Gagabber: Weekend Getaway to Bandung, Lembang

Well I was starting to get a bit of cabin fever again, so we decided on Thursday to go to Bandung for the weekend. It's a city about 2.5 hours from Jakarta and at a higher elevation so the weather is cool. We left around 6:30 AM to beat the traffic and were lucky to get to our first stop ahead of the crowd.

We drove straight to Mt. Tangkuban Perahu to see Kawah Ratu (Queen's Crater). We could really hear and smell the gases coming from the crater.

Next we hiked to Kawah Domas which is another crater that has several hot springs. One is supposed to be really good for your skin, so I dipped my legs in to try it out.

Another one of the springs is hot enough to boil eggs in 3 minutes and you can walk right up to it, no fences or protective barriers like the States would have.

For lunch we tried some Sundanese food, which is a cuisine common in West Java. We sat on the floor and had ayam bakar (grilled chicken), ikan bakar (grilled fish), and stir fried veggies (similar to spinach). The food was so delicious and we were both stuffed.

Wikitravel recommend a hot springs nearby, so we went to try it out. At first we were extremely self conscious because we were the only bulai's there and my bikini was in sharp contrast to the typical female swim gear that covered everything from head to foot. Once we got in the water and drank our coconuts we were feeling much better though.

When we drove into our hotel later, we couldn't help cracking up with laughter. The architecture was styled after a Roman Kingdom, but not in a subtle way. The pictures don't do it justice. A few beers helped improve the view luckily.

For dinner we headed to what we thought was going to be a romantic dinner overlooking the lights of Bandung at a restaurant called The Peak. Getting back to our hotel after dinner turned into a fiasco. We ended up having to beg some nice ladies leaving the restaurant for a ride to Bandung where we could catch a cab back up the mountain to our hotel in Lembang. Hitchhiking in Indonesia - check.

Sunday morning we headed to Dago Pakar for some hiking and waterfall viewing. We got lost on the way and ended up taking the scenic route which included several very steep dirt roads. Off-roading in our minivan - check. Once we got there it was well worth the drive to see the beautiful scenery and try some grilled corn mid hike.