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| Juanda National Park waterfalls |
On Sunday we were invited to hike at Juanda National Park (Dago Pakar) which is about 5 miles north of Bandung. The park is home to over 2500 kind of trees, as well as tunnels built by the Dutch army and the Japanese occupation army before and during WWII.
What none of us factored in was that Sunday was for many people the last day of their Ramadan holiday. So the park was quite crowded with families, groups of teenagers and ojeks (motorcycle taxis) carrying people to and from the falls along the main hiking trail. But it was still a good hike in spite of the crowds and it was interesting to see the locals enjoying their holidays.
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| Ronnie and Dan climbing |
Much of the trail was paved with bricks, though often we had to move off trail to keep from getting run over by the ojeks. Each one carried 2 or 3 passengers in addition to the driver. On the way up, I noticed a group of ladies looking at me with my camera and I could tell that one lady wanted her picture taken. The women quickly started gathering to pose and I gladly obliged by taking their photo, then realized that they wanted ME in it too! Just as their dress and behavior seem unusual to us, we likewise seem strange to them and for some reason, they enjoy having their photos taken with what to them are unusual looking people?!!
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| group shot with strangers :) |
We hiked about 2.5 miles up to the falls. While they were impressive, the water looked dirty and there was a ton of trash collected at the bottom – no surprise there. We are constantly amazed at the amount of trash in this city and how no one seems bothered by it. We noticed that people eating along the trail would finish their food or drink, then toss their wrappers down. No wonder there is so much trash everywhere!
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| younger women on trail |
On the way back down, a group of young girls followed us closely and it finally became apparent that they too wanted a photo with us, so we stopped for another quick group shot. Coming down was the easy part and it felt good to get some much needed exercise. Perhaps we can repeat the hike again sometime when the park isn’t so crowded.
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| front of one of the tunnels |
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chess along the trail
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| view from trail across valley |
Do the folks have email who want their pics taken? How can they get a thrill out of it if they never get a copy?
ReplyDeleteRe: trash. I remember when we were little, riding down Hwy. 67 in the car & throwing trash out the window. They're just about 60 years behind us in their litter campaign. One day Henry will visit Indonesia & see signs that say "Don't Mess With Bandung!" :-)
Sue, that's an excellent question! What is the thrill in that? Oh, one of them did jump up and take a picture also, so maybe she will share it with the others and then they can share the picture they had made with the weirdos at Dago Park?? I'm glad you caused me to remember that.
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