On Saturday morning, I left my house at about six-thirty with one of my housemates. We took two angkots to the bus. Then, we took the bus to the train station where we boarded an express train for Bogor, a city of about a million people located an hour south of Jakarta. There are two different trains going to Bogor: economy and express. As you would probably guess, economy is the cheaper option (about twenty-five cents). But when we had discussed which train to take with the ladies who work at the front desk of the school, they looked a little bit horrified at the thought that we would choose economy. We went with their recommendation and took the express, which cost about a dollar. It was air conditioned and only made about four stops along the way. When I got up to the train platform, I understood why the ladies were horrified at the idea of us on an economy train. First of all, there aren't many seats on either train--the seats line the edges, like on commuter trains, with a large middle room for standing. Plus, on the economy train, the middle doors are wide open, to let the air in. There were so many people stuffed into each car that some men were hanging out of the middle doors and more of them were sitting on top of the train. I can't imagine how they climbed up there, but it did look like the most comfortable spot on the train--they weren't packed in like sardines and they had natural air.
Our train ride was uneventful. Once we got to Bogor, we ran into a tour guide who shuffled us into his office and offered to take us around for two days. His price was high, but he would have bargained. But we declined and headed for a mini-bus to get to the town of Cibodas. It wouldn't be the first time someone approached us and offered to be our guide. The thing is, we didn't want a guide. We were both into exploring on our own.
The mini-bus up the mountain took about an hour and a half. There is only one two-lane road going up and traffic was heavy. We were packed in, but luckily, we got the front seat by the open window and away from the exhaust. Including the driver, there were four of us in the front and, of course, no seat belts. Sitting in the front is always a mixed blessing. It tends to be more comfortable than the back, but also more harrowing, because you can see what's happening with the traffic. I tried to look out the window at the scenery and not pay attention to how close the other cars were.
We got dropped off at the side of the road and had to catch another angkot further up the mountain to Cibodas. I'm not sure how those little mini-vans make it up the mountain. It felt like the little engine that could. But we made it.
Our intention was to hike a path up between two volcano peaks in a national park. We didn't intend to go all the way to the summit of either peak, because those were hikes much longer than we (or at least I) could handle. But there was a 2.8 km hike up to a place where the mountains sort of fuse together and there were three waterfalls there. As hikes go, I imagine it was pretty easy. There was a pathway made entirely of large stones and stairs for most of the way. But I'm not exactly in the best shape for hiking so I didn't know whether I would make it all the way to the waterfalls. About 2/3 of the way in, there was a lake that was a turquoise blue color. That was my original goal, and when I made it there, I was really tired. The thunder that we'd been hearing in the distance was getting closer and I considered the fact that I still had to get down, which is the hardest part for me and my knees.
But three waterfalls...it sounded so cool. So, I sucked it up and kept going. We ended up having to walk the final 0.3 km over a rickety old bridge but the scenery was absolutely amazing! And finally, we got to the waterfalls. It was well worth the walk. Oh, and did I mention the monkeys? Yep, we saw monkeys in the trees on the way up. It's pretty cool to look up and see monkeys!
On the way down, my housemate went ahead and hiked another up another path for a while while I slowly made my way. It had rained at the lower elevation while we were at the waterfall, so the stones were slippery. My knees hurt, but I didn't have much of a choice, so I focused on not slipping and hurling myself head first off the path into the jungle bush. I went very slowly. So, slowly that some other people coming down from the waterfall passed me and asked me if I was okay. I was perfectly fine. It's just that I'm clumsy under the best of circumstances and I wasn't taking any chances!!
I made it out, tired but extremely proud of myself and ready to hike again in the near future. I'm thrilled with the investment I made in my new hiking boots. I'm pretty sure I couldn't have gone the whole way if I'd just worn my Teevas.
After the hike, we returned to Bogor where we spent a little time trying to find a hotel--the first two places were full. But we did find one, where we had showers and dinner and a nice sleep. On Sunday, we headed for Bogor's botanical gardens. The gardens cover more than 80 hectares (1 hectare = 2.5 acres) so we walked some more! All the trees and flowers were so beautiful.
After our day in the gardens, we got a little bit lost trying to find the train station again, and we got caught in a downpour, which felt good after a hot day. Eventually, we made it to the train and made our way home where we had dinner at our favorite Indian place.
All in all, a fantastic weekend. Coming up this weekend, I'm headed for Pulau Seribu (Thousand Islands), which is a string of islands just off the coast of Jakarta, for some sandy beaches and snorkeling. There are actually only a hundred or so islands, but I figure that's enough.
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