The trip took on long weekend on last month. The trip was a bit disappointing because all the participants came late to the meeting point. It was no one at the meeting point when I arrived there on time. I waited for 2 hours, in bored, to see 29 other participants coming one by one. When it was about time to go, the coordinator & the drivers had a little meeting to discuss which route we should take. I felt like this trip was half planned by the coordinator. We were 30 minutes behind schedule and were trapped in traffic.
Our first destination was the White Crater. It's the remnant of an inactive volcano. Its last eruption took place in 11th-12th century. For several centuries the crater and its surrounding remained untouched because the locals thought the location was eerie. In 18th century a Dutch scientist observed the crater. Since then the crater becomes tourists attraction.
The crater emits strong smelled sulfur smoke from the center of the crater. No birds or other animals are living around because of the toxic smoke. Only plants are able to live. Besides going to the crater tourist can go to strawberry farms to pick the fruits which are plenty around. the famous snack is strawberries satay. It's strawberries in stick covered with colorful sweets.
On the second day we took boats to see nature crafted sea rocks. The ocean, where our boats were sailing, is Indian ocean. The wave was so high and kept splashing our boats. I took the pictures of the rocks but they were blurry. I didn't retake the pictures because I was afraid of falling to the scary sea. After that we went to see caves. Inside one of the caves we saw hedgehogs while outside we saw deers and monkeys.
In the afternoon we went to a rocky beach called "Batu Hiu" (Rock Shark). It's named this way because in the sea there lies a rock in the shape of a shark opening its mouth. Too bad after tsunami hit the beach the rock was broken and now it doesn't look like a shark at all. Surfers were doing surfing on another beach. I saw many surfers around from various countries. They blended with local surfers.
Along the sea shore near our hostel are where clubs and restaurants located. One of the clubs is "Silent Club". It's called this way because the owner is mute. Eventhough he is mute, he is a creative person. He created the club concept, a club with candle light, by himself. Even he created a toilet next to his club while other clubs rely on public toilet. I went to this club to enjoy full moon under the light of candles. I saw many couples in the club. I was the only one without a partner. In midnight bonfire was set to entertain the clubbers.
In the morning we went to a souvenir shop. In front of the shop I saw a traditional candy maker. He was kind to let me taking his picture. in the noon we headed back to Jakarta.
Trip to Pangandaran
