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| 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.
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| In the mouth of the Goa Tabuhan |
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| 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?
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| 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.
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| Souvenir: some sort of preserved banana sliced in rolled shape |
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| 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.
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| 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
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| 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*
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| This beach just make you wanna sit there doing nothing...forever... |
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| 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.
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| 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
