of variety. They offer bulk frozen foods – fresh fries, chicken nuggets, etc., so you can take as much or as little as you want. Not a bad idea.

Tim’s house is grand – rent is provided by the international school he works for- with two floors and a pool.  I noticed in Southeast Asia that larger homes have fenced in yards and locked gates across the drives – locked up tighter than Fort Knox. I asked Tim if crime was an issue. He explained that crime was low so we’re not sure why things are locked up so tightly – maybe that’s why crime is low? Criminals can’t get into any of the homes…who knows.

Directly behind Tim’s house is a mosque – it was so close I couldn’t see it when Tim pointed to it outside our window – I just didn’t believe it was that close. You know what this means – call to prayers would be very loud at 4am. The windows in our room are double-paned so I hope for the best.

For dinner, we went to a Chinese restaurant and had an amazing meal of dim sum – Chinese food is popular in Indonesia as there are many Chinese-Indonesians. The food at this place was fantastic and probably one of the best meals we have had yet. There were so many dishes on the table yet the price was low, I believe around 45 dollars. The manager knew Michelle and treated us like we were royalty; we had a great time.

Day 2

It was a pretty low key day – we walked to Tim’s school to pick up his car. The school has a 24hour security guard so Tim left his car there. We followed Tim as he led us down side streets avoiding the busier main streets. It was quite interesting to see a different neighbourhood right beside these grand homes. We moved through a section of smaller homes lining narrow streets where only motorbikes could get through. Some homes had little stores or meals available out front and others had chickens and roosters pecking the ground in their yards. Everyone was very friendly, calling out ‘hello’ and smiling. It was quite warm, about 30 degrees, but nowhere near as hot as Medan.

We stopped for a take-away lunch – crusty sandwich rolls and soup. They put the broth of the soup in a plastic bag with lots of air- tying the opening shut, then place the filling (noodles, bean sprouts, chicken, etc.) in a Styrofoam container to add at home.  It was all very tasty and filling.

We spent the day lazing about swimming with Banyu – he is such a delight. Tomorrow, we’re off to immigration to get our Visa extension.

Day 3

Michelle’s driver gave us a ride to immigration to get our 30 day extension. We bypassed the very busy first floor for the second floor for foreigners. There were maybe 5 people up there. The young fellow who waited on us was very sweet and tried his hardest to communicate with us despite little English. He explained that we needed several photocopies of various documents, Form 23, and a pink folder that we were to get in three different locations, one being the ‘kanteen.’

We left the building and walked around back where he had directed us to go and found a little shed with a guy in it photocopying. We lined up (you have to be very careful lining up here as Indonesians do not queue and will walk right by you to get to the front of the line) and were served very quickly. This cost 2000rp (20 cents). I was sceptical that pink folders would be found in the canteen but indeed, this was where we found them. The same woman who sold refreshments, sold us our pink folders – for 20 cents. We then made our way to the front of the building and watching the people out front, I noticed some going up to a little window asking questions.  I made my way there and asked for Form 23 – which I rec’d, along with forms 26 and 27 (which I didn’t need).

Ian and I made our way upstairs and filled out our forms (one being in Indonesian) and handed in our work to the desk. The gentleman serving us was extremely apologetic that it would take 2 days to complete the work. We were quite happy with that news having read that someone in Bali waited 6 days to get an extension. We surrendered our passports and said our goodbyes.

We decided to make our way to Gedung Sate, City Hall, and asked for directions. We were told it was only a 5 minute walk and easy to get to so we made our way along the busy street in the direction pointed.  After 15 minutes and no closer – I became very discouraged. It was hot, dirty, difficult to walk and not pretty. Everyone we asked pointed in the direction we were moving but also pointed left  - which we thought meant ‘turn left.’  However, we had no idea where to turn. Finally, we chose a small street to turn down and ended up behind the immigration office.  Another fellow told us  Gedung Sate was actually quite far and we needed to take a taksi or bus so we crossed the street and waited for the first to show up. It was a bus.

Buses here are little mini-vans with benches running along the sides and no a/c. We asked the driver ‘Gedung Sate?’ and he nodded yes, so we got in. He drove and drove and then let us off at an intersection by a park – no City Hall in sight. The park was interesting – it was some kind of camp for kids – zip lining, swimming pool, bike paths – but no Gedung Sate.  

We walked around the park with no luck. I was now very sweaty, tired, and needing the washroom. We crossed the street to read the street signs to try to get our bearings on the map we had brought along and ran into a retired army soldier who spoke English. He asked us where we wanted to go and immediately gave us directions – saying that City Hall was a 30 minute walk.  

Across the road was a plaza so we decided to take a break, use the washroom, and get a drink. Malls are plentiful in Southeast Asia – I have never seen so many malls in any one place before. Each one has several floors of stores: clothes, purses, shoes, department stores, glasses, jewellery, pharmacies, hardware stores, groceries, you name it. If you are into shopping, Southeast Asia is THE place to go.

On our trip to the mall, we went to J.Co., a coffee place that Tim recommended, and rec’d a free donut with each of our orders (now that’s a way to run a business). Who do we run into at the coffee shop? Our soldier! He was thrilled to see us again, and chatted up a storm – wanting to give us his number in case we ran into any trouble. We explained that we were staying at a friend’s so we’d be well taken care of.

Having re-energized and cooled off – we headed out again, determined to stick with the directions given us - and they proved right. Here is a photo of one of the BETTER sidewalks and BETTER streets we walked on:

We found Gedung Sate! The grounds are absolutely impressive with several Dutch Colonial buildings on the property:  

Clearly something was going on here as they were setting up tents, chairs, bringing in extra plants, etc. Tim heard that you could go into the main building but the guard said no – pointing to the photo of the Governor. I gathered he was there and that’s why we couldn’t go in. It was a bit anti-climactic for us after hours of walking, but at least we found it. 

Our next adventure was trying to find the restaurant that Tim had recommended.  It was ‘behind City Hall’ – which needless to say, was impossible to find. Someone on the street gave us the wrong directions despite showing him the address. Finally, we found someone who would walk us there (for a fee of course) but at least we got there. I was thoroughly exhausted at this point but happy to sit in a cool clean place.  

PS Ian reminded me that I forgot to mention something in my Lake Toba blog that we thought you might find interesting.

One morning I decided to go for a little walk around our village and passed several cafes and little restaurants. On the street, they would highlight some of their menu items on a sandwich board: Nasi Goreng, toast and jam, eggs, etc. but at the very end of the list was this item: Magic Mushrooms. I thought it was a joke but there it was advertised at the next restaurant and the next. Yes, magic mushrooms are readily available on the island in Lake Toba and it's legal (and no, we did not try any).