A saturday trip to Kawah Putih, Ciwidey

08 January 2011.

After a great Friday night out. I woke up at 5.22 in the morning.
Getting ready for this photo hunting trip with my friends from Lomonesia (a photography community)

My friend and I got in to the meeting place at Lomography Embassy Store at 6.30.

Already there are people gathering around (the meeting time was 6 AM, departure at 7).

We did the registration, sign our names and out twitter accounts (is this really necessary?) and we got our name-tag that says "HELLO, My name is: *fill in the blanks*" since some of us just met for the first time.

this is my name-tag

Comes 7 o'clock, and we're ready to go. our bags are packed, our cameras are loaded, and off we go.

The bus. the bus was nice. Air conditioned, got toilet in it, and even a smoking section at the front (divided by a glass door). We are about to pick up our friends in Bandung first, before advancing to the final destination. a good two hours away from the city of Bandung. Kawah Putih tourism spot, a sulfuric crater up in the mountain, in the Ciwidey area, West Java.

The traffic was packed. We arrived in Bandung at 9.30, 30 minutes later than expected. 14 people got in, along with our lunch (I'm already starving at the time, got little breakfast), adding up to 38 person in the bus.

We advanced to the destination, moving along through Kopo, up the hills, and that is when something came up. The bus stopped. It broke down. what a luck.
things got sorted out though. We just had to wait for a while on the broken down bus. Eat our lunch, and waiting for the substitute bus to come along. It started raining.

the bus came, after an hour wait (I think). we continued our journey, just a short way of it (but it was a hell of a roller-coaster-near-death-experience ride, the driver was crazy, twisting and turning the bus like it was a mini car). to the Kawah Putih nature tourism spot (I'm sorry I didn't take any picture of it).
Turns out that we have to pay for the ticket (but of course) and the small cars to get to the Crater (26k Rupiah). Oh and two of our friends join in with a private car. so it's 40 of us now.

Up we went. the rain had stopped, but it was foggy. I felt sort of a mixture of awe and eerie along the way up, fogs and all. 6 kilometers up, and we're there.

the car stop

We entered the facility, up the steps and into the crater. It was 3 PM.

It was vast, smell of sulphuric run all through the crater, poking our nasal cavity. Its not too crowded, and not deserted as well.

The place was a favorite spot for pre-wedding photoshoot, local and national (international?) tourist attraction just outside Bandung, capitol city of West Java.

we start taking pictures, with our analog plastic cameras. flash, normal, bulb, landscapes, human interest, trees, rock, water, and everything else. It was fun, we took a pictures of all of us together. got a couples of digital cameras for documenting the event. while we shoot analogs for ourselves to our heart content.

first view of the crater

look right

and left

and another right

We stayed in the crater for quite a while. the air is chilly, the wind's cold, and after one and a half hour or so. it started to rain.
it was late, so after another group pictures, we went down. back to our new bus (the first one break down, remember?).

Its late in the afternoon, and we were extra famished. So we went to the nearest food stalls, ordering foods from instant noodles, meatballs, grilled sweet corn, chocolate coated strawberries, and a local cuisine named 'batagor'

The first bus was better than this one, but well, cant complain, since it was an unfortunate thing. at the least we still reach or destination and on our way home safely.

The road back, was still foggy.

this is some of the view from the front seat of the bus to the front view windshield:

turn right

the mist

another right turn

Meanwhile, there is a door prizes given to the lucky participants. we put our name on a piece of paper, at it will be randomly picked.
This one here is mine. lucky me, a Diana Camera Key-chain.

We dropped of our friends from Bandung, and went straight back to Jakarta. Back to our first meeting point at the Lomography Embassy Store in Jalan Bumi No. 19, Mayestik, South Jakarta.

Hard rain welcome us as we arrived in Jakarta, it was already 10.30 PM. tired but content. We went home.

I will be waiting for our next trip. :)

And I will post my photo results soon.

I scrap-booked the name-tag, along with the tickets