Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Dieng Plateu… Land Above Clouds


Friday 25 January was a rush day. I had to work until about 5 PM as usual then after work tried to catch-up a bus to a meeting point at Plasa Semanggi Jakarta with heavy backpack, met group of people who were planning to go to Wonosobo, Central Java. I joined them to visit the gorgeous Dieng Plateu. Fortunately, a collegue dropped me off to Plasa Semanggi and I wasn’t late from the 7 PM target. We left at around 8 PM (sooo Indonesia…jam karet!), bought some dinner for my empty tummy and let the journey began…
We came there by renting 2 busses with 29 people in each bus. The seat wasn’t comfy enough to get some sleep -___-  After long long hours on the road we finally arrived at 26 January noon at the plateu with its 2000 mdpl height (which means cold temperature). The landscape are awesome. We checked-in to a homestay with group of females in a room, un-packed our backpacks, then started exploring Dieng Plateu. 
Day 1 on that afternoon, we made to explore 2 craters named Seleri and Sikidang. The smell of sulphur was pretty strong, we had to wear face masks. The temperature was even more cooldd…brrr… In Dieng Plateu, there are several craters but that day we only visited 2 craters. After exploring craters, we had dinner, got back to homestay, took a bath (with freezing water) and tried to sleep.

 Kawah Seleri...gorgeous views...

 Kawah Sikidang...put your face mask here...and careful with your steps....

Day 2. We had to sleep early because today on 2 AM we had to prepare for a  mountain climbing, about 1 KM trekking to the top of Sikunir mountain to catch sunrise. In the middle of rainy season, Dieng became so foggy. What everyone expected “golden sunrise” was not happening…thick fog was covering the sun…  But, it didn’t take away our excitement being there. After took lots of pictures, we continued the journey to next spot Telaga Warna, Gatotkaca Temples area and Dieng Plateu Theater.

Foggy Sikunir Mountain....brrr...coldd...

Golden Sunrise...this is what you could see on the top of Sikunir Mountain...land above the clouds
The mistical Telaga Warna...beautiful green lake water.....

Temples area in Dieng

Dieng Plateu Theater where you can see a 30-minutes movie about the history of Dieng and story todays

On the afternoon, we left Dieng Plateu to Wonosobo. Stopping by at a local restaurant for a bowl of Mie Ongklok  and back to Jakarta…. So long, Dieng Plateu!   

 A portion of Mie Ongklok and Sate, Wonosobo culinary.
       
If you plan to visit Dieng Plateu, careful with your steps while exploring craters and DO NOT forget to bring these (besides standard travelling needs) :
  • Jacket/Sweater, you will wear this all day long (the temperature around 15 celcius on rainy season, 0 celcius on dry season!)
  • Gloves and socks, brrrr…coooldd….
  • Face mask, the smell of sulphur of craters…ughh…
  • Raincoat/umbrella, only in rainy season
  • Flashlight, needed when you climb Sikunir to catch sunrise
Total maximum ‘damage’ cost : about Rp. 600.000
Detail :
  • Dieng Trip Package (Transportation Jakarta-Wonosobo-Jakarta, local transportation around Dieng Plateu, Guide, Homestay, Entry Tickets to objects mentioned above) Rp. 350.000
  • Meal, drinks, snack Rp. 200.000 (this was the moment when hot instant noodle Pop-Mie tasted sooo much delicious! In Dieng you will also find local food such as carica, fried potato and crispy mushroom)
  • Miscelaneous Rp. 50.000

Note : I shot the picts but also took them from my travelling buddies cameras, blogwonosobo and flickrhivemind.net

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