Last day in the area. Must find something meaningful to cap my brief vacation. An ancient Hindu temple, one of the last remaining on Java sounds promising. My original intent was to visit a waterfall in the vicinity but a helpful hotel employee suggested the very active Gunung Papandayan instead. Allegedly the waterfall is a let down.
Hire a driver for the day. A car this time as the journey will prove longer. No sore ass on this day. Early start beats traffic. Before long we're rolling down rural roads between marshy patties and crude huts. Finally we pull into a lot, across from which is a small park. There I am lead to a long bamboo raft.
The temple at Candi Cankuang (chahn-di chahn-kuang) lies on an island in the middle of a lake. An adolescent youth ferries the craft across with long bamboo pole pushing against muddy bottom. On the other side one must walk past endless shops of useless swag in order to enter the grounds proper. The temple at the top is carved in an early style. Crude. As the eager park employee at the base explains this was a Hindu holy site before Muslims took over. In typical human fashion the temple was largely deconstructed and replaced with the sarcophagus of the Muslim man who converted the people of the area. Thus the holy site of one group becomes co-opted by the conquerors.
Back across the lake I rejoin my driver for the second leg of the days journey. Traffic from people returning from long holiday chokes the narrow roads. We stop for lunch and consume delectable Padang chicken with rice. Bare fingers of course. No other way.
On the way up to Gunung Papandayan we pass several open air wedding ceremonies where Dandut singers have been hired for entertainment. The road turns jelek (ugly) and I'm glad I chose a car today. Motorbike would be atrocious on this treacherous terrain. At the top we pull into a parking area and the hiking begins. My stalwart guide Doel proves useful. His English and my Bahasa suffice for communication. I'm blown away by the scenery. Smoldering piles of sulfur, bubbling geysers, and batu warna banyak (many colored rocks.) In between the leaden sky, the spiraling columns of steam and the burnt husks of vegetation one imagines arrival at the infernal gates is imminent. Sure enough, below a peak stained with spilled sulfur lies the shore of a crater lake stained blood red. Can this be real?
Words fail me. Fortunately my camera was functioning smoothly. I'll let the images do the rest. The return trip was long and arduous with traffic packed streets clear back to Bandung. Long day demands rest. Up early Monday morn and it's back to Bogor. This weekend just couldn't be long enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment