Life in Jakarta is in the middle of everything and far away from far away. Sometimes When the tingling feeling of pollution or the hours spent in traffic jams seems to be getting to you it's time for a time out. Getting far away needn't be too hard or too far away. Weekend trips offers a range of destinations even if one is not taking a flight to get there. A popular destinations of the Jakartonése is the mountain resort of Bandung with it's cooler climate. Me, originally from a small cold village of Sweden (Stockholm), beaches and warm waters are much more enticing.
A few hours of driving is what it takes to reach the south coast of west Java where the surf destination of Cimaja offers what Jakarta does not. A slow pace of life, clean (or cleaner) beaches and unstressed locals.
The best way of getting there is by car but there are also buses that make the trip for those who want to save the coin for other pleasures. Traveling as a group makes the trip very affordable even for the most stingy backpacker. I think Gas, Housing and Surfboards hit me with a total damage of less than 150.000 Rp which is comparable with 112 SEK, 17.5 USD or 12.2 EUR. I easily spent more money on food and drinks during these days than that.
For housing we rented the upper floor of a villa which we shared for two nights. Despite no AC or mosquito nets I can't remember getting bitten even once. This is without using any mosquito repellent.
For your basic needs there are always alfamarts and indomarts not too far aways but I would recommend some of the many restaurants offering Ikan Bakar or BBQ fish. The fish is usually caught not too far off shore and is usually fresh. There are also a variet of shell fish available like lobster or why not try some barbequed squid.
it looks very nice and surprisingly empty at the beach. Who did you share with? When you were small I went with you to Pulau seribu or some name close too that, it means the thousand Islands an is Jakarta's archipelago. It was also very nice. You need to go to the harbour in the northern parts of Jkt and catch a boat. There might be someone offering a free or inexpensive ride or there are regular traffic to some of the islands... try it and see wheather You might remember any of it.
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Pulau ceribu is not what it used to be 24 years ago. There days there are plenty of garbage floating around and covering the beaches as well. It's quite sad. It makes me even more sad when I see the locals of these islands as well as the tourists from Jakarta throwing garbage around everywhere.
ReplyDeleteOh man! Isn't that an awesome place or what? ;) Would love to visit you 4 sure, but I also know backpacking is best on our own. I could use some knowledge transfer from you, street wise mr Zuki
ReplyDeleteJust pop by. Join for a a bit in SEA or later in India and then continue on your own. I can finally have someone to play some board games with when I feel like it. It's one of the two things I miss. the other one being Swedish food. Will get that fixed in KL though =)
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