check out ... Kawah Putih (or white crater)
I know this isnt BALI...but are all the jetstar posts all Bali too? its like the jetstar forum hahahaha.. :)
Yesterday, we set out from Jakarta at 7am and took the new toll road towards Bandung(1.5 hours) ... anyway out final destination was up in the mountains at Ciwidey another 2 hours drive south of Bandung.. and a final 2,436 metres above sea level.
this is a excellent place, its become one of my favourite in Indoensia!
After going thru the little towns along the way.. you finally start the climb up to Ciwidey, thru thousands of strawberry fields, which at most, you can stop and pick your own strawberries for a small price of course.. or you can buy pre-packed ones, strawberry "syrup" etc.
However, my boyfriend is just eating some now, and they have played a little trick, the top layer of the package are huge strawberries but under there are tiny baby red ones.. that's how they get you on the weight..!!! but for 15,000 its still dirt cheap..and they are sooo sweet and juicy.. :) The small ones are good too he said :) I dont like strawberries hehehe..
Finally you'll come to the entrance of KAWAH PUTIH, huge sign you cant miss it.. pay a small fee, it think it cost under 20,000 for 3 people and car, then about a 20minute drive up the mountain, some of the road is very steep.
Its so great to get out of Jakarta, feel the "cold" air, and just silence of the jungle, and birds... there are monkeys but we didnt hear any. In the area you can also find the Eidelweis flower.
The crater itself was discoverd by a dutchman in 1837, i even commented myself, how the hell did he come across this place, back then there would have been not so many roads probably none, and its a bloody big steep mountain to get up... :)
Finally you come to a little area, where there are a few warungs only one was open, cuz it was friday.. and toilets. Thats it nothing else, no one trying to sell you anything, no guides hassling you, there was only two other cars parked when we got there...paradise..it was soooo quite... except for the sounds of a couple people talking and the birds!!
This is what makes me love Java more than bali sometimes, hardly no "white" tourists around, and no one hassling you to buy things (at least at this place) even my boyfriend (who's indonesian said this.. ) The hawkers at kintamani annoyed him more than me!! ha ha
You walk down a little pathway, which is paved, I'd say about 100 metres long, before you reach the crater... now there are a lot of craters you can visit in west java or other parts of Indonesia, but this is still not well known, very quite, and really accesible.. especially if your not the "fit and energetic type" like me :)
This place, is also used for wedding photos.. (there were 3 couples getting pre-wedding shots taken) I kinda felt sorry for the girl in the long white gown, having it drag on the ground..but her choice i suppose... and sometimes i hear its used for location shoots of the local soap operas..
Anyway, its here that you can walk along the edge of the crater, not too close in some areas cuz you can sink in the mud. If you touch the water, its a nice warm tempreture. The colour does change during the day, we got there about 11am, and it was brilliant aqua colour, best to take pictures when the sun isnt behind clouds. Sometimes it will turn, white or brown, yellow and blue.. but i guess that depends on the chemical changes... get there early in the day, otherwise it becomes overcast.
apparently if you view it late at night, the edge of the crater area will actually glow.. wish i could have seen that!! By the way the sulphur smell isnt that bad, i didnt really notice it, but you can smell it on your clothes and hair once you leave the area.
However they close the area at 5pm, because like the typical Indonesians, they believe that "bad things" happen, such as ghosts, etc etc.. thats another area why no one really visits the place, because they all believe its haunted. Apparently if birds fly over it, they'll die, and i guess this puts ideas in the locals minds as well.
Also near the edge of the crater is a small cave, which has been blocked off, there is even a sign there, telling you not to "look into the cave" for long... again i guess they believe something bad will happen like, being hypnotised or something like that. gotta laugh actually.
Anyway after eating a indomie back at the warungs and having a rest, we decided to head back down the mountain... in the mean time the bride in the white dress, had came up into the carpark, to get out of her wedding gown, then change into another gown which was a really beatuiful aqua green (we think she'd been there before and chose the colour to fit in with the crater) then head back down again for more photos!!
On the drive back down the hill, we stopped at a couple of places to get a view of the surrounding areas.
Once we got back down to the main entry, we decided to turn left and head further away from the towns.. now this was my favorite part because you come to hectares and hectares of tea plantations... if any of you know PUNCAK in west java...this beats it by miles!!!!
Again its dead quite, hardly no traffic, the tea plantations reach all the way up the mountains, it makes you think, that these people have nearly nothing, but they work so bloody hard!! Its amazing where some of the planations are!! I love it.
So whilst driving, you'll pass places where you can swim in the naturally heated water and there are only about 5 hotels in the whole area.
We made our way to SITU PATENGAN or Lake Patengan... which is a lake way up in the mountains, you can go for small boat rides around the edge of the lake or walk along the closest edge and take some photos. Again there was only 1 other car parked here, with about 5 warungs open, again so quite because it wasnt the weekend.
Then, after having a snack and drink, we decided to head home to Jakarta. Very tired...I dont even remember my head hitting the pillow :)