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| Teluk Penyu beach |
Hi everyone...how are you doing? Are you having fun? School
holiday is started and for some of you who is still wondering what to do to
fill the holiday, then why don’t you drive around like us? We just completed
our 12days roadtrip around Java (yay…checked one of our bucket list). We
visited roughly 12 tourist attractions, 4 awesome beaches, and of course lotsa
FUN. Totally awesome :-) Actually the roadtrip this time was a
challenge, an answer to questions from some of my friends and family. Most of
them asked me for any recommendation for family fun holiday within certain
budget. Well, our total expense for this roadtrip was only 20-25% from our
normal overseas holiday budget…so it is surely affordable. And the most
important of all, we enjoyed it. Whether playing all day at amusement parks, strolling
on virgin beach, spending a lazy day around the hotel, or simply gotten lost in
the middle of nowhere…yet we had fun, excitement and I bet…you wished you were
there with us too ha ha ha.
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| Lobby of Hotel Dafam |
Let me recall our roadtrip, which was started at
Dusun Bambu – Lembang (have you read this one?). Next on our destination was
Cilacap. My husband said that he never been there at all and I couldn’t name a
single thing about Cilacap. Geez…I even couldn’t point the city on blind map
(but now if you challenge me, I can ha ha ha bring it on). So I was totally
fine when my husband decided to explore Cilacap on our route to Purwokerto from
Tasikmalaya. Again, our roadtrip had no fixed plan and we practically chose our
next destination a day before or even in the morning of the same day. On some
day, we even bought our hotel voucher on last minutes (10am buying for 2pm
check in wkwkwk…lucky we have never gotten rejected or had problem during check
in). Then we quickly browsed the hotels around Cilacap, which was very limited
ha ha ha. We had tough time choosing the one from very few and at the end, we
bought Hotel Dafam.
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| The small room |
It was about 2hours drive from Tasikmalaya, with fine smooth
road. We arrived and checked in at Hotel Dafam, which was an older version
physically than the one we saw on the pics wkwkwk. The location was strategic,
about 5mins walking distance from hypermarket and 5mins drive from the beach.
This 2storey hotel was big but the room was much smaller than the standard size
that we normally use. We were practically bumped into each other inside the
room and I scratched myself a lot (most of its furniture has sharp edges
hufff). From the interior, I guessed it wasn’t new hotel, some of the wood
furniture were chipped off and most corner of the room was dusty and dirty. The
amenities was very basic, no hairdrier nor fridge found inside...we even didn’t
have closet to put our clothes. Though basic and small, they have swimming
pool, free fast wifi (yay…lets download monster high movies for the girls),
karaoke on the next adjacent building, and several pool tables for those who
wish to play a game or two.
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| The resto for breakfast |
Although the city was not as famous as other big cities, Cilacap
which was located on the southern part of west Java offered some interesting
attractions. Most of the attractions were centralized on the Teluk Penyu beach.
To enter the beach area, we needed to pay IDR 5k per pax. This famous beach has
long beachline with strong wave. I love its charcoal soft sand that sinks your
feet whenever you step on it. It felt so soft and warm (especially if you visit
it in the afternoon). Although we can’t catch the sunset here but spending a
lazy noon afternoon with seaside breeze here was truly enjoyable. Its beachline
was dotted with small fisherman boats either docking or floating around,
visitors who were busy taking some selfie pic, while the locals were either
selling stuff or playing ball. Some fishermen were seen hauling their nets and
boat motor machine home. If you are hungry, you can always have your meal
either at the beach shacks or seafood stalls along the beach.
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| Docking fisherman boat |
Satisfied yourself with the beach, head across of the beach
toward Benteng Pendem. A historical place which was used as fortress during the
independence war. The entrance ticket was IDR 5k per pax. Inside, we can see
the ruins of the fortress walls, the prison, clinic, ammunition area as well as
the barracks. Some of the ruins can be entered while the others were blocked
due to safety reason. It was pretty spooky with its damp musty air (especially
inside the tunnels), moss covered wall and blocked sunlight. I was a bit scared
taking pics there...though it was a lovely place but I couldn’t shake off the creepy
feeling of it.
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| Inside Benteng Pendem |
Then on the next day, after the routine swimming sessions
for my girls, we again headed out to Teluk Penyu beach. But this time, we
planned to visit Nusa Kambangan island. After browsing and asking several
persons, we found out that there were 2 ways to visit the Indonesia' infamous
Alcatraz. The first was using the fisherman boat however we could only visit
the eastern part of the island. The fare can be bargained with the owner of the
boat, from IDR 15k to IDR 30k (depending on your bargaining skill and the
number of people going - 1 boat can fit about 10people). It took around 5mins
to go across when the sea is calm. The second way was obtaining the special
permit from the goverment (they need to keep track of people visiting the island)
and we can bring our own car too. The time needed was a bit longer since they
are using a big ferryboat. Though the permit was quite expensive, but we can
visit the restricted area which was used as the prison clusters. Since we didn’t
have time to procure the permit, we used the small boat with IDR 20k per pax.
The boat ride at first was a bit bumpy but after passing the wavy shoreline,
the sea trip was enjoyable (though the sun was scorching - we didn’t get the
seats with tent hiks).
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| The barrack tunnels |
We were dropped off at a very humble port (if u could call
it a port). The view was absolutely stunning...greyish sand with seashells
scattered around (my girls quickly filled her pocket up with those small shells
- ignoring the wave that wet her short pants). Guarding the beach was rocky
cliffs and dense forest at the back. It was on par with Phi phi island…truly!
After taking some pics, we entered the island with another extra fee of IDR 5k
per pax. You could explore the island (only the eastern part) by walking or
using 'odong-odong', a modified vehicle at IDR 10k per pax for return trip. The
trip using odong2 was like a roller coaster ride, you gotta hold on tight since
the road wasn’t asphalt, it was merely a forest trail. The trip was short, we
were alighted in front of the main gate of Portuguese-built fort.
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| Our 'cruise' |
The fort itself was almost in ruin, with cracked wall
covered with moss, plants, graffiti and other dirt that couldn’t be explained
(and I didn’t wanna know too wkwkwk). Our guide showed us the trails into the pitch
dark tunnel (lucky my powerbank has flashlight feature). It was totally dark
(we moved cautiously thru the damaged flight of stairs) and I was too scared to
touch the walls (oh please…it was eeuuwww).
The guide explained how the tunnels connecting with each other and its
function and I didn’t hear any of them. I was too focus – on nothing
(especially when the guide started to tell us story about the ghost – OMG…I put
my mind on beautiful white beach…white sands…serenity LOL).
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| In front of the Portuguese' fort |
Afterward, he led us to the perfect white beach
thru a quite steep forest trail. But when you reached there, you just forgot
about the spooky damp fortress or the effort exercised to follow the trail. The
azure sea washed cold our feet…felt like it washed away our exhaustion. Small shells
and coral flakes were cracking under our feet. Rocky cliff was on our right
(mind your step coz some of it were pretty sharp) with beachline that stretched
to the forest on the left. Few humble shacks were erected hastily with very
basic menus (instant noodles, tempe mendoan and some cold drinks). Few broken mats
were placed on the shaded part for the buyers. All those things just reminded
me how virgin this place was. Just let me kindly remind you, the toilet (if I could
call it toilet) was very basic too (trust me – basic was a very nice word for
it). It was built using bamboo slats and tarpaulin, with height of 150cm (even I
– the petite one couldn’t stand straight inside) and an area less than 1m
square. You should bring your own water from outside (just pay IDR2k for the
attendant to help you). The door was latched using rubber band (meaning:
somebody can open the door when you are doing your business there) and another
2 extra holes right in front of you when you crouched down. Perfect wasn’t it LOL.
Don’t tell me that I didn’t warned you ha ha ha.
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| The lighted tunnel |
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| A glimpse of the beach from the fort |
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| Yes...you should be here :-) |
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