Ciwidey

Wednesday August 8 saw the first bit of real traveling that we would do. We got up and had a so-so included breakfast at By Moritz. The guidebook really talked it up but in reality it kind of let us down. Plain old eggs and a piece of bread or something. The Cowboy Style coffee was nice though.

We headed to Ciwidey. We were inspired by at tea plantation and a hot spring that were written up in the guide book. The trip to Ciwidey consists of two consectutive Bemo rides or possibly one Bus ride but we didn't know about that yet. Bemos are arguably faster but the bus is cheaper. We got ripped off on the first Bemo because we hadn't learned our first lesson. Ask for the price ahead of time. You don't nearly have as much of an arguing leverage if you've already received the services. We ended up paying more like 4,000 Rp each for a ride that should have cost 2,000 each. Live and learn. For the connecting Bemo in Soreang we paid the correct price of 3,000 Rp. We got to Ciwidey at noon and checked into a Hotel there (225,000 Rp w/ 2 beds, TV, hot water). Sharing a room with two beds to save some money. We threw rock-paper-scissors for the beds and Nick lost. He ended up sleeping on the floor, but with a pillow and a decent assortment of comforters from the bed.

Having secured a place for the night it was time to head up to a place called Walini to check out this tea plantation and the hot springs. We walked to the bus terminal and wandered the market where a lady behind a stall gave us a smile and took a picture of us with her mobile phone. A first for me. After getting some decent adventurous, but not too adventurous, street food we boarded an Angkot to Cimanggu which was a town 1km short of Walini. An Angkot is slightly smaller than a Bemo and there's no guy shuttling you in, only the driver runs the show.

Walking through the tea was nice. It was a beautiful color and the clouds painted a nice shadow scenery. (Insert picture here.) After a walk we cruised down to the hot springs pool and assessed the situation. Nick and I were all set to go in the water but Johanna had only brought her two piece bathing suit. All the women in the water were wearing black t-shirts and long tights. One was wearing a swim cap. Ok then... maybe Jojo shouldn't go swimming. The boys were recent pubescents smoking cigarettes while clinging to the side of the pool. Ew. We scowled for a while, distanced ourselves, and had a good talk about modesty in different cultures. Burp don't fart. Spit don't pick your nose. Meh. As we were leaving two girls in Burqinis emerged from the dressing rooms. It was time to go.

We walked up the street and caught another Angkot to Situ Patangai, a cute little lake a few km further up the road. We couldn't stay there long because we arrived on the last Angkot and we had to catch it back to Ciwidey. So we hung around for ten minutes. A girl from Bandung who spoke pretty good English started talking to up and requested a photo of us with her family. We conceded and in exchange we now have a photo of her with us. It's fun ending up at local tourist spots when you're traveling because then the locals take pictures of you as much as you're taking pictures of the place.

We caught a ride back down into Ciwidey with the strawberry ladies. They were up at Situ P. selling local strawberries all day and had to get back to their homes along the road back to town. Passing through town we found a row of fried street food vendors... We dropped stuff at the hotel and backtracked to get some fried chicken and this strange roti fried bread. It was the special version. We should have maybe not gotten the special version. Special means with gristle. Eww... our pile of nasty on the side of the plate was pretty yucky at the end of this meal. We should have gotten a sweet desert.

Nick turned on the TV and we watched The Gods Must Be Crazy II all the way through before passing out. The commercials were always a pick of about five different ones. Not much product diversity. Cigarettes. Mobile Phones. Motor Oil. (Motor Oil? WTF?)

That night there was a 7.2 earthquake north of Java. We must have been able to feel it but we slept right through it.