Papandayan - The Beauty of Mother Nature, My Indonesia

We sat down in little circle, between our tents, and took one of our raincoats as our carpet. Warmed in wool jacket, I looked at the faces in the circle. They looked so tired yet so happy and cheerful. I could see in those eyes that they still had strong enthusiasm of this tiring trip. I sipped my black coffee, with light taste of sweet, flowed run into my throat. A cup of hot black coffee, so dark and so perfect with its steam flew up, up and up, blended into curtain of mist which came passed our camping ground. We sat down in little circle, here on the plain of Seven Peak Mountain’s throne.

Jokes and random topics in our chat, definitely, warmed us up in weather which was getting chillier every second. The wind circling around us, blew stronger every second, eavesdropped every rumors that we talked about.

“Does anyone want some instant noodle?” the commander shouted and directly replied by everyone who heard it, with “Me, me, me.”

Well, I think instant soup noodle was the perfect snack in this chilly and windy weather.

Back to the early afternoon, we had walked, trekked and hiked the mountain and set the camps in plain. It called Pondok Saladah which was surrounded with weeds, trees and edelweiss bushes. Here we were, in Papandayan Mountain.

The Taste of West Sumatera - Indonesia

“Welcome to Padang and West Sumatera.” Bayu, the local tour guide welcomed us.

*handshakes and how are you thingy*

“Bla bla bla …” we talked to each other.

“Okay, we have to adjust to the schedule a little bit and now we are heading to Anai Valley.” Bayu said to us.

“Nope.” I replied.

“Harry, I think we have to go to Anai Valley first to avoid bad traffic jam.” Bayu answered.

“No before we find something to eat, I'm starving to dead.

3 days 2 nights in West Sumatera, in our road trip, crossing this province and indeed the culinary is one of many unique and delicious culinaries in Indonesia. The Cuisines, Beverages and Snacks of Minangkabau.

On THe Road Again - to The East (Malang City, Ijen Crater, Baluran National Park and Bromo Crater)

Bekol Savannah - Baluran National Park

The sky was dark with a beam of moonlight. The stars twinkled and were spread in the dark sky. The urban traffic with beam of thousands of cars slowly decreasing then disappearing once we drove onto two sides of road into nature areas, which haven't been touched yet by concrete blocks and modernization. The road was showing the shadow of tall trees which seem wanting to touch the limitless sky.     

I opened the window and felt the cold breeze wind touching my bare face skin. Enjoying all the natural beauty of stars, which I hardly see daily. Having been living inside the jungle of skyscrapers, I am used to breathe hot air with its pollution with foggy sky upon me. I turned my head to the back seats and smiled. 5 sleeping heads followed this shaky car and it seemed their soul travelling deep into their land of dream. The lands of adventurous stories were made.