This time I had a trip to Meru Betiri and Alas Purwo national park with Arya, Dian, Riky, Rinta, Rita, Tiwi, Yana, and Yanti.
Aris from http://www.backpackingindonesia.com/ picked us up at Juanda airport 1.30 am on Friday. We arrived at Jajag in the morning to swicth the ELF car with a Land Rover jeep to go to Meru Betiri national park as our first destination. The places that we visited here were Teluk , green turtle breeding camp at Sukamade beach, and Rajegwesi beach.
The road to the area is awesome. We were passing a rubber plantation, cacao plantation, local people housing, and the forest on our way to Teluk inside the national park. From above, Teluk view is a stunning one that make you want to right away go closer to it.
But we need to do a short trekking first to go there by breaking through the forest. There is a pathway to go down to Teluk that is usually used by fishermen. Still, the plant near the pathway is rather thick. We reached the bay around 3 pm, but we can still feel the heat at that hour. No one else there except us and 3-5 fishermen. Being tired after descending the hill, we just sat on the rocks, had a chat and of course took pictures. The place is very soothing, event though it was still hot on the afternoon. The descending part was nothing compared to the ascending part on our way back to the place where the jeep was parked.
Then, we went to a guesthouse in Sukamade plantation complex, still inside the national park. Seeing a bathroom was a relieving for me since I haven't took a bath from Thursday night until Friday afternoon. February is categorized as rainy season in Indonesia. Nevertheless, the temperature in the national park is still high for us.
At night, we went to Sukamade beach where there is a turtle breeding camp (pic 9). We can also see the turtle lay its eggs on the beach. We were already on the beach at 10 pm waiting for the turtle laying its eggs on the beach. But, we fell a sleep accompanied by the sound of the wave, the sound of the animals inside the forest, the full moon, the stars, the white cloud, the dark sky, the wind and the soft white sand. Aris woke us up at 11 pm as a turtle approach the beach in a very slow motion. Everyone just silently sat watching the turtle digging the sand. Well, not everyone. Some of us were still peacefully sleeping. At the third hole, the turtle is so close to a man sleeping tight in his yellow sleeping bag. The turtle itself didn't seem bother with his presence. However, the turtle didn't lay any eggs that night and decided to go back to the ocean to extent its visa on arrival at the nearest custom :) The custom part is a joke since the turtle can swim from Australian to reach Indonesian islands. The turtle need a visa right?..or may be because it often go back and forth between Indonesia and Australia, the turtle already has a frequent swimmer member (not a frequent flyer. For your information, a turtle can't fly). It was just a great and sweet day to spend!!
Meru Betiri national park still has another more to offer in the morning. We went to Rajegwesi beach . Again, there were only us and the fishermen there. We spent some time there to take picture, see the fishermen, and have a rest in a food stall before continuing our trip to Alas Purwo national park.
Garut? What do I know about the city? I only know the city is famous for its "dodol", a sweet traditional food that I don't like. It turned out that the city has more than that. For example, the city is also famous for its "batik". Mostly the seller sell the batik at their home. When I said this is a home industry, the batik is really sold at a house. But, for people who do not like to shop on holiday, what else can the city offer? This time I went to Garut with my senior colleagus.
Kamojang Crater
The steam from the crater is used as geothermal energy source run by Pertamina, a state owned company that works in oil and gas industry. Some of the wells are also used as tourist attraction. Particularly, I like doing the walking to the craters and wells. The fresh air and the serenity are great. The view to Kamojang crater area is also stunning. I can be so impressed seeing pine and casuarina trees along the way. It is great that both the local people and the oil and gas company that operates here still conserve the trees.
Bagendit Lake
At first, I am not interested seeing the lake. My opinion definitely changed when I was on the bamboo raft in the middle of the lake. Sitting on the bamboo raft and enjoying the lake's view with the mountain as the background was remarkable. The rower offered me to go further to the lotus park in the lake. And it is even more beautiful there. The lotus plant grow there interchangeably with the "eceng gondok" plant. Most people won't interested seeing "eceng gondok" :)
I went there in the morning around 10 am. I thought the lake will be more stunning on the afternoon. The rower also sells fresh fish and shrimp. The lake is not big, but I can see a lot of people depend on it for living. There are rowers, fishermen, street seller, and also a canoe athlete practicing on the lake.
The rower also told me that most of the men from Garut working in Jakarta work as a barber. Some of barbers in Indonesia work under the tree, not inside a shop. Still, you can't call their workplace as a barber tree for replacing a barber shop :)
Cangkuang Temple
On the way to Cangkuang temple, the bus that I and my colleagues used cannot enter the area. So, we continued by "andong/delman", a horse-drawn carriage. The delman driver told us that actually the bus can enter the site. It is only forbidden if the bus carried foreigner. I was surprised because I and my colleagues are not foreigner. But the good thing was we can enjoy having a rice field with its coconut trees view from the delman instead of from behind the bus window.
Then, we need to take a bamboo raft ride to reach the Cangkuang temple. The raft fare here is far more expensive than the fare in Bagendit lake. In Bagendit lake, we only pay Rp30,000, meanwhile in Cangkuang temple we pay Rp60,000-Rp75,000 for a raft. It can be cheaper if your group consist of 25 people, so you can share the fare with other people. But, it'll be too long to wait if there are not many people there. So, we hired the raft privately and paid Rp60,000. The fare applies to and from Cangkuang temple. The temple is a small and simple one, and it becomes smaller if you compared with the visitor numbers.
One of Garut’s bussiness center area in Jl. Ciledug
When I was in one of the business center area in Garut waiting for my senior colleague do the "batik" shopping, I had some interesting scene. Well at first, it is annoying, like:
- The street singers and beggars do approach their "prospective customers" who are about to enter their car. On our case, they hopped in into our bus. I was shocked seeing stranger just got into your private bus just like that. In Jakarta, there are differences between street singers and thugs. The street singers in Jakarta will not do that on private bus. But then, I think because there are different points of view on people's personal space.
- The batik shops here are spreading among the alleys that not everyone knows where the location are. It would be better if the regional government give the batik sellers specific location. It would make the customers easier to find the location with broader option and it would help the sellers increase their sales.
Garut must have a lot of great places to share that I haven't visited yet. My favorite activity on my first visit in Garut is having a bamboo raft trip on Bagendit lake. I used to think that this kind of bamboo raft only available in Yangshuo - China :)
Once upon a time, I read an article on Kompas newspaper about Wayang Orang Bharata performance played in Jakarta. Before, I had seen the show’s pictures at my friend’s, Rita, multiply (ritasan.multiply.com). Being curious, I asked Rita to go there. She said yes, then Rinta and Haris also joined.
The performance played at 20.30. But before watching it, I went to movie theater with my other friends to watch Avatar at 18.30 in Plaza Senayan. Avatarrrr in January?? Yeah, I was very late. I left the movie theater before the movie finished because I had to catch the performance at Senen area.
I was surprised to find that the theater building is almost full (about 80% of its capacity) and the seat is quite comfortable. The performance is played in Javanesse languange. The problem was both Rita and me do not understand the language. The running text above the stage only shows the story summary in each scene. Only Rinta and Haris can understand it.
So, what Rita and I did during this beautiful non-understandable performance? This is what happened when Batak-Japan and Sulawesi-Java descendants growing up in Jakarta watch Wayang Orang that played in Javanese language: we watched it from behind the camera lense. It’s also entertaining. Since I sat on the back, I moved to the front row sitting on the floor. I spend most of the time watching the performance literally from behind the camera lense.
Even though I don’t understand the languange, the performance is entertaining. The other entertaining thing for me is how the ‘ketoprak’ (a traditional food) seller can offer his product inside the theater. At first, it seems annoying since a lot of people order the food. But then, I can smile since I also order it. And it’s relieving to see the seller so busy servicing the buyer. He must had got quite good revenue that night. Never thought of me that I won't feel sleepy at all during the three hour wayang orang performance. Was it due to the performance or the camera? Both!!
I hope the group can always deliver their great performance both to wayang orang and/or photography enthusiasts and more people watch it. Hence the group can maintain the traditional inheritance and support its members’ wealth as well, at least to make their ends meet. Is it too much to hope for?
Wayang Orang Bharata is on http://wobharata.multiply.com/.
