Jam? What jam?
Jakarta
Food was a common theme that threads all the days we spent here and we started our day with a fabulous lunch with some of my ex-staff. It was great seeing them all again and I was touched by the warmth of their welcome. That was another constant – their warmth and hospitality throughout our stay.
After a bit of swimming and the gym, we had a well deserved 2 hours at the spa! It was feasting time again soon after that and my friend Chisca picked us up for a rather interestingly named “dirty duck” dinner. There was nothing dirty about it I assure you and the food was delicious!
“Dirty Duck Diner”
An aside: As we approached the outskirts of Bandung there was much excitement as we drove through an area called ‘Pasteur’ – as in Louis Pasteur. History has always interested me and so you can just imagine my excitement at being told that Pasteur had lived here!! I had never come across this fact anywhere and was really surprised! (… to great hilarity and my disappointment, this turned out to be misinformation! It is named as such because there is a Pasteur Institute in the locale.)
This is truly a diverse and beautiful country. The mountains, the fields, the people … the food! We stopped at a breathtaking spot for lunch, Warung Lela or ‘Wale’ as it is often called (the Indonesians love portmanteaus). After the sumptuous lunch we decided we would head straight to Tangkuban Perahu (which means ‘overturned boat) – a ‘dormant’ volcano – named as such because of its distintive shape of an upside down boat. This was a further one hour drive and by the time we got there the access to the craters were closed.
View from Warung Lela
Kawah Ratu (Queen’s Crater)
On our way back to Bandung, we stopped on the roadside for a durian feast! The rest devoured the durians and rapidly ate a few in quick succession. Alas, I developed a mid-life allergy to durians (and mangoes and rambutans and langsats and the list goes on …) so I was left photographing the fiesta instead).
Padma Hotel
Tomorrow – the volcano!
The Volcano That Wasn’t Dormant!
We had an early start at 6.30am, fortified ourselves with the fantastic breakfast spread before piling into Salju’s 4-wheel drive back to the volcano.
We hired a guide (an exceedingly fit 62 year old) who regaled us with interesting facts about the flora. He was a humourous little fellow who kept us entertained on our hike to another of the craters called ‘Kawah Domas’ (Domas Crater). It was a pleasant and easy hike through the forest (unlike the ardous trek up Tiger’s Nest in Bhutan.)
The crater was quite amazing. It looked and felt like we were on another planet – there were thick sulphur fumes, volcanic mud was literally boiling and hot water was shooting up white sprays. The ground was rocky and I am sure there is a scientific name for it but there were areas which looked like it was cemented. (I later learnt that the ‘cement’ was lava! Well, now I know.)
Water gushing up
Volcanic pools
As we got closer to photograph the bubbling mud, the guide cautioned us as apparently some poor chap fell in – he survived but with third degree burns. We immediately, and I’m quite sure comically, took a step back! The very thought sent shudders through our collective spines. The rest decided to stay at the lower level, while Salju and I followed the guide to the crater’s furthest point to take in the magnificent vista. It was simply incredible.
Boiling mud
We spent a while soaking our feet in the crater pools (some were unbearably hot and others pleasantly so). At one point, our guide jumped up suddenly and started to rub mud on my leg – which gave me quite a start (good thing I didn’t fall in!). He said it would make the skin ‘licin’ (smooth!) … clearly he thought I needed it.
Here’s the incredible thing – Tangkuban Perahu according to some websites (Wiki) is dormant but other websites say it’s ‘inactive’. It last erupted in 1983. The day after our visit – there was a minor eruption – enough to raise the status to ‘Red’ and to evacuate a radius of 1.5km!!
There were two further eruptions after that and the latest as I write this is that it “continues to have small explosive eruptions” …”and increase is seismic activity over the last year suggests that new magma continues to rise up into the system”.
On hindsight I wonder if all that fuming, bubbling and spraying wasn’t indicative of the beginnings of volcanic activity? Our guide was quite blase, so we too thought nothing of it. Needless to say we were incredulous and speechless when we heard! What a lucky escape! It was an incredible experience though …
For lunch we stopped at this beautiful ‘art and design space’ cafe called Lawangwangi. This bistro is called the “new romantic place in Bandung”. The restaurant is in the upper level with a deck extending out of it so you can walk out and take in the beauty of the hills surrounding it.
At Lawangwangi
After the relatively cleaner air of Bandung, the haze and the madness of the traffic greeted us on our return to Jakarta. After yet another delightful meal, farewells were bid and promises “to do this again” extracted.
Old Towns and Old Friends
This morning the ever obliging Salju showed us around Jakarta – we made our slow way to the Old Town – the old city of Batavia, where remnants of the Dutch colonial rule can be seen. The old walled town of Batavia was modelled on Amsterdam – only the town square surrounded by a few colonial buildings survive. Sadly it is rather rundown and badly in need of restoration. Even so, there was an air of gaiety – colourful bicycles for rent, street vendors, entertainers, artists and school children all gave it a vibrant air.
Colonial building
As I was thinking these thoughts, a lady approached me and asked if I would be willing to be interviewed as part of a research she was doing on tourism in Jakarta. I was rather amused at her evident thrill at my saying yes. Apparently it is very difficult to get Asians to be interviewed. She peppered me with all sorts of questions and I spent more than the ten minutes she said it would take when I then gave her my thoughts and ‘feedback’ on all the things they could improve on!
Our next stop was Sunda Kelapa (the ‘coconut of Sunda’) – this is the old spice trading port of Indonesia. Here you will find one of the last remaining commercial sailing fleets in the world. It was schooners like these that made trade with India and Europe possible – the sights and sounds somehow just made you imagine that bygone era.
Sailboats
Walking the plank
A friendly boatman tried very hard to persuade us to take his boat for a short tour around the harbour. We passed on this as he had no life jackets and no amount of his assurance that his boat is sturdy convinced us … although it might have been quite interesting.
Lunch was amazing (again!) – we went to this restaurant that makes a certain type of sambal – I cannot elaborate here what the sambal was but it was mild and it didn’t have any effect on us … enough said.
We drove around the city centre, in the mayhem of the traffic there were so many interesting photo opportunities and Shyam and I were clicking away to our hearts’ content. We even made a stop at the school in Menteng that Obama had attended as a child.
Obama statue
We said our farewells to Salju who was so kind to give up his Saturday to drive us around when he could have been putting his feet up, relaxing and listening to his music.
That night we met with an old friend from Malaysia, whom I last saw in 1979! It was a lovely evening at his home with yes, once again a huge feast for dinner. It was a very nice note with which to end our last night in Jakarta.
A Trip of Firsts
We expected this last morning to be a lazy one, just lounging around till it was time for us to leave but no – there were a variety of charity runs happening along the main roads of Sudirman and Thamrin and off we went with our cameras.
Running for a Cause
Lying down on Thamrin Road
It was surreal to see these roads which are normally chockablock with traffic, completely devoid of cars and overrun by people – some were running, others walking, cycling and even doing acrobatics!
With that last bit of new experience added to what has been a trip of many new experiences – we packed our bags, got our taxi and whizzed to the airport in 25 minutes!!
But truly the best experience of all was to shed my ‘boss’ persona and simply enjoy the company of these lovely people who were once my team members and whom I have the privilege of calling friends.
For more photos of this trip, go to: http://www.shobhagopinath.com/Travel/Indonesia-Oct-2013/
Travel Tales from Here and There 