as we left goa jomblang, dodi dropped a harmless comment that sri gethuk is just a small waterfall. the lack of enthusiasm in his tone made us reconsider. he takes tourists around central java for a living, so i bet he knows what the best places would be. we asked about cave tubing at first, since it's just close by, but then we had to pay entrance fee which goes beyond whatever rupiah we had left. then we asked about pantai timang. i honestly thought that this is just a beach, so i asked if we can actually lie down by the beach and swim. dodi almost gasped, "no! it's a cliff! you can't swim!" confused, we googled up. the place is called timang beach because there is indeed a white sand beach, but that was not where we were heading. instead we were to go at the cliff, overlooking another one, and the gondola brings people between the two over wild waves crashing against the big rocks. the pictures were so beautiful.
he said riding the gondola is optional but we need 50.000 IDR for the motorcycle ride from the drop-off point to head to the area. this we could afford. so we went.
pantai beach is way south so it was going to be a couple of hours drive to get there. after a while of driving dodi calmly said, "remember the bumpy road to goa jomblang earlier? this is worse." and he giggled slightly. he probably thought, you guys have no idea what you got yourself into.
when we finally arrived, there were a bunch of men hanging around and chit-chatting alongside a number of motorcycles. dodi made arrangements and picked a couple of guys to take us. it was going to be 3km of unpaved road, he said. hang tight, and don't worry. we waved goodbye and off we went.
the roads started as tolerable. unpaved dirt and rocks, it was shaky but quite alright. and then another 300m on, the road started to have more rocks and less dirt. in fact, it felt like they just dumped a lot of rocks and called it a day. i did not dare take photos because i want to live, but if you want to imagine what it was like, think of muesli. now amplify that muesli by a million times and imagine taking a motorcycle ride over it. exactly.
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| grabbed from allrecipes.com |
what's more, the path was winding up and down, so the driver have to throttle to climb up, and the motor roared like it's about to break. and then, when it's winding down, you couldn't tell if the driver was actually using brakes because it was going too fast! my arms and legs were so tense, my muscles couldn't relax. my palms were sweaty which worried me as i gripped on the steel bar behind me, which is pretty much the bar between life and death. it was so stressful! on the other hand, the scenery was so beautiful. lush vegetation on the hills, rice terraces, farmers working with their straw hats on. it was like seeing heaven, when you're on a ride to hell. LOL
after 15 minutes of reflecting on how many bruises it would give me or how many stitches it would take to fix me should i fall from this bike, we finally arrived unscathed. woot! i get to to do this again later!
there are some customized platforms for photography for a fee. we opted to support the locals and paid up. we took turns taking photos using jasmine's camera. it was definitely not for the acrophobic.
the main viewing platform is a giant rock that's been chiseled by years and years of water erosion. from there you can see the renowned gondola and the hanging bridge, which was a recent installation.
the gondola is in fact a wooden cart hanging on thick ropes that cross between the cliffs on timang island and a tiny 'island' called panjang. this island is abundant with lobster, and this gondola which is now a tourist attraction was originally a transport used by the fishermen who brave the wild waves to catch lobsters. it was 200.000 IDR (about 20 sgd) for a roundtrip ride, which at this point we do not have. as for the hanging bridge, it's 100.000 IDR to walk through it.
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| gondola ride |
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| walkers |
it must be exhilarating to ride the cable car or walk the hanging bridge, especially when the big waves come in! it's really a shame we ran out of cash!
the sight of the big crashing waves was irresistible that people come close to the edge for a closer look. there was a group of 3 friends and they all got drenched. ha! i knew the risk, but i sat near the edge waiting for that perfect raging waves so i can capture the moment. and it came. and i snapped that shot, and paid for it. it was too late to move, so i got drenched. from head to toe, to my phone and camera and every item inside my backpack. smart of me to put my wallet and passport inside a ziplock plastic bag!
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| kodak moment |
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| totally worth getting drenched for |
i didn't know that jasmine was behind me, taking photos. it was pretty awesome that she captured this. haha
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| UH OH. |
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| OH NOOOOOO |
there were benches and a few cafeteria around. i asked the lady if they sell beer (i saw a few beer bottles near where the drivers were). she looked startled and said "no we don't sell". ahh, how can i be stupid, of course alcohol should not be allowed there! sharp, slippery cliffs AND a roller-coaster-rocky-road-ride back to civilization + alcohol does not seem like the right combination.
we left around 4 as we have no intention of sticking around until it's somewhat dark, as we imagine the ride back. but in fact it was not so bad this time, because a 4x4 jeep was in front of us. our bikes could not overtake until we got to a wider road (and thank god they didn't try) so we were going pretty slow. the folks in the jeep kept taking photos of us, probably curious as to how that ride was like.
finally we headed back, a long drive to the hotel. along the way, we had a final chance for a blissful sightseeing of rice terraces and hills and the sunset and everything beautiful about java.
before we reached the traffic jam on the way to our hotel, dodi let us have a pit stop at bukit bintang for an overlooking view of the city lights. it was a favorite spot among locals, there were a lot of young couples along the bridge.
as we were flying quite early the next morning, we opted to stay in a hotel that's really close to the airport. the coolest last thing we did was have dinner at the rooftop of the hotel, where we have a direct view of the airport and enjoyed an air show.
and it's a wrap! what a great holiday, definitely a memorable destination. special thanks to kresna tours (merapi trekking) and discover your indonesia (tours) for the tour arrangements. highly recommended!
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