So, with 2013 well
underway and Vietnam a happily but gradually receding memory, it was time to
get cracking on at least one new year resolution. 2013 is absolutely and
without a shadow of doubt going to be the year we discover Indonesia, heading
out of Jakarta at least once per month.
Well, strictly
speaking, that resolution has already been broken. With various commitments,
not least a trip to Singapore for me and a model’s party for Soma, our first
trip had to wait for early February. Not to worry, we’ll get up to date by the
end of this month I’m sure!
Anyway, enough faffing
around.Our first trip of the year was to be a short overnight visit to the city of Bandung. Bandung is the third largest city in Indonesia and is the capital of West Java. Apart from its amazing Sundanese food, its main claim to fame outside Indonesia is as the venue for the 1955 Bandung Conference, an important step in the formation of the non Aligned movement. Conveniently for our first trip of the year, it is located a mere three hours away, up in the hills, and, to Rohan's especial delight, is directly accessible from Jakarta by train.
So, first thing last Saturday morning saw the four of us, plus three of our
good friends drawing into Gambir station ready to climb aboard our first ever
Indonesian train. We had decided upon the very cunning wheeze of using our
drivers to the utmost, while at the same time ensuring we had the chance to
experience the local rail system. Our friend’s driver had left their house an
hour or so earlier, car full of luggage and was, hopefully, speeding towards
Bandung, our destination, ready to pick us up at the other end. Our driver was
given the slightly less challenging (and less lucrative in terms of overtime)
task of driving us to the station and picking us up on our return- he didn’t
look overly thrilled.
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| Gambir Station on a Saturday morning |
Uttering the
optimistic words “perhaps we should stay in the car” one of our friends was
approaching this with more than a little trepidation. Not to be put off, we got out and headed to
the main entrance, ready to fight our way through the crowds and confusion, and
hopefully board a train heading to Bandung. In fact, it was nothing like that
at all. The station was busy but not overly crowded. The ticket inspector was
very helpful and pointed us to the right platform. Signs were easily understood
and when our train pulled up, each carriage had a stewardess at the door ready
to reassure us that we were in the right place.
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| View from the train |
We boarded the air
conditioned carriage, found our very clean and comfortable seats- not quite
airline business class but not a million miles off- and settled down to enjoy
the novelty of moving through Jakarta without having to stop.
The three hour ride
was a real pleasure, provided you were able to mentally filter out the on board
movie (2 Fast 2 Furious- don’t bother renting it). Slowly but surely, cityscape
blended into suburbia, then into a procession of paddy fields before we started
through the truly spectacular mountain scenery as we approached Bandung. Having said that, three hours of paddy
fields and hills was probably enough and it was with a little relief that we
drew up at Bandung station almost exactly on time.
With driver waiting
for us, all seemed to be proceeding exactly to plan, I felt. Big assumption! At
this point, the major flaw in our plans started to become apparent. The trains
had been booked and planned assiduously, so had the hotels and the drivers. The
only missing link was that we hadn’t really set out what we were going to do.
Not to worry, we were
in Bandung, the sun was out, the weather was beautifully cool and we were off
to go look at Tankuban Perahu, a dormant volcano which last erupted back in
1983. This volcano, whose name translates into “upturned boat” in recognition
of a local legend, is found just outside Bandung and was approachable by car
pretty much all the way to the top. An hour or so later, we’d crawled our way
through traffic every bit as bad as Jakarta to find ourselves at the
aforementioned crater. It was certainly pretty cold- a rare and well
appreciated bonus in my book. However, two factors made visibility a problem.
Firstly, the sun had disappeared, replaced by a steadily strengthening
rainfall. Secondly, the crater was belching out huge amounts of sulphur,
something Kieran only realised after accusing his fellow passengers of an
outrageous breach of etiquette in the car! So, between the sulphur and the
rain, we had to take it on faith that a crater existed- no worry, just being
able to shiver was a nice enough experience!
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| Soma and the boys at the crater's edge. Behind them a grey wall of rain and sulphur |
Crater done, we
climbed back into the car and headed off to see some hot springs which
apparently lay pretty close by. Another hour later, we arrived at what seemed
to be a resort- not quite the prehistoric deserted geological wonders we’d been
expecting. Not to worry- mistakes happen, so we took ourselves off for a stroll
around the place. Nice as it was, it did rather have the feeling of doing a
walking trip round one’s local swimming pool so we headed off. Wondering what
to do next, the weather stepped in and decided for us. Within minutes, a torrential
downpour had gently guided us to a nearby restaurant, where the seven of us
enjoyed a late and somewhat prolonged lunch.
By now it was evening
so we headed back into Bandung to find our hotel, a locally owned establishment
going by the curious name of the Banana Inn. Being a pretty large city, there is an
array of upper and medium range international chains to choose from. My first instinct was to choose one of these
reassuringly familiar places. However, my wife’s Indian instincts drew her
unerringly towards this far cheaper alternative, so the Banana Inn it was.
Well, hats off to the lady- while not a 5 star hotel, it was definitely around
4.5 stars. The rooms were clean, spacious and fully equipped. Service was
prompt and polite, and the evening meals were excellent. For a very reasonable
Rp 430,000 per room per night (around GBP 28) we’d come across our home for
this and all future trips to Bandung.
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| Maribaya Waterfall- taken from the top |
After a very
comfortable night, we got back into the car for a morning’s exploration. This
time we drove out toward Maribaya waterfalls. As you’d expect, the waterfalls
are located in a steep gorge but were pretty easily accessible with only a
short walk from the car park. To be honest, the waterfalls themselves weren’t
that impressive- we’ve seen bigger and better in the Lake District to be
honest. However, that wasn’t the point. Again, after so long in hot, humid
Jakarta, to be able to walk through cool, almost cold forest, to look up on
steep slopes and down onto a fast flowing river was something we’d not
experienced in Indonesia before. When you’ve spent 8 years living in hot
cities, a cold country scene is a tourist attraction well worth travelling for!
Too soon, we were back
in the car and headed towards to geological museum, an educational experience
to improve the mind of our younger passengers. Ok, so that bit was something of
a failure. The museum was well removed from the imaginative, interactive
museums that have sprouted up lately. Petrosains in Kuala Lumpur, the Natural
History Museum in London and many others have succeeded in completely
entrancing our boys. This one, sadly was a little like the inaccessible museums
of my childhood- we were in and out in fairly short order.
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| Bandung in the morning- taken from our room in the Banana Inn |
So, that pretty much
concluded our trip to Bandung. After checking out of the hotel, we returned to
the station, boarded our train, and settled in for another three hours of
looking at some very impressive scenery before hitting the Jakarta traffic and
preparing for another working week.
All in all, despite
not having done quite as much as we’d hoped to, I enjoyed our first adventure of 2013. I think
the others did too. The train ride was a real treat, the climate was fabulous
and the food and accommodation as good as could have been hoped for. We could
maybe have organized our schedule a little better, and spent a little less time
in the car- however, we’ve plenty more trips to do. For better or worse, if
they all work out like this one, 2013 won’t be too bad a year.
