Kawah Ratu - Tangkuban Perahu

Tangkuban Perahu is an active volcano  and has 2048m high, aournd 30km North of Bandung and 5km from previous point Ciater. It has 3 craters, which are: Kawah Ratu or Queen Crater, Domas Crater and Upas Crater. In our exploration, we only going to Queen crater, the biggest one.

Tangkuban Perahu itself means, in fact, "up-turned boat" or perahu terbalik. The shape of volcano has stimulated of the Sundanese people from early times as expressed in the Legend of Sangkuriang. 

The way to Kawah Ratu is raising through the rain forest and little bit rocky. When we arrived, we were disappointed as the rain go down and we need to take a shelter on small cafe (warung indomie), and of course is a good time for indomie and hot coffee.  Alhamdulillah, the rain was gone just after we finish the meal :)

Kawah Ratu

The Kawah Ratu has a huge hole with steamy pool on the center. The cliffs are beautiful and deep with the steam flow between it gaps. I tried to capture all parts as unity, but the crater is too big, my camera and 24-105mm are limited :D

After satisfied exploring the front side of Kawah Ratu, we walked to the west end through some small shops that sells souvenir then continue with hiking on the forest. Many tourism around the shops but not many people goes to the west end which is the closest side to the center of eruption.

We took the way to the west edge by walk, its the only way, so tired but believe me its worthed. From the peak of the west edge, the view is amazing. One thing that made me little bit worry, the sound from the center from eruption like boiling water, or like there is a huge furnace under the eruption surface. We took not more than one hour on this great spot.

Since its already almost afternoon (3.30PM), we were asked by the guard or sapu bersih team to leave the west edge of the crater before afternoon. The guards were very nice as they were waited us patiently when we still trying to capture the view in our way back. They said that the poisonous gases sometimes accumulate at Kawah Ratu in the afternoon.

After this travelling, I founded some info about Tangkuban Perahu where this volcano was erupted on 1969 and was closed to the public for a few days because unusually high seismic activity in 1992. Currently the volcano is still active.

Ciater Hot Spring

Ciater and Tangkuban Perahu, the place that I was visited long long time ago with my parents. This time with my friends, we went directly to Ciater area at 4PM after finishing the meeting in Bandung. There are a lot of pine trees and tea plantation as nice attraction along a journey, making the travel more cheerful.
Arrived at 5PM, after looking several hotels, we checked-in at Sari Ater Resort, its a nearest place to the sources of hot spring. The bungalow was made from bamboo and flowed by natural hot spring water.

After short rest and Sundanese cuisine for dinner, we went to Curug Jodo, the public pool area for hot spring water beside the resort, and as the resort guest we are free from the ticket :D On the site, we founded some hot spring pools with the steam around the water. The hot spring or the sulphuric water are created by the heat from near volcano and also good to cure various disease like paralysis, rheumatism and skin problem.

Curug Jodo

At pool area, even its dark the lights are more than enough. There are a lot of spot light combination shining over the pools, make it the view more attractive, but I felt the lights are over in some areas. Without waiting more longer, the team prepared the gear and looking for their own spot. We tried to capture the small water falls in several spots, even in the pool itself under the feet. To get clear image, we need to took a good spot avoid the steam. I also took this moment to compare the different on every mode in my 550D. The picture below is using daylight mode, make the green more brighter than other mode.

We took sometimes in this spot trying to capture the pictures, looking for composition, the light paths, even took some narsis photos. Actually I fell not enough time here as I still want to capture more view, but the next agenda must go on, swimming on resort pool. Since it almost midnight, only us in the pool at the time. The water flow directly from hot spring source, steam everywhere, its nice to stay in the pool, but if I drink the water its sour.

We ended the day by preparing our gears, transfered the images, charged the battery and chit-chat before sleep at 1AM on bungalow. In the morning, we missed the sunrise as all team member cannot wake up in the early morning, its so tired. But that's not a problem, we have alot of agenda to go.

The picture above was taken after checked out at 8AM in front of our bungalow. The team are mbak Vipia, mas Adnan, Ade and Bayu, my fella that helped me much to become a blogger. After having the breakfast at Kimani restaurant, we went to outdoor activity area in this resort. One of them is off-road using ATV, this is my first time for ATV, but unfortunately my ATV are not in good condition coz it has problem on the break, make it unforgettable experience :p
After finished with Ciater, the team went directly to Tangkuban Perahu, our next destination. We stopped on our way to capture the tea plantation below. The tea used for Walini tea, remind me to my travel to Ciwidey. That my story about Ciater, its a good way to retreat from every day's life :)