Exploring Pangandaran

Java’s premier beach resort is not what we expected but we have to blame it on the holidays. There is an insane amount of local tourists right now and most hotels are full. The amount of garbage on the roads and beaches is insane. Everyone tries to get a picture with us and points or calls out to us. It is a bit much to handle, especially since we expected a chilled out beach town.

Indonesian tourists crowd the beach, as well as ATVs and horses! 

So much garbage litter the beach, it's a sad sight

The main road is as worse, with trash everywhere

 Rather than dwelling on the fact, we decided to rent bicycles and get away from the main town area in order to explore the surrounding countryside and find a quieter stretch of beach. Luckily, it wasn’t hard to find just that. Aside from the less than adequate ride (no brakes, wobbly pedals, a flat tire, sore behinds), we thoroughly enjoyed getting lost in Pangandaran.

A few hours riding on our rented bikes in Pangandaran

What a difference! Pangandaran's quiet and clean beach - away from the town centre

Because the town is so hyped up by our trusted Lonely Planet, there are a few other western tourists. We got to chat to some and share thoughts and meals with fellow backpackers which was refreshing. Most people seem to feel the same way about Java: it’s hard to travel around and everyone tries to rip you off all the time. Although we have sought out isolated places and enjoy travelling off the beaten track, meeting some other travellers has been nice. Our guesthouse includes a nice banana pancake breakfast, there is a great beach restaurant called Bamboo House where the tourists gather at night time, there are even a couple of mini-marts which all make Pangandaran pretty easy. After the initial shock of finding a busy, dirty, overrated beach town, it has been nice to recharge our batteries for a few days.