Indo Gede(Pangrango)-Tangkuban Parahu

This Indonesia trip was planned since early this year. This was my first ever climbing trip out of Malaysia. Being fat and unfit, i dunno whether agreeing to go for this trip was a wise one. However, i missed nature and yearning to go back and enjoy the atmosphere and to find time in this last 6 months was not easy.

KLIA walk

warning from Bung Karno

We managed to fly with KLM and it was my first time on a 777-300. My trip to Salzburg earlier was on the 200 model and all of us were very excited to board the plane! And the fascilities.. hahaha imagine, most of our past trips were on Air Asia. Therefore, being on board a world class plane was an experience!

We arrived in Jakarta at about 830pm and we had our supir waiting for us. Amir( the group leader) specifically booked a minivan for the 10 strong entourage. All of the team members were senior otai2 maut punya hahaha I only hope at that time not to be the one left behind and limiting the group's progress forward!

We arrived at Freddy's homestay in Cibodas very late; in the early hours of the morning. He was accommodating receiving us and his actions certainly reminded me of Ketut(the guy from Eat.Love,Pray) hahaha I even asked if it was him !!

We woke early the next morning as everybody was eager to start off climbing! Usually December is not a very good month for climb as the wind (badai) and rain will endanger us. I guess we were trying our luck perhaps that we maybe lucky to enjoy both Gede and Pangrango. After getting te guide to confirm the trip, the 10 of us on daypack were ready to go. However, me and Hafiz were quite sceptical about not having this trip to be OT( as following the OGKL tradition) that we decided to bring extra things in case we had to sleep overnight in the jungle!

The trek started off smoothly. It was a pathway made of rocks. Gede was a volcano and the last eruption was during Independence Day and ever since, seemed to be quiet. Who knows, in years to come it will act like Merapi!

pose

and pose..

We were very casual in the beginning. stopping and taking pictures like tourists unnecesarily without knowing what was ahead of us! haahha the 12 to 4km marker on the start reminded me of Tambuyokon.. hhaha bukan senang maaa...

As the trek got steeper, the weather worsens. rain began to drop and reduced our group movement speed. I realized the trek was a bit different because it was more of rocks and sand as compared to the Malaysian jungle which forces us to climb on roots and soft soil.The trek got interesting when we reached Panca Weleuh where it was literally boiling hot waterfall! And to cross it ala Tomb Raider was really cool! I guess, because it was warm as well it became the highlight of the trek.

hungry...

We arrived in Kandang Badak quite late as it was pass 2pm.. The weather was getting worse as we could feel the hale rushing the raindrops!It became cold to stay still at one place and we proceeded to summit Gede. It was a torturing steep climb in wet conditions. Having to negotiate our way through a vertical rocks with rope in the wet can be scary! We were not fast at all and reached the Gede summit at about 530 pm! The journey to the summit was horrendous! The rain was blown away by massive wind speed where i myself with my weight felt as if it was trying to blow me away! It was so cold up there and of course there was no view! The weather was simply terrible for us to proceed and it was a worry as well to walk down!

Sampai di puncak yea!!!

Of course we were frustrated when we reached Kandang Badak, we were told by the Guides that they were not keen to bring us to the twin peak. The whole group felt demoralised but I guess safety comes first. As the pepatah goes.. Takkan lari Gunung dikejar!

Group pic

We arrived at Freddys at about3am in the morning! Our legs were sore as we were threading through a journey of stones non stop. The pain really got to us on our way down that we had to stop for a few times. Upon arrival everybody with their trekking atire just went collapse!

Therefore, the next day we travelled by our minivan to Bandung and straight up to Tangkuban Parahu. Itwas nice to really see a "live" volcano crater! The whole group enjoyed it very much!

Masya Allah

some shopping done..

We had to go back early on Sunday as we did not want to risk the traffic jam in Jakarta. It was Indo vs Philippines game in the evening and the whole road to Jakarta was totally stuffed! We were lucky to be in time and alhamdulillah ,back home .. tired but happy.. :)