me and putri had listed names of beautiful places in bandung that we have to visit. the next one is malabar, pangalengan, all the way to the south of bandung region, 45km. why and how we choose this place? a friend told us that there is a teletubbies hills in pangalengan, named malabar. it is actually a huge tea plantation since 1840’s. it was karel albert rudolf bosscha, jip the same person who built observatory in lembang, bandung. the person who helped me dare to dream about the star and the entire universe. tell you about it later.
so from bandung, as usual we took public transportation, a bus from the terminal of leuwi panjang. we were at the terminal at 5.30 but the bus start to move at 6.30 and it took us about 2 hours to get to pangalengan. it was not because of the traffic jam, it was the bus that stop so many times to get a passenger.
it was okay, we know the consequences anyway. it was fun though, hearing passengers talking to each other about next coming election, who they can and cant trust. they knew exactly what is happening in Indonesian political situation, it is amazing!
and all the way up to the hill of malabar you will see beautiful scenery, tea plantation and arabica coffee plantation.
at 8.30 we arrived at pangalengan bus terminal, motorcycle taxi driver were ready to take us everywhere. two of them were following us, all the way to the public toilet!
after talking to a toilet guy, we found out that two spot we wanted to visit (situ cileunca and tea plantation) is the opposite track, one is on your right and the other is on your left. we choose the right one, to tea plantation, to visit bosscha cemetery.
the motorcycle taxi leave us here at the gate and it took 2 kilos on foot to bosscha’s. around this place is so beautiful
turn right to bosscha cemetery and his house too
bosscha… i admired him as a person, one who make children dream come true, to see the star closer. beyond that, he was a scientist, a social entrepreneur and a good person.
more about him you find it through wikipedia 😉
we were lucky because there were lots of tourist who visited the grave that day, so we were able to look closer inside. but you need to read what it said on the monument
closer to his grave yard..
he never married and he loves pangelangan so much. it him 3 days to reach bandung at that time, but he stayed in pangalengan anyway with his tea plantation.
his house is close to this grave but we decided to continue our journey to enjoy the teletubbies hill until we reach to the hot spring of cibolang.
did you see it? its the teletubbies hill! we missed tinky winky, dipsy, laa laa and po!
wait ..
po was there 😛
like always, trekking means not only to feel closer with nature but also with people. those who work at plantations, an old lady who carried a heavy piece of woods on her head and men who look for snail as a fish bait.
2,5 hours on foot and small rain was pouring down but it didnt stop us from walking, we were finally reached the hot spring of cibolang. surprisingly, we were not at malabar anymore, we were on the next mountain of windu, thus why there is a hot spring ;-). the mountains are close to each other, malabar, windu, wayang and not very far away is papandayan.
we had lunch and actually wanted to visit kawah burung, a small create 750 meter uphills from the gate. but an old man there told us not to go there if only two of us, its a deep forest and wild animals still around and there is no tour guide who can assist us… ridiculous i know.
anyway, to cheers us up, we took fish therapy. let the fish eat the dirt on my feet. yes we were very happy because its very tickled.
there was no public transportation except for motorcycle taxi or ojek to drive us back to bus terminal. but it is a nice place to visit on foot.
see you on the next trip
budget per person
bus from leuwi panjang terminal to pangalengan = IDR 15.000
motorcycle taxi/ ojek from pangelangan to gate of plantation = IDR 15.000
breakfast = IDR 8.000
entry fee at hot spring of cibolang = IDR 10.000
lunch = IDR 20.000
fish therapy = IDR 10.000
motorcycle from cibolang to pangalengan = IDR 20.000
bus from pangalengan to bandung = IDR 15.000
IDR 103.000 in total… i hope im not miscounting 😉
its worthy!
nroshita 