Baturraden (1-20)

Monday I traveled from Jakarta to Baturraden by train. When I arrived at the Jakarta train station, I was surprised to see a Krispy Kreme. Naturally, I had to try it. I splurged and took the business class train, since the fare was only $5 more than economy. According to photos online, the seats are larger, more comfortable, and farther apart. The five-hour ride was quite comfortable. After leaving the city, the train went through rice farming country. I felt at home again, as I really love the rice fields. Mountains surrounded the area for the last part of the trip.

From Purwokerto, I took a taxi to Baturraden. It rained lightly most of the way and started to rain quite heavily as we pulled into the hotel at about 3:00. This continued for over an hour, then became lighter, and finally stopped at about 7:30,

The hotel is a real resort. (I always remember the “resorts” on Koh Chang in Thailand that were not resorts in spite of their names.) Although I had a basic, interior room, I could see that other cottages have small gardens on the interior side and balconies on the exterior side. But from my area, I had a pleasant view with lots of greenery. The grounds are lovely with a couple water features. Monday night there was a car parked at one of the cottages. Tuesday I was the only guest in the about 60 rooms. I hope they are busier on weekends.

After two hours, the rain subsided and I decided to take a walk to see what’s in the area. I was glad to have my plastic shoes/boots that I had purchased because I knew it would be the rainy season here. They are winter shoes and are lined; so they’re a little warm, but that’s OK. They kept my feet dry. The hotel is on a road up the mountain that is lined with a lot of hotels. When the taxi driver had stopped to ask for directions, a woman gave him a map of hotels in the area. There are 120 hotels listed. Some are along the road; some, like mine, are off the road. This is all that’s in the area. There are a few small shops selling snacks and drinks near the hotel. I did find a road leading into a resort and adventure center. It was closed for the night, but the security guard said I could do trekking (He didn’t understand “walking.”) there. A man on a motorcycle had asked if I needed help when I was looking at the sign to the center that had a picture of tubing. He pointed and said “extreme,” I think meaning that it’s not for me. He was correct; I don’t do “extreme.”

So at 8:30 Tuesday morning I headed to the resort and adventure center. The road goes up the mountain through a tropical forest that is beautiful. By 9:00, it was hot even though it was overcast. 

I came across a couple small waterfalls and enjoyed the tropical flowers and palms. 

It was comforting to see many plants with which I am familiar from other places. 

And fun to see new ones. 

After an hour, I passed a man on a motorcycle stopped along the road. He said, “Waterfall?” which let me know that there was a special waterfall ahead. I’d seen a sign to something, but didn’t know what it meant. A few minutes later he rode to me and indicated that I could sit on the back of his motorcycle. So I did. After riding for fifteen minutes on a not-very-good road, we reached the parking lot, and I was glad I’d accepted his ride. He wouldn’t take any money. I was glad to see several minivans in the parking lot to take people back to town.

The scenic area is beautiful. Soon after arriving, I came to hot springs coming down a short waterfall and going through trenches along the walk. The water is very hot. I decided to keep walking and try the hot springs on the way back. 

As I followed the path down the mountain to the destination waterfall, I had my first photo taken with Indonesians. 

At the waterfall, the water was hot, but water coming down one side wasn’t. There is a bench beside a trench in which the water was a perfect temperature. The rocks beside the waterfall are lush green with moss. 

I continued to the bottom of the waterfall 

and then returned to the bench to relax with my feet in the water. While I was sitting there, three men arrived. Two were having a lot of fun standing under the falling water and lying in it for photos. When he came out, one of the men sat with me and we chatted a bit. The man taking the photos joined us. They are from Jakarta and were in Baturraden for a couple days holiday.

Back at the top, I did my part to support the local people. When I arrived there, a man asked if I wanted a massage. I needed to eat first and chose the one stall that had cooked food. (Since it wasn’t a weekend, only a few stalls were open.) I had my first Indonesian snack food: a few fried items—one with ground chicken, one with something like tofu, and one fried banana—and Indonesian mashed grain cooked in woven leaf pieces. The woman had said it was rice; it wasn’t rice, but I don’t know what it was. 

While I was eating, the woman from another stall came to talk to me. She pointed to her village across the valley and said she could take me there. The walk is about an hour and her son could take me back to the hotel. I was definitely interested. The massage man also joined us and asked if I was interested in the village walk. He told me the cost for the trip: Rp100,000/$8.

The massage turned out to be a mud massage. He called it sulfur, but it didn’t smell like sulfur. However, I’m sure it had some mineral from the hot springs. Since the man and woman are relatives—or good friends from the village (Their relationship wasn’t entirely clear.), she massaged my arms and hands while he did the legs and feet. Then she did the back and head. The water was too hot for me to leave my feet while she did that, but it was good for rinsing the mud off my body. Cost: Rp50,000 /$4.

When they finished, the man asked about going to the village. I thought he was asking for the woman because she had mentioned it first, but it turned out that he was taking me. When I said I thought she was taking me, she said he wanted to. I was a little disappointed about this change, partly because she speaks English better than he does and I thought I could chat with her on the way. Also because she was the one who had made the initial suggestion. I was also aware that she was deferring to what the man wanted.

The first thing the man did was cut a plant stalk for me to use as a walking stick. This was very handy and enabled me to go down the mountain more easily and quickly. 

The trail goes along a trench that keeps the water going down in one place. This water was cool. When the trench went across the river, the man held my hand. I’m not sure I could have crossed it without that support as I don’t like walking in high places without support. 

It goes to a reservoir outside the villages. 

After descending, we walked across rice fields, which I love. Looking back to the other side, we could see the hot springs waterfall on the side of the mountain. 

Walking through the rice fields again made me feel really at home. 

They were in various stages of growth, which I found interesting. Some had grains, some were grown plants without grains, and some were newly planted. I’d never seen all the growth stages at the same time.

Then we came to the village. Houses are brick covered with stucco. Many of the stucco houses are painted bright colors, like I had seen from the train. 

The village has a small mosque. 

We stopped for tea at his home where I met his wife and daughter. 

We also had Indonesian bananas. They are fat. He told his wife that I had taken many photos and gave me a thumbs up. I guess he liked it that I took a lot of photos of his area, which I have noticed in other places. His wife was wearing seven gold bands on her wrists. He asked me about American dollars. I think he wanted some.

After a short rest, he took me back to the hotel. When I paid him, he asked for extra, which I didn’t give him because we had agreed on a price and I felt that I should stick to it. When I paid for the massage, he commented that there were two people. I thought he was hinting that I should pay them both the stated price, but I ignored that since it was the same total amount of time and they were the ones who decided to work together. I felt a little like he was trying to take advantage of me, but it was all done with smiles.

As we rode back, I could see that the afternoon rain was coming. Fortunately, it didn’t start until I was in my room. This was a short, light rain day.

Although I was out for six hours, I’d started early and was back in the room at 2:30. After relaxing a bit in the room, I went to the patio that has cushioned chairs. I positioned a chair so I could see the water feature and hear the waterfall and fountain and sat there reading for a few hours. It was wonderful to have such a lovely place to relax.

I came to Baturraden because I’d read about and seen pictures of the mountains and waterfalls in the area. I thought it would be nice to stay here rather than in Purwokerto, which it was. When I walked around the area Monday evening, I could see that I wasn’t going to be able to get to these places and would just enjoy the area I was in. So I was lucky that I was able to walk to the resort and adventure center and from there through the forest and then get a ride to the waterfall where I met the man to take me to the village. It turned out to be just the kind of day I love.

Observations of the day: Several people I met wanted to shake hands in greeting. The Indonesian handshake is more a touching of hands; no pressure is applied. However, I noticed that two men who are friends applied pressure when they shook hands in greeting.

When I said I am from the U.S., both the man I talked to on the bench at the waterfall and the guide immediately said, “Barack Obama. Good.” This became a common response during my time in Indonesia.