With a week off through Eid and the end of fasting, I had plenty of time on my hands to do many things. Many things were not really done. I spent the beginning of the week sleeping and eating playing with Jeremy. For the 2 main days of Idul Fitri everything in the city is pretty much shut for half the day, meaning for me on the Monday I did nothing and Tuesday ventured our for fuel and some coffee but not moch more than that.
Before the holiday I had organised with 2 of my teachers a road trip out to Bogor on the the bikes for the day with the aim to go find a waterfall up in the hills over looking Bogor (called Puncak) and then come back.
Sounds easy enough right? Well it was, but only almost.
Setting off at 5am to be at the teachers house at 5.30 was a breeze. The empty pre dawn roads were clear and so it was fun to ride across the city without the danger of a bus or car or bike etc getting in the way. Getting to the teachers house, I then had to wait for 30 mintues for another to come and once he had off we went.
The journey is simple enough from Puri. Follow the road all the way to Pondok Indah and then to Pondok Cabe and then the sign posts to Bogor via a place called Parung and then straight into the heart of the small hilly city of Bogor. The trip again took no more than 90 minutes with some good speeds and non stop riding for most of the ride. Once in Bogor, hunger struck and what better way to sort than out than Mcdonalds breakfast.
From there we headed to the road for Puncak only to be confronted with an endless stream of buses, cars and bikes heading up into the hills. We rode in this for about 40 minutes before turning around, discussing our next move and then heading back down in traffic. Puncak is a place of beauty and there are many places to see and visit, however it is also the main stay resort of almost every single person in Jakarta and so high days, holidays and every other day the chaos to get there is immense.
We rode back into Bogor and then out again on a small side road to find another mountain to go up and hopefully a waterfall or two. The ride out of the city was pleasant but hot and as we rode up into the hills it became very green and very simple but still with many bikes and cars and unpleasant rode to travel on.
I have no idea where we went, however we were very near Gunung (mountain) Malang in the Ciapus area and we ended up at Curug Luhur Paradise Place which is a waterfall surrounded by a huge water park. Paying 40,000 to get in we wandered through the park without one 'photo mister' and then straight back out the other side, not really stopping to admire this small stream of water coming out of the side of the hill. The water slides and people using it, sort of put us off this a lot. So back on the bikes we went and another 1.5 hours later we were in Bogor again and this time heading for a nice cafe restaurant called the Gumate Cafe which has nice food and even nicer views of the city.
Once we had fed and watered we eventually after some shopping headed back to Jakarta and after figthing through dense traffic we got back to Pondok Cabe and at Pondok Indah said goodbye as I headed home the others back to Puri. By 4.30 I was back at the house enjoying a lot cold shower followed by a nice cup of tea.
A long trip of 200km in the day but a fun trip even if the waterfall did not really meet the expectation I thought it would.
Before the holiday I had organised with 2 of my teachers a road trip out to Bogor on the the bikes for the day with the aim to go find a waterfall up in the hills over looking Bogor (called Puncak) and then come back.
Sounds easy enough right? Well it was, but only almost.
Setting off at 5am to be at the teachers house at 5.30 was a breeze. The empty pre dawn roads were clear and so it was fun to ride across the city without the danger of a bus or car or bike etc getting in the way. Getting to the teachers house, I then had to wait for 30 mintues for another to come and once he had off we went.
The journey is simple enough from Puri. Follow the road all the way to Pondok Indah and then to Pondok Cabe and then the sign posts to Bogor via a place called Parung and then straight into the heart of the small hilly city of Bogor. The trip again took no more than 90 minutes with some good speeds and non stop riding for most of the ride. Once in Bogor, hunger struck and what better way to sort than out than Mcdonalds breakfast.
From there we headed to the road for Puncak only to be confronted with an endless stream of buses, cars and bikes heading up into the hills. We rode in this for about 40 minutes before turning around, discussing our next move and then heading back down in traffic. Puncak is a place of beauty and there are many places to see and visit, however it is also the main stay resort of almost every single person in Jakarta and so high days, holidays and every other day the chaos to get there is immense.
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| Traffic in Puncak, not nice, not nice at all |
I have no idea where we went, however we were very near Gunung (mountain) Malang in the Ciapus area and we ended up at Curug Luhur Paradise Place which is a waterfall surrounded by a huge water park. Paying 40,000 to get in we wandered through the park without one 'photo mister' and then straight back out the other side, not really stopping to admire this small stream of water coming out of the side of the hill. The water slides and people using it, sort of put us off this a lot. So back on the bikes we went and another 1.5 hours later we were in Bogor again and this time heading for a nice cafe restaurant called the Gumate Cafe which has nice food and even nicer views of the city.
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| You can see the water fall at the back of the pool!!! |
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| The veiw from the cafe in Bogor |
Once we had fed and watered we eventually after some shopping headed back to Jakarta and after figthing through dense traffic we got back to Pondok Cabe and at Pondok Indah said goodbye as I headed home the others back to Puri. By 4.30 I was back at the house enjoying a lot cold shower followed by a nice cup of tea.
A long trip of 200km in the day but a fun trip even if the waterfall did not really meet the expectation I thought it would.
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| The 3 of us, Me, Peter and Afri |
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