Hold On for the Ride!!! - Dieng Plateau

You will need to hold on for 2 reasons!
1.) It was a LONG drive...
2.) I have a LOT of pictures...

(You can visit Wikipedia for more detailed info.)

This past weekend Tim & Kathy and Shane & I road North-West to an area rich in volcanic activity and historic activity. :) That area is the Dieng Plateau.

Next on the line after our active and dormant volcanos, lies volcano Sumbing, Sundoro and then a still active area called Dieng. For historical information I have added wikipedia's address but I will have pictures.

This was a 3+ hour drive there and back on our motorbikes. The scenery was beautiful and the experience again was better than the first 2. (It was 10 years ago since the last time we were there.)














(Left to right: Volcano Sumbing, Sundoro and then Dieng Plateau outside of the picture.)














We passed lots of school children out and about on the roads. Seemed to have been a school activity, but I am not sure what. :)














Bamboo is extremely strong. Bamboo that is soaked in water for long periods of time becomes even stronger. We passed an area that seemed to specialize in bamboo soaking. This is just maybe a selling area for the bamboo.














Local lumber yard. This too came in pockets of selling areas. (Just like back home, certain areas are known for certain things.)














We passed and got passed...














Drying cinnamon.














Heading into a town: Temanggun














Not sure if this is oil or gas... (the 3 wheel thingy)














This was the market area right on the main drag through town. This next set of pictures is a variety of things I saw.



















These were live fish going to market or to a restaurant.














vendor














veggies probably bought and ready to get taken home or to a bigger city.






































































Then there is WHAT is in traffic. :)
Boxes being wheeled....




















































































Children's Parade














A car wash.














Making sure we were going in the right direction... :)














Catching those 'poster-sticker-uppers' in the act! :)














An old car...





























































Drying rice...
























































Now we began to climb more into the mountains. We began to see more terracing. Vegetables were cabbage and potatoes with some tobacco in there as well. The view was amazing; pictures just don't do it justice. :)



































































































































We passed a huge tea plantation... with some back-packers.

































Maybe this will help you get a view of the type of roads we were traveling up and down. :)















































































































































































Sights of things along the way.....

In many places here they use chicken poo for fertilizer... the gardens on these hillsides were not exception. Our nose can attest to that. :)














Things that get carried...





















































Garden-Yards...






































Road work...














Going or coming from the garden...


























Weed wacking - rarely seen here. Grass is generally cut by hand in most of Indonesia.



















The Dieng Plateau... finally! :)




























This area has the oldest standing Hindu temples in all of Java. This area was once thought to have 400+ temples.















































Where there are signs of warning.......














.... kids play soccer among the ruins, or....














... sheep graze on pastures.














Where ruins hundreds of years old can be walked on, climbed on, and sat on. :)


































































A trash can... sort of. :)



















Flowers....









































Musicians play to get money dropped in their box.














From there we went to several places....
A crater lake area where mushrooms were once farmed. Now the buildings on the far right sit wasted. :(




























We were off to a steaming spring area...














With all of this volcanic activity in the form of steam vents, hot water, and bubbling mud, the area seems to have a thriving geo-thermal plant.








































Off again we went to another venting place. This place was located off in the hills... even with motorbikes Kathy and I walked most of the way because it was SO bad. (I wanted to ask for my money back when we walked back out. :) )






















































We passed and were passed by these 2 guys carrying cabbage. The second picture is of the guy who was headed down, on down the road. Pretty amazing. I bet these folks never have heartattacks!































Bubbling water...















































Hand-printed moss....



















We headed to another volcanic area that had been our favorite, but whatever activity had happened over the last 10 years, it was just not as interesting. "What, only one mealsy bubbling mud pit and a massive bubbling water area? What happened to the sulfuric steam jetting out of holes, ferocious bubbling mud, and the lunar looking landscape?" :)







































































We wouldn't be in Indonesia if we didn't feel like a celebrity when we sightsee!














From the lunar-landscape we headed towards the colored lake. We didn't spend much time because it was already getting late enough that we would be getting home after dark.



























Another temple we passed.....



















Headed home......

















































































All of our tickets to enter these tourist places and the pink ones are all of the parking tickets. *Word to the wise, take lots of small money! :) Most places averaged .25 per person, a few being .50 -.60 cents per person. Parking was .10. :)














THANKS for coming on this adventure with us! :)
I hope I didn't bore you.

You successfully looked at 121 pictures! Wow! I can hardly believe it myself! :)

Ok, I'm off to bed. I'm so glad tomorrow is Saturday!

'Bertemuan'

Last night was our neighborhood open house. I could go into MUCH detail about WHAT we learned, but I think you probably only really want to see the pictures. :)

When Indonesians move, they have a 'bertemuan' at their new house to help begin to build that neighborly relationship.

There are 25 households in our RT. That means I needed to be prepared to feed 50+. I do not have a big enough kitchen or stove to even begin to think about cooking so I ordered from a friends' neighbor for the 'take-home' meal and ordered 4 kinds of snacks from our house helper, Ibu Sri. (61 take-home meals / 65 each of the 4 snacks.) {This is the bowls of snacks.}














'Take homes': (left to right) prawn cracker, bagged napkin and spoon
(clockwise from top left) fried potato/snow pea/pigeon egg/sauce, cucumber/carrot/hot pepper relish, chicken cooked in a turmeric/coconut milk sauce. And of course on the bottom of what is showing is a portion of rice. :)













We rented 60 plates (for the snacks), 50 glasses, and 3 tikar -mats- for the floor. We took almost all of the furniture out of the main living room-room and opened our side door. (We have 4 doors into this house!)

Ibu Endang, one of my neighbors, came over early to help me wipe down the plates and glasses and get the hot tea started. (I served the 'Tjankir' tea. :) )














Shane double checking what he wanted to say (and needed to say...)














When folks began to arrive, we stood at the door and greeted each one, just like we did at the end, we thanked each one as they left.



























They all sat around the room, we even had to open up our front room (also making a quick trip back into the kitchen to fish bowls for the men's cigarete ashes.)














Our 'Pak RT' (Mr. Neighborhood Leader) opened up the 'acara' (event) with a speach to welcome us, encourage the neighborhood to help us as we settle in, to be friendly, and to include us.














After Pak RT spoke, Shane spoke and then I spoke. When we were done, the snacks came out! They were passed around and put in the middle, in front of everyone. (Pics of the how things are done in the kitchen to get the food and tea out to the visitors! :)



















































Once everyone ate the snacks to their hearts content, the 'take home' food was passed around. (It is polite for the host/hostess to give the guests permission to eat and drink. After a little while, you have to tell them to take more.)
(Passing around food or drink: the drink or food is passed all the way to the end and works backwards so that those giving the food or drink know that everyone has received.)














My immediate neighbors/kitchen helpers. :) (Ladies)














Our immediate neighbor/helper. (Man) :)














A few kids. :)