16/5/11 : Day 3 : Dieng Plateau – Wonosobo
Wakey wakey rise and oh wait, no shine yet. We woke up early to be ready for the tour at 4.30 am WIB. It was freeeezing cold. After subuh, we gathered at Bu Jono hotel and were given hot tea for some warmth. When all was ready, the guides (which costs IDR10K) from Bu Jono lead us to Mt Sikunir lookout point riding motorcycles! How could they stand the freezing temperatures riding bikes?? Some of the foreign (Mat Salleh) tourists also rode pillion on the bikes – but then they're used to it anyway. We, however, went via our van, it was quite a bumpy ride – the road was not level so we had to “ambles” (or move slowly in Javanese).
Ahem, I checked from the Indonesian dictionary – ambles = berjalan tanpa tergesa-gesa
Cold brrrr....
Yo yo...wassup
We reached Sembungan village which is the base of the lookout point within 15 minutes. But there's some hiking of about 800m to be done tot he peak before we can finally see the breathtaking vista! When we arrived, we were awarded with a view of the mountains shrouded in clouds and mist with the sun rising slowly until it finally made its full appearance. We were now at 2250 m above sea level. From here, we could also see Mts Merapi, Merbabu, Sindoro and Sumbing. Camwhoring session quickly ensued, followed by snacking of some biscuits that we packed with us.
Oh I must tell you though that the hiking was a bit challenging as it was slippery – it rained the previous night. Climbing up was OK, but descending –some members of our team slipped and fell on their bottoms hehe...and oh, our shoes / sandals were dirty from the mud........oh my pink shoes :-p My own fault though – why would anyone hike with pink sneakers?! :-p
Sikunir sunrise
Us @ Sikunir
From Mt Sikunir, we went to the Kawah Sikidang (entrance IDR 18K) which is a volcanic crater that is still active and spews poisonous gas such as sulphur (which smells like rotten eggs). There is a magma chamber about 2000m beneath Sikidang Crater. This magma chamber produces heat and energy with a very strong pressure. If this pressure reaches its peak, there will be eruptions and a new crater will be formed. A large pool of water mixed with grey mud kept bubbling. It is said that the water and mud could reach a temperature of 98 C or more. At the surrounding area, we also saw geothermal wells which are used to generate electricity. Coolness!
Info taken from here
Us with Tri :)
Kawah Sikidang
Next destination was Kawah Warna (entrance IDR 9K per person). Telaga Warna is 2000m above sea level. Again some hiking to be done here, but the view was really beautiful -different shades of colour of the lake can be seen from above. From below, the colour looked different, in fact duller. More info on Kawah Warna can be found here
Kawah Warna
We were hungry by now. So to fill in our empty stomachs, we tried some kue bandos – you can choose it plain and savoury (gurih) or sweet.
Kue Bandos - Gurih atau manis?
Last destination of our Sunrise tour was Candi Arjuna. These temples were first discovered by a British soldier named Van Kinsbergen in 1814 on a water swamp. Arjuna temple complex is the oldest Hindu temple in Java Island which was built in 809 AD and was a place of worship of Shiva. This can be seen from the Lingga and Yoni in the main temple, and the statues of Goddess Durga, Ganesha, and Agastya on the building. The statues are now placed in the Kaliasa Museum near the temple. For more info on Candi Arjuna, go here
Oh I must mention a curious incident at Candi Arjuna, where a group of 3 young men approached one of us to take a group picture with them as they believed a picture with only 3 people would bring bad luck.
Candi Arjuna
We were famished by then – the packed biscuits and kue bandos could not sustain our ravenous appetite! So we headed to Warong Mbak Mien again for brunch. Must fill our tummies with rice! We ordered fried rice again – mushroom (jamur) and chicken fried rice. It was marvellous! (Plus maybe because we were very hungry). We also ordered fried mushroom – which I imagined was like the UTM version (I used to buy cendawan goreng from the stalls in Taman U or Taman Sri Putri in Skudai while studying) – deep fried with flour and dipped in soy sauce with chilli sambal. But Mbak Mien's version was tasty as well – cooked ala mixed vege style – much healthier than the UTM version. And it tasted fresh too!
Nasi Goreng Dieng
After our brunch, we washed up and packed. We departed from Dieng at around WIB 12.30 pm and headed to Wonosobo which is about 1 hour away just to taste the Mee Ongklok. We read it in Lonely Planet that it is a must try. We went to the Mie Ongklok Longkrang stall (not longkang ok!) The main ingredient is noodle and vegetables- cabbage and garlic chives. Noodle, cabbage and garlic chives are put in a kind of bamboo sieve and then repeatedly dip it into boiling water (ongklok-ongklok), hence the name. Mie ongklok is always served with beef satay. For me, the mie ongklok tastes like a cross between mee rebus Johor and mee bandung. Well you have to try it yourself to know the real taste. More info on mee ongklok here
Empe kemul (another traditional food of fried tempe with flour) and cireng aka aci goreng (fried tapioca flour) are some other side dishes also served here.
Mee Ongklok Longkrang
Mee Ongklok with satay
After eating for a second time, we headed back to Yogya. Since everyone was full, everyone dozed off too, except for Tri, as he was driving! On the way back, we saw school students wearing uniforms sprayed with colour spray paint. Apparently they are school leavers and were celebrating after getting their exam results. Most of them looked happy.
Budak sekolah conteng baju...
Before checking in our hotel, we had a 2nd pit stop, at Bakpia (a local sweet delicacy) shop, curiously named Patuk75. When we enquired Tri, he explained that Patuk refers to the name of the village of origin while 75 is the no. of the house – so it's actually the address of the founder. Another curiosity is that the facade of the Bakpia shop doesn't reflect a delicacy shop – it was adorned with angel statues and roman pillars – wonder why hmmmm....
The Bakpia shop
After kue shopping, we checked in at Oasis Hotel at Prawirotaman area which is an area for mostly Western tourists. The room costs IDR261K or RM 93 per night. The room is very simple, but cosy enough for us. After freshening up, we took the trishaw (IDR 15K or RM5.3 per trishaw) to where else but our favourite lesehan – Citra Rasa at Jln Malioboro which is quite a distance away to walk. We wanted to eat at restaurants nearby, but the restaurants there mostly cater for western tourists – we wanted to eat local food.
Hotels / Cafe at Prawirotaman
Our room @ Oasis
In front of our rooms
After lesehan and entertainment by our favourite Pengamen, we went back to Prawirotaman via horse carriage (IDR 30K or RM 10.6 per carriage). It was still early, so we decided to search for ice cream! We found a decent cafe – Cafe Gading and had desserts here – sponsored by Liza. Thanks Liza! ^_^ We had banana split, pancakes, banana fritters, ice cream, latte and my fave alpokat ;) The ambience was nice, just spoilt by the faulty CD player – and Kei$ha. (I couldn't stand her songs, so I asked the staff if they could play other songs instead hehe...). Razeif was already sneezing incessantly by now – a result of him playing in the rain at Dieng :-p so we had to call it a day.
Banana fritters
Ice cream!
Labels: Travelogue
