Java Sojourn - Part III (Volcano)

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Java Sojourn - Part III (Indonesian volcanoes and cities)

Why the center of power in the Indonesian history was always on the island of Java and not on Sumatra, which is a much bigger island? This has led to the result that most of the tourist attractions are also on Java, which is fortunate for the tourist. Saves them some money and body aches.

There are more than 13000 islands in the Indonesian archipelago. (Some figures approach 17000) I do not know exactly how many volcanoes the country has, but the following map may help.

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Indonesia/Maps/map_indonesia_volcanoes.html

You can find more information on:

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Indonesia/description_indonesia_volcanics.html

At least people get some forewarning if a volcano is about to erupt because the volcanoes are being monitored, but what can you do if a volcano lurks beneath the sea and erupts without any warning causing tsunamis that would affect the whole of Southeast Asia and India? Just refresh your memory with the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake

I personally would never forget that eventful 26 Dec. 2004. It was my Happy Birthday, and my husband had taken a day off to celebrate it together. We went shopping, bought a dress for myself, had lunch at some restaurant, saw some silly movie, went for a stroll on the Worli Sea-face and came back home at about 9:30 PM. Then we switched on the TV news and sat transfixed before it.

Our happiness vanished as we tried to take in the scale and malevolence of that tsunami. It was even more heartbreaking for us because we had recently visited the affected areas like Phuket in Thailand and Galle in Sri Lanka. (about 2 months before the tsunami struck)

And we had spent the whole day in blissful ignorance of that tragedy. We felt guilty.

In that one day, 229,866 people had lost their lives. One of our friends had taken his family to Chennai for a holiday, and on that fateful day, they were strolling on the Marina beach when the tsunami struck and took toll of his wife.

There is no explanation for such coincidences, and perhaps that is why we Indians believe in the Fate or ‘Karma’. Belief in the “Reincarnation” also helps in regaining the peace of mind, which is a tangible gain.

However, on the day when we set out from Bandung to visit Tangkuban Prahu, tsunamis were just something that happened in Japan, because it was still 2002 A.D. In fact, we could not have spelled the word ‘tsunami’ correctly on that day because we were so unfamiliar with it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangkuban_Perahu

This link also gives the local legend of the mountain. Funny that you come across the same idea again at Prambanan! Loro Jonggrang also set out an impossible task for her fiancé. Even as far away as New Zealand, the legend seems to have spread. Some Maori maiden also discouraged an undesirable suitor by setting him some Herculian task to be finished before sunrise, and when he was about to finish it, fooled him by creating an illusion of sunrise. Generally, the maidens were turned into stone for these underhand practices by the spurned suitors.

Bandung itself is a beautiful city somewhat like a ‘hill station’ in India, only larger and with more city amenities. This area is thickly populated. The road that connects Jakarta, Punchak and Bandung is bordered on both sides by homes - lofty and humble, both - of people, so that you do not know where Punchak ended and Bandung started. Despite the population, the greenery is still lush. (That does not happen in India. Thickly populated urban centers develop after cutting trees and killing off all greenery in general)

The bus moved through beautiful thick tropical rainforest up the mountain of Tangkuban Prahu. This is one volcano, where you do not have to scramble up on your feet and knees. The bus does it on its wheels.

Here let me salute the first Homo Erectus, my ancestor, that invented the wheel. He had foreseen it that his descendant Charu will need the wheels to go to all sorts of places. (Avi probably did not need this invention. Trekker that he is, he might have preferred to go up on the mountain on his own two pins.)

From the rim of the volcano, we looked down into the crater. The soil was streaked with the yellow of sulphur and green of some other mineral. The sides were steep and dry with an appearance of a ‘scree’ or ‘moraine’ (I think a scree or moraine is loose dry soil and stones, which will take you directly to the bottom of the crater and you will find it difficult to scramble up. However, I am not sure of it.)

At the top of the volcano, you can hire a guide to take you to the hot Sulphur pools two kilometers away.

“I do not want to walk two kilometers” I said.

“But it is all downhill. You do not have to climb up” my husband said. I was still unwilling, but between him and the guide they persuaded me.

It was a wonderfully beautiful walk down the mountain. The morning sunlight filtered through the leaves of the forest and birds sang in the trees. But two kilometers IS two kilometers, and does not get diminished by the birdsong. By the time we reached the sulphur pools, I was exhausted.

The pools did much to restore me to my pristine condition. The geothermal activity was amazing. Some pools were too hot, but some were temperate enough to sit on the rim and put your feet in. Our guide cooked some eggs in one of the pools, which we ate.

Thus fortified, we again climbed in the bus and came to Chiater Springs.

Chiater Springs is a spa, where the hot water from Tangkuban Prahu is moderated with cold water. A spa in a Muslim country? In most of the Muslim countries, men and women are segregated. Here at Chiater Springs also, there were separate bathrooms for men and women. I do not know whether there was a swimming pool in the ‘ladies section’, because I had not brought my swimsuit along, and why pay for just going inside the women’s section, when I had no intention of bathing there?

We came back to Bandung and our hotel room and I just crashed on the bed, I was that tired by that 20 kilometer walk. (2 km. is an understatement by Avi, I am sure. Everyone knows that distance walked or the height of the mountain scaled, or the size of the fish that got away, increase exponentially with the passage of time)

Then I mused about impossible tasks.

What impossible task I should have set for Avi before our wedding? I thought and thought and suddenly had a brilliant flash of genius.

I should have asked for a three-bedroom flat in Mumbai to be bought overnight.

It IS an impossible task even now.

But, then, I would have remained a bitter, unmarried spinster all my life. Moreover I WANTED to marry Avi.

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