Recently I went for a trip to Indonesia with friends.  It was my 1^st time and I had no idea at all in regards to the whole schedule. I thought the whole 7-day trip would be a stay-around Jakarta expedition.  However when we stepped out of Jakarta Soekarno Hatta International airport, a 7-seater van was already waiting for us, ready to take us to our 1^st destination – Karawang which was about 2 hours drive away in ideal traffic condition.  It was on the high way that served as an eye-opener; I had never seen anything like that.  The traffic was just unbelievable – heavy vehicles, trucks and passenger cars were driven at, what I could say was, high speed, with never ending flow.  It was also horrified that if one was to travel at 80kmh, a sixteen wheelers container truck would easily overtake you.  That would never happen in Brunei, however, to the locals, it was peanut.

(Karawang – Where Toyota Kijang Innova Assembly Plant located)

Half way through our journey, we stopped by a shopping complex to have our dinner and at the same time to purchase mobile phone chip (number)  for our hand set (IDR10,000 for a number, that was less than B$2). It was a 6 or 7 stories building, bigger than our Seria Plaza.  80% of the vendors were dealing in mobile phone unit, mobile phone accessories and mobile phone related services. We were not talking about 5 or 6 shops, nor were 50 or 60 shops, in fact it was in the hundreds. You could just imagine the fierce competition.  All sort of brands, models were available, from the latest to the old 2^nd hand, you name it, they sell it.  Nokia 3210, the mobile phone which I had been searching for was also displayed.  Oh yes, during our meal, I ordered a‘Coke’ and when served, I almost shouted “Good”…So what was so good about a coke being served?  Well, it was a glass bottle coke for which I had not seen for a long time.  That was a small 200ml bottle.  After our meal, I asked the restaurant staff if I could have the bottle as souvenir – that sure amazed them.  Well after a few days, I purchased another 4 bottles, 2 small and 2 large (295ml), and got to pay extra for the bottles.  Now all were displayed in my living room (not open yet and sorry not for serving).

We reached Karawang at 11 pm, check-in into the once famous Bestin hotel.  Judging at the condition and surrounding, I believe it heyday was already perhaps a fading memory to many.  (All phones in the room were dead, and even with matching key, you could not open the room door occasionally). When the waiter led us to our room, he brought with him a towel, 2 bottles of drinking water and surprise – an old style mosquito hand spray.  When he was about to spray, I stopped him as I was allergic to mosquito spray.  Well the result was I got bitten all over my face by mosquitoes during my sleep.  I woke up early next morning at around 6 a.m. local time, picking up my camera and went straight onto the street.  I wanted to experience the early morning life of the local folks.  The day began with the morning, trishaws, hawkers and passenger van start to buzz around the street which was not especially wide, but sufficient to serve the traffic flow.

During our stay in Karawang, we went to visit an Indonesian friend of us (well a friend of my friend).   We had to pass a narrow walkway, with high wall at both sides.  After that, it looked like a kampong inside with lot of houses.  Those houses, mostly bungalow, were not big compared to that in Brunei.  All neighborhoods were very friendly, with smiling faces even to strangers like us.  Well I believe we ourselves were also keeping a smiling face all the way.  A smile would always be returned with a smile.  Our Indonesian friend had a double stories house, not big with an about 10’x15’ living room.  Two grand daughters of his were looking at us with their big, curious eyes.  I said how sweet to have 3 generation staying together in one “home” (I called it home here because it was not a house anymore, it was home sweet home).  That was a happy family. A small house full of harmony and happiness was a sharp contrast to a big house with empty rooms, loneliness – so what is your choice?  We stayed for about an hour or two with a lot a chat (but I felt so sorry because I was falling asleep – while seated).

On our way back, I saw one trade that really inspired me and gave me a big “wow”…the adaptability of the local was just unimaginable.  During our childhood, I believed most of us (to those 40+) seen mobile barber who travel to kampong to do hair cut house by house.  If I was not mistaken, it was 50cts a cut.  We were talking about mobile tailoring service here.  A motor cycle was modified with a sewing machine permanently installed on the front, traveling house to house to do sewing job on the spot.  That was fascinating, I asked to take picture but entirely forgotten to ask the sewing charge.

After that, we went to the town centre and my friend said he wanted to buy a ring.  In fact he wanted to show me yet another trade.  It was another surprise indeed, with my eyes opened widely, talking to myself “oh no oh no – that was imagination and creativity” – a simple manual grinder was right in front of me.  A manual grinder modified from scrapped bicycle rim and pedals that could do both grinding and polishing job.  A raw stone was grind and polish into a precious stone for the ring in no time (well – it did take some times), it was just pure fine workmanship.

Our next stop was Ciater hot spring which was about 2 to 2.5 hours drive away from Karawang.  Along all the way we enjoyed ourselves with different local delicacies….roasted corn, roasted sweet potato, honey mango (manga madu) and honey pineapple (nanas madu).  Ciater was located on a highland, we were having an all uphill drive.  Our driver switched off the air conditioner and let the natural breeze in. It was not that cold, but was really fresh and clean.  At the evening we stopped at a restaurant for a meal.  The decoration of the restaurant was quite unique, bamboo or bamboo skin was the mostly used material.  Guests could choose to sit on the floor mat just as the local did or on chairs around a table.  To have a chance of tasting the local delicacies, we ordered many varieties but small quantity in each type of food.  Wow..what a mouth-watering experience.

After our meal, we went straight to our destination and rent a chalet with 4 rooms (with 2 king size beds each), 2 bath rooms, 1 kitchen and a living room with 2 sets of satellite TV.  Rental was IDR700,000 (about BND110-120) a night.  Well once I had put down my luggage,  I went straight to the bath room to have a hot spring bath.  Filling the 3’x3’x7’ bath area with hot spring water, submerge myself into it, the water was warm but not hot, with smell of sulphur, a little sour that irritate the eyes.  What an experience, it was refreshing and I felt my skin was –smooth, well suggest ladies should often have hot spring bath.

The next day we went to Gunung Tankuban Parahu, a volcano which had last erupted in 1999.   We could already smell sulphur before reaching the month of the volcano.  What a majestic view, the wonder of nature was right in front of my eyes.  I regretted so much of not bringing with me a 20mm wide angle lens and could not take a full view shot.  I said to myself  “Gunung Tankuban Parahu, I will be back”.  Along the month of the volcano, there were many souvenir shops, selling “bong zai”, fossil wood, wood sculpture, bamboo products, sulphur and something not local – genetic salted eggs from Taiwan.  We stopped at an eating outlet to have our breakfast and one thing just struck my mind – what an experience to have rice served with salted eggs at the month of a volcano.

From Gunung Tankuban Parahu, we headed to another place – this time Cipanas.  Well we stopped midway at a lake (I had forgotten to ask about the name of the lake).  We hired a sampan, crossing the lake to the other bank to visit a strawberry farm.  It was very misty in the middle of the lake with continuous cold breeze.  On reaching the other side, we took a small basket, started to pluck strawberry.  It cost us IDR10,000 a kilo and with a small basketful, we paid around IDR20,000.  Taste of the strawberry was just so so, not sweet nor sour, what should I said - well no taste lah.

We reached Cipanas at around 11 p.m. Checked-in into Vanessa Villa, a bungalow with 3 bed rooms, 2 bath rooms, one big living room and a kitchen.  The rental was IDR300,000 (B$50) a night.  Located a highland, the temperature was low and cold, “dingin” in Indonesian (we used to say sejuk in Brunei).  The water heater was rather not functioning well.  The first person to take a bath was OK, there was hot water. But it was pure unfortunate to those that follow, if you can stand the freezing cold water, then take your shower, otherwise wait until the next day…..Again the next morning I woke up early and grabbed my camera and started to venture out (my habit of doing so to places I visited).  I walked uphill all the way, yes uphill because the place was located at high ground.  Horse carriages (coach), motor cycles, small vans coming and going.  I missed to take any photo of the horse carriage which was another means of transport in Cipanas. (I will come back for one). The street was quite narrow, I passed by a mosque, passed by the neighborhood, passed by vegetable farm land, people going to work, school children headed for school, the quiet place started to become busy again.  45 minutes later I turned back and saw a hawker selling coconut cake to my friends. The ingredients was flour, water mixed with coconut flesh, cooked with low heat then sprinkle with sugar. IDR5000 4 slices, the taste was not bad at all.  The hawker was a young man at his early 20s.  He came back the next morning…..to me even with such a small margin of profit but he kept his believe to what he was doing, in this sense he was a hard working lad….we were equal in all aspect…just a Malay saying “duduk sama rendah, diri sama tinggi” and we almost became friends.

We visited the well known Masjid Atta Awun in Cipanas, the mosque had a unique outlook. As we were all aware, before entering a mosque, we must took off our shoes and went into the mosque bare-footed.  A 3.5 foot wide, 4” deep water path with running mountain stream was built right in front of the entrance. Anyone wanted to enter the mosque must first step into this water path, their feet would well sure be clean. Inside the mosque, I saw a well thought and reuse of unwanted materials.  It was a rubbish bin made of recycle car tyre, very nicely designed.