We leave Jakarta shortly after noon. On blogs of fellow travellers you read you can better avoid the capital because the traffic would be dreadful, but we find that it’s actually not too bad. Yes, it’s very busy but so is the rest of West Java. Outside the city, the traffic is really terrible, we’re not going ahead at all. Occasionally, we get to see a glimpse of the highway and it looks blissfully empty. Unfortunately, two wheelers are not allowed and so we are doomed to defy these busy roads. We expect that it will be better in the evening, but apparently Indonesians like to stay up late because the traffic jam doesn’t stop! After we passed the larger cities along the way it finally seems to improve but we have no luck and it starts to rain heavily. We take shelter and have to wait at least one hour before we can continue our trip. Sometime after midnight we arrive in Bandung. Along the road we see some expensive hotels, 20 euro or more, far above our budget. We look for a McDonalds to use their WIFI to look for an affordable hotel. A friendly Indonesian man shows us the way and even pays for our meal. The WIFI in McDonalds doesn’t work but the man offers us his tablet. We find a cheap room, it isn’t really nice but it will work for one night. Around noon we leave for the volcano Kawah Putih, but it’s situated in the South of Bandung and our hotel is in the north. As we feared the traffic in the city is awful, we have to seek shelter for the rain again and we are looking for a factory outlet, so we need a whole day to cross the city. At nightfall we arrive at the volcano and eat at a food stall nearby. We ask the owner for hotels in the neighbourhood, but there are not many, and those that are there are really expensive, around 30 euros. We decide to go camping at the Patenggang Lake, situated close to the volcano. However, they ask for an entrance fee to visit the lake and the ticket counter is already closed, not that we would want to pay to see a lake. Kevin looks on the map and sees another lake not so far away. We go a little outside the village surrounding the lake to put up our tent. The lake is slightly elevated and it is quite cold, even in our tent is just a bit too cold to be pleasant.

Camping by the Lake

Around 5 o'clock in the morning we get a wakeup call from a mosque (unfortunately, every village has at least one but usually more, no matter how small). After that, we still get some sleep until we hear many voices close to our tent. Has the village discovered us? It turns out to be the workers of the tea plantations. They are very friendly and offer us some of their food. We decide to buy some strawberries, for which this area is known. The farmer asks way too much for it, we will discover later. Anyway, we have chosen a beautiful camping spot: the lake and it is surrounding tea plantations are beautiful. We go back to the food stall where we ate yesterday and here we leave Mickey behind during our visit to the volcano, under the watchful eye of 'mama'. We pay, of course, the entrance fee of Indonesians x3 (3 euros instead of 1 euro pp.), and the van to take us to the top (about 0.80 euros pp.). When we arrive at the top we get a really bad taste in our mouth from the sulphur gases, but it doesn’t stink. The crater is a bit of a disappointment because you do not have the feeling of standing on a volcano, more like looking at a lake because you walk into the crater. There is a view point at a higher point, but as so often in Asia, there are trees blocking the view. Unfortunately, we can’t find a proper viewpoint after a short walk and decide to return because of the unhealthy air.

Kawah Putih Volcano

Back down we decide to take smaller roads to avoid the traffic. We have no regrets: the landscapes are really beautiful and when the sun is shining the tea plantations are a beautiful green. The roads are in lesser condition but nothing too bad... until we get to a very steep road which surface consists only of large stones. We feel that Mickey gets older and can’t really handle it. Wisely we decide to turn back to a bigger road. We eat at a food stall on the street and take a pineapple juice, for 1 euro pp. The street stalls in Indonesia are really cheap. We check our mail and read that our Carnet is ready. We decide to drive back to Jakarta because we are only 200 km away. It’s again very busy on the roads, even at midnight there are still traffic jams. Around 2 am we arrive at our hotel in Jakarta.

The Beautiful Area of Bandung

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