Cipanas

When we woke up in our guest house in Bandung, we packed our bags and went straight to the bus terminal, eager to reach the remote town of Cipanas, dreaming of volcanic craters. After yet another terribly long bus journey (8 hours this time), we arrived. But it wasn’t over yet. We had to walk for a couple of kilometers with a nice family as no local angkots went to Cipanas. Then we took a horse and cart (yes…) to the town centre, or rather as far as it could take us in the insane traffic.

The only available mode of transportation to Cipanas: horse and cart!

We got quite discouraged, after being stuck in the traffic for so long, to find a town congested with traffic and full of local tourists. It was, again, not what we had expected at all, being described as a ''tranquil base to explore volcanoes'' by the Lonely Planet guide book. To make matters worse, all hotels seemed to be fully booked and the only available rooms were suites which we couldn’t afford. Chris left me with the bags and went searching. In the end, he found a dingy little room available, for 350 000 rupiahs – more than we had ever spent on a room in Indonesia so far. But we had no choice! Needless to say we didn’t sleep very well, but that’s backpacking at its best – with a squatty toilet to top it all.

Very simple room in Cipanas

I nearly teared up seeing the bathroom - backpacking will toughen you up!

The next day, we went looking for the famous hot springs, only to find out that they are all made into pools, belonging to hotels. Going to a busy swimming pool was not what we wanted. We asked around about the volcano and were told they are far away so to expect more traffic reaching it, and that the price had quadrupled for the holiday season. Discouraged, we decided to put our running shoes on and go explore on foot by ourselves. When all else fails, take matters into your own hands!

Forget about the organised tours. Put your shoes on and explore!

The path we found just a few minutes out of town

What a great decision this was. We walked around for hours in the surrounding mountains and rice fields. It was truly magical. Local children were giggling and flying their kites, shouting ''Hello Mister!'' when they noticed us.

What a view!

We decided to go back to the room and rest for an hour, before heading back out for a jog around. It was great, although a bit hard to get used to running on such uneven terrain. Our adventure in Cipanas wasn’t how we planned it, but it turned out great. Lucky we got some exercise in, because another long travelling journey was ahead of us for the following day.

It doesn't get much better than this!