Lonely Planet Indonesia
Page 14
4Sleeping & Eating
Cimaja is very quiet during the week and fills up at weekends and during holidays, when prices rise by around 20% at many places.
Cimaja HomestayHOMESTAY$
(s/d 150,000/200,000Rp; aW)
Set in the rice fields just behind D Square is this sky-blue, concrete block homestay, tended by lovely English-speaking staff who offer sparkling tiled rooms. Some have air-con.
Pondok KencanaLODGE$
(%0266-431465; www.ombaktujuh.net; Jl Cisolok Km8; r with shared baths 135,000Rp, bungalows with shared/private baths 185,000/345,000Rp, meals from 35,000Rp; aW)
The first guesthouse in town, Australian-owned Pondok Kencana enjoys a hilltop location at the entrance to the village. There's a wide choice of attractive accommodation, many with viewing decks and shared kitchen access.
The owner can usually be found in the bar-restaurant, which serves filling international grub, including good breakfasts. He's a wealth of information.
D SquareBUNGALOW$$
(%0266-644 0800; http://cimajasquare.com; Jl Raya Cisolok Km5; bungalows 150,000-300,000Rp; aiW)
Expect brick, concrete and wood cottages, all good-sized and built over the rice paddies, and a decent restaurant wired with wi-fi, centrally located and walking distance from the waves. Unfortunately, window screens are torn and bathrooms can be mosquito sanctuaries.
oNurda'sLODGE$$
(%0813 1475 9937; www.cimajapoint.com; Jl Raya Cisolok; r with fan/air-con 250,000/300,000Rp; aW)
A surf lodge set around a gorgeous main house just off the beach. Rooms are tiled, modern and quite spacious, sharing a lovely bathroom. Sadly, some – though not all – have been tainted by smokers. Still, the restaurant is the most creative in town and serves fish and tempe burgers, chicken schnitzel, and grilled and fried seafood.
Café LomaINDONESIAN$
(Jl Raya Cisolok; mains 12,000-30,000Rp)
A very cheap little log cabin–style warung where you can score a great breakfast for 20,000Rp, fresh juice for 5000Rp or a cup of Java coffee for just 3000Rp. Most mains, including ikan mentega (fish in butter sauce), are less than 30,000Rp. In the evening it's a low-key hangout for surfers, with cold Bintang.
Rumah Makan JokerSEAFOOD$$
(%0813 8641 7378; Jl Raya Cisolok Km3; dishes 35,000-65,000Rp; h10am-2am)
Try to ignore that tired 'decorative' fish tank swirling with turtles in the entryway and don't sweat the fact that the veggies and fried cumi cumi (squid) are average at best. Because the ikan bakar (grilled fish) is reason enough to seek out the Joker among this long strand of seemingly identical seafood joints.
It will come rubbed with turmeric and charred to perfection. Bring your bahasa (or translator) to order appropriately.
8Information
There are no banks in Cimaja, but you'll find several in Pelabuhan Ratu, 8km to the east, including BCA Bank (Jl Siliwangi; h8am-4pm Mon-Sat) with an ATM. All the area's guesthouses have wi-fi.
8Getting There & Around
To reach Cimaja, you first need to get to Pelabuhan Ratu. Buses run throughout the day from Bogor (30,000Rp, three to four hours) to Pelabuhan Ratu. There is no direct access to or from Jakarta. You have to get to Bogor first.
Some buses continue on from Pelabuhan Ratu to Cimaja. These are supplemented by regular angkot (5000Rp, 30 minutes), which run about every 20 minutes. Some angkot then go on to Cisolok, past Sunset Beach.
Motorbikes can be hired for 60,000Rp per day from locals in Cimaja, and surfboard racks are available.
Around Cimaja
Although Cimaja's beach location is enviable, West Java has a way of making any town tremble with high-speed traffic terror. However, if you drive west, village life and those luscious rice paddies will soon come back into view and the traffic will die down. From here, it's all jade sawah (ricefields) set against the deep blue sea.
1Sights & Activities
Pantai Karang HawuVIEWPOINT
Pantai Karang Hawu, 4km west of Cimaja, is a towering cliff with caves, rocks and pools created by a large lava flow. According to legend, it was here where the goddess Nyai Loro Kidul leapt into the ocean to regain her lost beauty and never returned. Stairs lead up to a small kramat (shrine) at the top.
CipanasHOT SPRINGS
About 3km west of Pantai Karang Hawu are the Cipanas hot springs. Boiling water sprays into the river, and you can soak downstream where the hot and cold waters mingle. It is a very scenic area, with lush forest upstream and a waterfall, though it's crowded on weekends.
Cibodas
%0263
Southwest of Bogor the highway steadily climbs in elevation, through a sprawling hill resort known as the Puncak that's popular with weekending Jakartans. This traffic-choked road winds up to 1490m before descending to Cibodas, famous for its stunning gardens, the Kebun Raya Cibodas (%0263-512233; www.bogor.indo.net.id; per person 20,000Rp; h8am-4pm). Spread over the steep lower slopes of Gunung Gede and Gunung Pangrango at an altitude of 1300m to 1440m, these lush gardens are one of the dampest places in Java. The Dutch tried to cultivate quinine here (its bark is used in malaria medication), though the East Javan climate proved more suitable.
You’ll find an outstanding collection of ferns and palms, 65 species of eucalyptus, Mexican mountain pines and glasshouses bursting with cacti and succulents. A road loops around the gardens, passing via the Japanese garden with its cherry trees, and there are also paths leading through forests of bamboo to the impressive Cismun waterfall.
Visitors must pay 2000Rp to enter Cibodas village.
Back on the main highway, you'll find that Cibodas, like most of West Java, is swelling beyond its original skin. Once a relatively prosperous yet simple tea and market town, with nice homes dotting the green hills, now there are gleaming malls, fashion outlets and upmarket lodging serving weekenders from Bogor and Jakarta.
4Sleeping & Eating
Bali Ubud GuesthouseGUESTHOUSE$
(%0263-512051; r from 150,000Rp)
About 4km south of the entrance to the gardens, this wonderful Balinese-owned place has attractive rooms with balconies that enjoy spectacular valley views. The restaurant here also makes the most of the views, serving good Western and Indonesian food, and cold Bintang. However, they do keep caged pit bulls here.
8Getting There & Away
The turn-off to Cibodas is on the Bogor–Bandung Hwy, a few kilometres west of Cipanas. The gardens are 5km from the main road. Angkot run from the roadside in Cipanas up to the gardens (5000Rp, 10 minutes).
Gede Pangrango National Park
The Cibodas gardens are right next to the main entrance to Gede Pangrango National Park, the highlight of which is the climb to the peak of the volcanically active Gunung Gede (2958m). From the top of Gede on a clear day you can see Jakarta and the south coast of Java.
Because it's close to Jakarta, this is an extremely popular mountain to climb. Numbers are restricted and during peak holiday season there may be a waiting list. At other times you can normally just rock up and trek the next day.
On arrival, register for the climb and obtain your permit (a steep 250,000Rp for foreigners) from the PHKA office (%0263-512776) just outside the entrance to the gardens. The office has an information centre and pamphlets on the park, which is noted for its alpine forest and bird life, including the rare Javan eagle. Officially, guides to the summit have to be hired here for 500,000Rp for a two-day round trip, though the main trail is easy to follow. Gunung Gede is closed to hikers during stormy weather, between January and March, and usually August too.
From Cibodas, the trail passes Telaga Biru (15 minutes), which is a blue-green lake. Cibeureum Falls (one hour away) lie just off the main trail. Most picnickers only go this far, though some continue on to the hot springs, 3½ hours from the gate. Treks to the falls alone are possible for just 150,000Rp plus the entry fee. The trail continues to climb another 1½ hours to Kandang Badak, where a hut has been built on the saddle between the peaks of Gun
ung Gede and Gunung Pangrango (3019m). Take the trail to the right for a hard three-hour climb to Pangrango. Most hikers turn left for the easier, but still steep, 1½-hour climb to Gede, which has more spectacular views. The Gede Crater lies below the summit, and you can continue on to the Suryakencana Meadow.
The 10km hike right to the top of Gunung Gede takes at least 12 hours there and back, so you should start as early as possible and take warm clothes (night temperatures can drop to 5°C), food, water and a torch (flashlight). Most hikers leave by 2am to reach the summit in the early morning before the mists roll in.
Cianjur
%0263 / Pop 159,000
East of Cibodas it’s 19km to Cianjur, a market town that’s famed throughout Java for the quality of its rice (there's also a brand new Nike factory on the outskirts). Indeed, the town is enveloped by shimmering green paddy fields. Cianjur is no tourist town, and it isn't chock full of sights, but if you wish to mix with locals and explore the area's fine trails and hillside villages, make your way here and book into the best homestay in West Java.
You’ll find several banks on the main drag, Jl Cokroaminoto, and internet cafes are grouped together on Jl Siti Jenab.
1Sights & Activities
The town (which is more an amalgamation of villages) has few attractions, but you can visit a huge plastic recycling plant to learn about waste management. Plastic is sent here from all over West Java to be separated by hand, then washed, chopped and dried before being sent on to plastic manufacturers. Do not be fooled, however: only a relative sliver of the plastic can be recycled and reused. Ninety per cent of single-use plastic is waste that either gets burned, which releases toxic fumes, or winds up in landfills or rivers, eventually washing out into the sea.
There are a couple of tea plantations close to town that are worth a visit; both are set in lush mountainside locations. Gedeh tea plantation (h8am-4pm Mon-Sat), 15km northwest of town via a pot-holed road, was established by the Dutch in 1916, and most of the original machinery is still in use. Between 400,000kg and 600,000kg of black tea is produced here monthly. Alternatively, Sarongge (h9am-2pm Mon-Thu & Sat) is a green tea plantation and processing factory 20km north of town; it's open by appointment only. Tours to either plantation cost 150,000Rp per person.
Cianjur also makes a good base for trips to the Cibodas gardens. If you need to cool off head to The John (admission 30,000Rp; h9am-5pm), a leisure complex with three swimming pools that's a decent picnic spot.
LIVE WITH THE LOCALS
Author Yudhi Suryana (who for years lived in New Zealand) is building the tourism industry in Cianjur, one guest at a time. Through his wonderful homestay, and through his rare agenda of treks and driving tours, his goal is to offer independent travellers a slice of authentic Sundanese life. All guests at his homestay are offered a free tour to Cangling, a floating village on a nearby lake, with a fish-farming economy, and to a local school in town. The profusion of plastic around the floating village can be disappointing, but there is no doubt that you're seeing real Javanese life – with all its charms and challenges – up close.
Much more nourishing is the Traditional Village Tour (175,000Rp per person, lunch included). Guests will take local angkot transport from the centre of Cianjur into the hills, where you'll follow a concrete gang (footpath) until it flakes away into earth. The 90-minute hike, past elegantly terraced rice fields and stands of clove, cardamom and guava trees, eventually leads to Kampung Gombong where you will have lunch at the wonderful braided bamboo home of your guide, Pak Ferdad. There's a lovely view, from high on a ridge above a deep river valley.
The whole village is filled with homes far from asphalt roads and served by small shops and tiny lanes that only the brave and knowledgeable can navigate with a motorbike. Lunch is prepared by Pak Ferdad's wife over an open flame in the kitchen. She also can make fresh palm sugar if you'd like to try it. Pak doesn't speak a lot of English, but he speaks enough, and Yudhi can arrange an English-speaking guide to join if that's important to you. After lunch you can have a massage and a nap before the lazy and beautiful wander back to the asphalt streets. This is the perfect antidote to those contagious urban blues so common in West Java.
Yudhi arranges airport pick-ups and drop-offs, as well as bus and train tickets to or from Jakarta, Bandung or Yogyakarta.
4Sleeping & Eating
oChill Out Guest HouseHOMESTAY$$
(%0813 2172 9004; www.cianjuradventure.com; 200,000-250,000Rp all-inclusive)
Set in the joyful and inviting middle-class family home of Yudhi Suryana, guests sleep in private or shared rooms with curtained-off beds and a shared bathroom. There's a large yard usually bustling with family, and three tasty meals included each day. Free laundry too.
Best part: Yudhi arranges a handful of delightful tours in the region and all guests get a free visit to a floating village in a nearby lake, and to a local school. He also arranges bus and train tickets, and books private transport.
Lotek LPINDONESIAN$
(%0263-264 554; Jl Irjuanda 28; meals 10,000-20,000Rp; h6:30am-10pm)
A scruffy storefront Sundanese diner run by a charming ibu (lady) who mixes the finest gado gado (12,000Rp) in West Java, plus authentically sweet and sticky sate marangi (beef satay; 5000Rp per stick).
Ikan Bakar CianjurSEAFOOD$$
(%0263-263 392; Jl Dr Muwardi 143; mains 30,000-60,000Rp; h9am-10pm)
A local institution with gurgling fountains, a koi pond entryway and a soaring tiled roof in the indoor-outdoor dining area. Choose your fish from the freshwater tanks – they have gurame or nila, which they butterfly and grill, pan-fry whole, or cook in tumeric soup.
8Getting There & Away
From Jakarta the easiest way to Cianjur is via a daily minibus (125,000Rp, three hours, daily at 7am), which Yudhi from the Chill Out Guest House can book for you. This will pick you up from any Jakarta area hotel.
Otherwise, buses leave Jakarta’s Kampung Rambutan every 30 minutes to Cipanas (35,000Rp, two hours) and Cianjur (35,000Rp, 2½ hours). On weekends (when traffic is terrible around Puncuk Pass) buses are routed via Jonggol (add an extra hour to your journey and an extra 10,000Rp to your tab). Buses to/from Bandung (normal/air-con 25,000/30,000Rp, two hours) run every half hour.
There are buses to Bogor from Cianjur (weekday/weekend 25,000/35,000Rp, 1½ to two hours) and the highway by Cipanas every 20 minutes.
Bandung
%022 / Pop 2.8 million
A city of punks and prayer, serious religion and serious coffee, almost everything great and terrible about Indonesia can be found in Bandung. Here are teeming markets and good shopping, thriving cafes in reclaimed Dutch relics, palpable warmth and camaraderie on street corners and mind-numbing, air-trashing traffic almost everywhere you look. You may cringe at the systemic poverty and young teens smoking, and nod with respect at the city's thriving and growing middle class. Yes, Bandung has everything, except nature, and after the bottle-green hills of Cibodas, the sprawling bulk of Bandung is quite the urban reality check. But even if the local mountains are cloaked in smog, the city does make a good base for day trips to the surrounding countryside – high volcanic peaks, hot springs and tea plantations are all within reach.
Bandung has three distinct districts that interest visitors. The Jl Braga area offers a strip of cafes and restaurants and is surrounded by markets and museums. The Jl Cihampelas district, or so-called Jeans Street area, offers discount retail and plenty of nibbles and hotels too, but the leafier north part of town is the most upmarket with the city's newest and trendiest restaurants dotting Jl Sultan Tirtayasa and Jl Trunojoyo.
Bandung
1Sights
1Museum KonperensiC5
2Activities, Courses & Tours
2Bersih SehatD2
4Sleeping
3Chez BonC5
4Hotel KenanganB4
5Hotel SerenaB4
6NovotelB3
7Prama Grand PreangerC6
8Savoy Homann HotelC6
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9The 101C1
10YokotelA5
5Eating
11Braga Punya CaritaC5
12Capital 8C1
13HangoverC5
KioskC5
14Mangokok ManisB1
6Drinking & Nightlife
North Sea BarC5
15RoempoetC5
16Wiki KoffeeC5
7Shopping
17Bandung Jean PointB1
18Braga City WalkC5
19Cihampelas WalkB1
20Kayu SolidC5
21Pasar BaruA5
1Sights
There are some fine Dutch art deco structures to admire on Jl Jenderal Sudirman and Jl Asia Afrika, two of the best being the Prama Grand Preanger and the Savoy Homann Hotel, both of which have imposing facades. In the north of the city, Villa Isola is another wonderful Dutch art deco structure.
Villa IsolaNOTABLE BUILDING
(Bumi Siliwangi; %0813 2245 3101, 022-201316; Jl Dr Setiabudhi 229; hinterior visits by appointment)F
Around 7km north of the centre Villa Isola is a landmark art deco building, a four-storey villa built by a Dutch media baron in the 1930s as a private residence. It's now the University of Education's administrative offices. This curvaceous architectural masterpiece is in excellent condition; from its balconies there's a fine perspective of Bandung. It's possible to enter the building if you call ahead.