Last month, my gf told me that one of her friend was getting married and she asked me to go with her. The good part is her friend's wedding would be held near Pangandaran beach. The beach is located in the southern part of West Java and it's facing right to the Indian Ocean. I've been looking for a chance to go there since I was in college. I could never find a right time to go there even though it's not too far from Bandung, the city I went to college to. So, we decided to "stop by".
The cost for a trip there was only IDR 570.000 per person. The price includes transportation from Jakarta back and forth, hostelry, foods, and one ticket for body rafting in the Green Canyon located near Pangandaran Beach. There were 17 people who join the trip and we went there using a mini bus. We set off from Jakarta around 9 pm, hoping we would arrive just before the sunrise in the next morning. Sadly, we picked the wrong time. Tuned out that it was the last weekend of the public school holiday. The traffic was hideous!
At around 6 am in the next morning we were still around Tasikmalaya and Ciamis. I don't remember where we exactly were but we decided to stop for breakfast at a restaurant in the side of the road called Mergosari. We were served with Ayam Goreng, Pepes Ayam, Bowls of Rice, Sambal and Lalapan. I don't know if it's because I was starving, but the food tasted really delicious! I ate the Pepes Ayam and it was so good. It's chicken wrapped in a banana leaf with some ingredients and then steamed. The pepes was still steamy, and smells really good! Later I found that Mergosari has many restaurants alongside the south route in West and Central Java.
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| Sambal |
After few more hours, we finally made it to Pangandaran. There were no sunrise as promised because the sun was already right above our heads. Yes, we arrived at 12 am in the next day. We were supposed to have time to play at the beach all morning. But since it was already noon, we had a wedding to attend. So we went to our hostelry near the beach, getting ready, and then set off to the wedding. It was in the bride's house, a
modest wedding, not much for decoration, yet very beautiful!
After the wedding, we went straight to our hostelry located near Batu Karas, another beautiful beach in that area. It's supposed to be around one hour drive from Pangandaran, but the road was very damaged and costed us 30 minutes more than usual time. When we arrived, it was already dark and a little bit raining. We decided not to go to the beach as the waves was huge. So we went to a seafood restaurant near the beach and have some seafood for dinner.
In the next morning, we were supposed to catch the sunrise, the thing that we didn't get at the first day and then go to a place called Green Canyon. The Green Canyon, note that this place has nothing to do with the Grand Canyon in US, is a very beautiful place. As expressed in the name, it's a canyon and it's green. The color of green came from the tropical plantations covering the canyon. In the bottom, it has a river that the tourist's main attraction is body rafting down the river.
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| Sunrise at Batu Karas Beach |
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| Another Sunrise Photo |
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| Friends |
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| Friends |
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| Friends |
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| Untitled |
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| Untitled |
Again, we picked the wrong time to go there as the rain was pouring really heavy all night. In the morning, the cloud was blocking the sun and the water debit was too dangerous in Green Canyon. Luckily our travel guide gave us an alternate location for body rafting. It's not too far, only the river is smaller and the route is shorter. The place called Sungai Citumang, or Green Valley. It's not as famous as Green Canyon, and I thought because of that the place is still in pristine condition. Our starting point was in a cave's mouth, the river's water came from an underground river in that cave. There's also a tree root in the cave's mouth that we can use to climb as high as 5 meters and we can jump into the river! And then we went down the river with many places to play or jump into the water. After around one hour we finally arrive at a dam which marks the end of our journey.
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| Entrance |
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| Starting Point: Cave |
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| Another Cave Photo |
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| Jumping Into The Water |
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| One Line Formation |
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| River |
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| Finish |
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| Entrance Camp |
After one hell of a ride, we went to the base camp and clean our self and getting ready for lunch. We already packed our bags from the hostelry so we can go straight back to Jakarta. After lunch, we hopped into the mini bus and prepare for our journey home.
After around 4 hours, we were still at Ciamis and stopped to have some dinner. There were so many street food vendors around the city hall. After dinner, we continued our trip. It was around 3 am when we were entering Cileunyi toll road. Turned out there was another traffic from around km 90 to around km 50 because of roadwork. We arrived at Bekasi at 6.30 am on Monday, which is the time people going to work. And by the time we arrived at Senayan, Jakarta, it was already 10 am.
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| Damaged roads between Pangandaran and Banjar |
In total, we've spent 15 hours drive getting there, and 20 hours drive getting back. Usually it only takes 8 hours drive from Jakarta to Pangandaran. But I think we were just out of luck, and I absolutely don't mind of going there again some other time. I still haven't got to see the beauty of the Green Canyon though.
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