Klayar Beach and 1001 Caves of Pacitan

Waiting for the sunset

Hi there   ( ^ . ^ )/

Holiday is over and we are back to our daily routine. So, how was your holiday? While for me, I will write about our short weekend escape to Putrajaya on my next post and for this time, as I promised previously, it is about Pacitan. A small city within 3hours of drive from Yogyakarta which is famous for its caves (it got a nickname of 1001caves). Though the city is small, but the roads are good (with some potholes here and there). Remember my previous post about getting lost, yes, actually we were heading to Pacitan at that time. We have never been to this city and I just heard it from some TV show last time. But the pictures shown on that TV show made my mind that I had to be there *grinning* Initially, we wanted to go to Goa Gong and Pantai Klayar (just like what I heard on the TV show) but after searching for 3hours and we couldn’t find the place (nor any sign of it), we kinda gave up. The GPS didn’t help much in showing the way to our destination. 

In the mouth of the Goa Tabuhan

The show inside the cave

Feeling dejected, we went on our way to our hotel. Well…have you heard that things come to you when it is the least expected? Who would have guessed, when we gave up and just driving to certain point, suddenly we saw a little signage on the side of the road. Goa Tabuhan 3km. Well, since we couldn’t find Goa Gong, Goa Tabuhan (Tabuhan cave) sounded like a good bargain *grinning ear to ear again* My husband quickly drove according to the signage, on lookout, was afraid to miss another signage and unexpectedly we came across the place easily. We parked among several vehicles and hurriedly went to the very humble stall…grabbing cup noodles (remember…we missed our lunch ha ha ha). Cup noodle wasn’t our favourite but we really couldn’t be picky, could we?

Inside Goa Gong

After refreshed ourselves and purchased our tickets (IDR 5k/local), we headed to the cave’s entrance thru a flight of stair. Some people were loitering around the mouth of the cave, who I initially thought as the visitor, but they turned out to be the local tour guide. They started to surround us, offering their flashlights. Since it was pretty dark on the inside, we grabbed 2 flashlights and the guides started to lead and taletell. We were lucky, there was this traditional show inside the cave. 2 female singers, singing a Javanese song (probably – since I’m not familiar with the way they sing the song and the language) and another 2 males were knocking the stalactites as if playing percussions. That’s the reason this cave was named as Goa Tabuhan (basically tabuhan means hitting). We could request the performance for IDR 100k per 10songs and only an authorized person is allowed to hit the stalactites. We then moved further while the guides told us the story around the caves. It was pity that we couldn’t enter deep into the caves since some of it were blocked due to safety reason and some need you to bend your body low phewww. After around 10minutes (about 200m depth only), we exited the caves…glad to breathe the fresh air.

Souvenir: some sort of preserved banana sliced in rolled shape

The panorama of Klayar beach

Next we kept on driving on that single road toward Goa Gong (around 12km from Goa Tabuhan – according to the information given by the staff and guides). The road was narrow, twisting, up and down, giving a pressure toward my hubby who had to be very careful in tackling the route (on some part, we even couldn’t see the road in front of us). After a while, we arrived at bigger parking lot with another IDR 5k/local pax). From the parking lot, we had to hike up (about 2 flights of stair) and as expected, there were several locals offering their flashlights (more females here than the previous cave). We chose a middle-age lady who fortunately knows a lot about the cave.

Awesome isnt it? soft sand...clean...all to ourselves

Here at Goa Gong, we could see the involvement of the government. They have built stairs and route around the caves with built-in lightning and fan as well. The stalactites and stalagmites were in much better condition, some of it were still milky white (meaning: hasn’t been touched or polluted by the air). It has various shapes, some of it like curtains, wavey, scales and various colors as well (we saw some sparkling stalactites – like somebody accidentally drop glitter onto it – awesome).There were several spring water ponds inside the cave. The lady guide told us a long story about the cave, from when it was found until it was open for public. After 20-30minutes later, we emerged and once again, glad to feel the breeze

The rock-cliff which is similar with Sphinx shape (yes - it doesnt look that alike from this angle)

Feeling excited, we continued our difficult drive for about several kms before we could see the shore. It was 3pm already…perfect time for strolling on the beach, especially a virgin beach like Pantai Klayar. What I saw on the TV didn’t prepare me for this. The beach was totally awesome, perfect smooth golden sands along the line…and it was clean – free from trash – WOW! The wave was very strong (swimming is prohibited here) and sometimes, it reached up to the where we placed our mat. There were rocks on some of the places, with dark rocky cliff on our right and bright yellowish cliff with sphinx-alike shape on our far left. The best experience was the freedom on the beach…we practically could do anything here since it wasn’t crowded. We only spotted few people dotting the beach line (not local – I assumed). Some locals were renting the mat or selling the coconut drinks, while others rent out the ATV motors. Far across the beach, public facilities were in process of development, some decent toilets were available…*sighing contently*  

This beach just make you wanna sit there doing nothing...forever...

The water spray which produces flute-alike-sound

After sipping our cold coconut drink, I rented the ATV at IDR 30k – with the driver wkwkw, to drive me to the sphinx cliff (it would take about 10minutes of leisure walk if you were up to it). The ride was rough, there were lots of fallen coconuts and small logs around the beach and the driver was trying to avoid it. Added a strong wind, flying sands hit my leg and face –it stung for a while- but it was fun (>.<). The view from the far left corner was different as the sun started to set and I was simply stand there, enjoying the reflection on the beach. Silently, I bet with myself that this beach is gonna be one of the best beach in the country soon.

The wave and current is strong and even the cliff can be flooded on certain time

I paid another IDR 10k for entrance tickets and tips for the guide (you could only go to the cliff with the guide – normal rate is only IDR3k/local) to enter/go up the cliff. Up close, I couldn’t see the sphinx shape properly but I came up here not to see it anyway. I was interested with the flute sound which could be heard when the strong wave hit the cliff (apparently, there were cracks in the cliff which produces flute-alike sound when the water and air gets into it). But being up here, I was simply amazed seeing the strong wave hit and flood the cliff (the cliff was quite high – about 4m above the shore). It made me forget all troubles and problems…all my desperation when we got lost…my exhaustion and hunger…amazing and it’s one place that you should be there to witness and feel it