This weekend was my first trip outside of Jakarta, and I'm so glad that I chose to go to Pelabuhan Ratu. I didn't realize how much I had become accustomed to the terrible traffic and dirty air of Jakarta. Seeing streets free of jams and breathing in fresh ocean air was desperately refreshing. Getting to know more people was a welcome relief as well. This last week has been the best time I've had so far in Jakarta. I've thought much less about the negative aspects of my trip here and have embraced the city much more. It's easier to do that sort of thing when you have some company, of course.
But back to the trip...I went with 10 other people: one Indonesian girl, one Colombian girl and eight Germans (one of who is actually of full Indonesian descent but was born and grew up in Germany). Admittedly I haven't known that many people that hail from outside of the United States, so it was interesting to be so immersed in European culture and to be around a language I know nothing of (German is tough to speak, from the few phrases I've tried to learn).
As apprehensive as I was only knowing one person who was going on the trip (Sascha from my office), I had an amazing time with everyone and saw a lot in the span of two days. Following are some pictures from my camera. All of us from the trip plan to meet up again later this week to exchange photos, so I will definitely have more to post by the end of the week:
My first picture after getting out of the van and stepping onto the entrance of a tavern in Pelabuhan Ratu. Palm trees galore!
Stefanie, one of the German girls that I met on my trip, had this crazy jewel glued to one of her teeth, which is apparently getting quite trendy in Germany. Tooth bling!
A late afternoon shot of the beach as we all sat down on the sand for a rest. I haven't been to such a gorgeous beach in a long time.
Happy on the beach and getting tan!
Just the girls at the hot springs near the beaches of Pelbuhan Ratu. I have no idea why I look so emaciated from the waist up (I'm second from the right); I promise that I am not that anorexic looking, even if I have maybe lost a couple of pounds.
We decided to hike up a mountain at the hot springs to get to a hidden waterfall area. It was an hour-ish long hike--in flip flops--and was grueling, to say the least. We hiked through a small village with neat litle houses like this one.
The long and winding road, although much of it was a lot steeper than this. It was definitely worth it though.
Some village kids being crazy in front of the camera. They were so adorable!
The oasis of our destination! The hike down was through a forest and I had several visions of plummeting to my death on the way down (it was a steep, relatively unmarked path on the side of a cliff). But I survived to swim in the water.
Deanne (right) and Stefanie (left) recovering from our hike down to the waterfall. I think Stefanie is trying to brush some ants off her arm.
Group picture at the end of our last meal. We realized that a group picture at the beach would have been a bit more appropriate, but by then it was already 9 p.m. and we just wanted to get home.
Those are all my pictures from the trip; tonight I'm going to a picture exchange and will hopefully get some better shots of the beach and some group photos from the waterfall. There are a few more photos I want to upload from my own cache, so hopefully those will make it onto the blog soon as well.
This weekend I'm travelling to Anyer, a city on the West coast of Java. I'll be going with some German lady friends that I met on the Pelabuhan Ratu trip. We also plan to see the Krakatou Volcaono, which is apparently the site of the largest volcanic erruption in history. More pictures to follow from that trip...
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