Blogs from Pangandaran, Java, Indonesia, Asia

The sea becomes the shore, the shore becomes the sea… ~ Indonesian Proverb HE SAID... Today we were travelling east (then southwest) from Jakarta to Pangandaran– by rail and road. I woke at 5:30am, prepared our packs and headed down to Yello Harmoni Hotel’s breakfast room at 6:30am. After hydrating with hot tea, I opted for a simple breakfast (cornflakes and sultanas), as it was a little too early for a hearty affair. After reluctantly checking out of the comfortable, quirky and very welcoming Yello Harmoni Hotel, we jumped into a taxi and crawled through Jakarta’s narrow and busy roads to the bustling Gambir Train Station. We grabbed our tickets, boarded our train, settled in our assigned seats and left Jakarta just after 9am. There was a lot of well-kept foliage along the initial section of ... read more

This whole stop was a pleasant surprise...I think I'd read lots about Jakarta and Yogyakarta, and didn't pay enough attention. Pangandaran is a local beach town, really popular with Indonesian tourists. It's a peninsula, with a harbor on the sunrise side, beach on the sunset side, and large national park on the large-ish peninsula. The national park was interesting - there are deer who come into town/on the beach to eat, a cave with porcupines, monkeys, bats...and all sorts of buggy creatures. Also interesting was that our "tour" apparently ended after the park closed, and we needed to scale a fence to exit. Near Pangandaran there are a variety of villages that make local products, and the absolutely stunning Green Canyon. I wasn't prepared for this level of pretty (to be noted, the rivers we saw ... read more

Today was the day for a surf lesson and Ed and Hat were really excited. Our instructors picked us up at 12.00 and starter with some beach practice of the movement to get up onto the board. The waves were excellent, lots of 3 and 4 footers, with the occasional monster 5 footer. Ed and Hat took to it very quickly and were up on there boards and riding waves into shore on there second attempts. The instructors took them to the point break and I hung back about twenty feet to collect them. Often they'd go sailing right past me. There were a few wipe-outs, but they took it in there stride and merrily climbed back on their boards. After the one hour lesson it was time for food and s cool down. We tried ... read more

We hired four boogie boards for the day for £2.00 and we hit the waves just after nine. Then again around 11.30 and 3.00. The waves changed significantly with the tides. Ed and Hat were amazing and rode loads all the way to the beach. After the last lot of surfing, the kids made friends with a group of five Australian girls and it was great to see them all playing and learning some new games. The Bayview Seafood restaurant was recommended and it was only ten mins walk down the road. We were the only people there and they cooked the dishes fresh and they were so so delicious. The moon was big and yellow as we walked home in the dark. As it was only 7.00 we went up to the pool and took ... read more

Our hotel in Batu Karas is called Java Cove and it is on the beach front and very nicely decked out. The kids larked around in the pool and Cas unpacked. We had lunch in the hotel and Ed and Hat were delighted that they had some western dishes. Once the heat of the sun had reduced, I took the kids boogie boarding. There were lots of people hiring them on the beach and prices were cheap. It was great fun and we all improved a lot during the course of the afternoon. Hat and Ed really got into it and became very good at judging which wave was at the right point to take. Meanwhile, Cas had a massage in the bedroom. We all met up in the tabled area near the bar and Cas ... read more