Hi Guys!
Last post from Indonesia as we are flying home in 2 days and I don't think I can handle the stress of packing and whatnot, so most likely I won't have time to share more 😁
Hope you have been well!
By the way! Do you have Netflix? Wonder if you had seen this documentary about Gunung Padang? Supposedly ancient pyramid that could be older than the ones in Egypt, largest megalithic site that is bigger than anywhere else, to date.
Well, we were intrigued to check it out once we learned that we were gonna go to Indonesia, and we made it happened.
We visited the site last week 😁
Not easy to reach, Google maps sent us to tiny roads, pot holes areas, altho the rice fields and tea plantains views were lovely. Not easy to hike up (for a large person comme mois 🤣) - especially for first timer and didn't know there were easier stairs to reach up 😅😅😅😅. Definitely have to plan well, try not to leave late as the roads and streets have no street lights, dead dark and dangerous to drive home.
We took a plane ride from Balikpapan (East Borneo) to Jakarta (the current capital city of Indonesia). Previous days, we had booked and paid a rental car, from the known company Avis (they have bazillion offices throughout the world it seems). From Jakarta we took the freeways to reach Gunung Padang, which is located in Cianjur, in West Java.
If you'd like to visit it, you can do the same route, Google is your friend, but again, it sent us to many backroad, going through villages, as its shortest route, supposedly - 4.5 H btw! 😅🤣😅😫
Some people would go via Bandung (in West Java), take economy train ride to Station Lampegan. To do this, I believe you will have to change trains at least twice. Not sure!
Either way, you would want to pack bottled waters! Hiking up itself takes your breath away, literally! Even when the sign says 175 M, the way the megalithic stacked as stairs, are naturally narrow and uncomfortable/uneasy to step on, let alone up 😁 You will need to stop for a bit, to take a breath or sip up your water 😁
Once you reached the main site, it is worth it though, IMO.
The view looking down or far away is beautiful, green, and mountainous. The view on the site is amazing, as there are tons of megalith. Like, just wow. How??
There's a tour guide if needed, we didn't require one, however there was a local that approached us, and he shared awesome historical information. Am glad he was around, so we learned better about this heritage site. Should you have the time, watch the vlog and listen to what he was telling us (it was in Indonesian but I translated some to my English only speaking family 😁).
At the leg of the site before going up, we noticed there weren't really a place that offer food or drinks, so again, pack yourself, plan well. A place did have instant noodle and cooler, so that was good, but am not sure that the place would always be available/open for customers. So just in case, again, plan well, pack snacks and drinks yourself. However! Don't litter at the site! Signs of forbidding people to snack/picnic on the site are placed here and there. There are trash bins, but mostly filled with empties. So yes, one is allowed to bring water bottle and drink, but no food allowed.
Also I have to mention. Locals, throughout the back roads that Google tricked us to take (lol), do not wear helmets at all, while riding their bikes, crazy fast I must say, so of you're not used to driving on tiny roads surrounded by bikers, be aware! Some would give us a jolt of heart attacks, seriously. So dangerous! Darn you, Google 😅😅😅😅
Here is the vlog for more and also stories. See you again in a couple of days, from Canada 😍
https://youtu.be/xQUbV9_hDe4