SIMPLY (t)RAVELLING

We start our day early since today's agenda is sightseeing. We were picked up at the Hotel's lobby by Pak Dadan, that will drive us to Kawah Putih, a famous 'white crater' that is situated in the Ciwidey district, some 40km to the southwest of Bandung.

As we drove towards the outskirt of the city, the hectic urban ambiance gradually gives way to the cool and serene countryside as the road narrows and start climbing uphill.

The people here really utilize their land, not even a single spot will be missed. They will grow the paddy wherever possible, even to the very brim of their walls.

Horse carts seem to monopolized the public transport business in these area.

Three hours later, we arrived at Ciwidey.

En route to the Kawah Putih, our driver made a stop at this local agricultural spot to give us some strawberry picking experience.

Not interested with that (as we have many strawberry picking experience back home at Cameron Highland - in fact we have it last year during our trip to Lembang), instead I wander around to find any good shots.

Fortunate to us, the strawberry farm is located on top of a hill, overlooking this beautiful valley.

I immediately spotted these two village folks doing farming while another man selling foods on foot.

While at the other part of the village, two kids merrily flying their kite. What a calm and simple village life that they have.

Another view of the village. Lush and serene as far as your gaze goes.

we do pick up some strawberries however, just to honour our driver's insistence.

We continue our journey to Kawah Putih, just 15 minutes drive uphill from the Strawberry farm.

Kawah Putih or the 'white crater', is one of two craters that adorns the summit of Mount Patuha and part of the Indonesia active volcanos. The other crater is the Patuha crater, which lies 600m northwest of Kawah Putih. The island of West Java alone is home to twenty five volcanos, five of which contain crater lakes. The whitish blue of the hyperacidic lakewater solution is a result of condensations of several magmatic minerals and gases. Kawah Putih is relatively stable, as there is no distinctive volcanic activity being traces since 1600 A.D.

The cold, mysterious Ranca Upas. This tropical forest is situated just next to Kawah Putih, and also used for deer breeding.

We make our move to visit the next tourist spot, the Situ Patengan Lake which is located about 10km further up. En route, we are bypassing this lush tea plantation of Rancabali.

As we drove along the way, tumbling and rolling of small hills are passed, with tea shrubberies creating an impression of a wide green carpet.

Surpassing the tea plantation, the enthralling Situ Patengan Lake spreads out in front of us. Situated on the slopes of Mount Patuha, it is a favourite picnic spot, this place.

Near the main public entrance to the lake, stalls are huddled where souvenirs, refreshments and strawberries can be purchased as well as locally produced tea.

Colorful boats sit upon the shore ready to take visitors on pleasure cruises on and around the lake.

The signage that tells about the legend of the Situ Patengan Lake. This is the very place of the reunification of a long separated couple who were deeply in love. Upon their reunification, the lady ask for a boat that eventually turns into a heart-shaped island, which is later known as the Pulau Asmara (Love Island). The old folks here believe that those who encircle and drop by the island will have an everlasting love like theirs.

a lone, love boat waiting for passangers...

This place is so engross with love, 'passions' are in abundance

After milling around, we make our move back to the city. It is almost dark when we reached there (night is early in Bandung, it is already dark by 6pm). We straight to Riau Street to do some shoppings. DH in front of Heritage, one of the famous FO in Riau Street.

Like Setiabudi Street, Riau Street is also popular with its factory outlets. Among others are the Oasis, Summit, Heritage, Cascade, Renariti, Stamp, Secret, Branded Club, China's Emporium and Terminal Tas. These FOs sit next to each other along the street. Since we were already worn out from our exhaustive journey to Ciwidey, we only managed to drop by a few of them. By the way, most of the products are almost the same from one FO to another.

But my must-go spot is this small outlet in front of Oasis, where they sell cheap, imitation of designers fragrance but with high quality. With Rp45k you could get a bottle of smell-like Gucci Envy or Paris Hilton's.