Blogs from Cianjur, Java, Indonesia, Asia

We all had a big breakfast and were picked up by Yudi. The journey to Cianjur took about two hours and Yuri taught us a great deal about the Indonesian culture, economy, philosophy and general state of life here. The mopeds overtaking cars that were overtaking was a bit hairy but apparently the level of accidents is surprisingly low. At Cianjur Homestay we dumped our day sacks and then headed off with a Dutch couple and Yuri to see some floating islands. We had a fifteen minute walk to the lake through fields of cassava, papaya and sweet. At one point the path narrowed beside the lake and Cas took a slip and came out with a.very muddy leg and dress! These island communities were very different to the ones in Peru. Made from bambo and ... read more

At the guest house we had about 20 minutes to get our stuff together before the final activity of the day - Indonesian Cookery lesson. The lady was great and Ed and Hat got fully involved . She had them chopping peppers, onions and chicken for the teriyaki; grinding garlic, shallots and chill for the vegetable curry; and carving sweetcorn and chopping celery stalks for the corn fritters. The quality of the ingredients is what makes the good do good. Cas and I learnt a lot of good tips which. After it was all cooked we sat down and ate our feast which was very tasty. We headed back to Banding by car and it rained the whole way back. Hat was feeling very tired.... read more

Another inter-city bus journey, fortunately this time it wasn't that long, only about 2h from Bandung to Cianjur. Apparently the Cianjur-Cibodas region near the Puncak Pass is a popular place for weekending Jakartan's due to it's proximity, and pleasant weather. But frankly my impressions of Cianjur were not that stellar, so I stayed only one night, and apart from walking the main drag of Jl. Cokroaminoto, I visited only nearby Jarangi, a floating village of sorts. Highlight of this stop might have been when I was having a coffee/ toast break in a corner shop, and I suddenly felt some light tremors! I looked up, and a local guy sitting at another table across from me looked at me too, acknowledging the tremors. But he didn't seem particularly worried though. True enough, the tremors soon ended, ... read more