May 10, 2025
We woke up scrambling to get ready at 5:30 am 😁. The other guys was already leaving the lobby of their residence building. Our most dependable friend out of us three had overslept from the planned 5 am wake up time 😄. Good thing that we had prepacked before going to bed.
Waze took us the longer route to Ciletuh. The bridge at Palabuhan Ratu got disconnected during the December 2024 floodings, among others. However, the map was not updated with the temporary bridge that was built to cross the river in Palabuhan Ratu. So instead we were taken to a more winding and potholed roads. You could see the after effects of the flooding and landslides along the way. Temporary roads and bridges made our journey to Ciletuh possible, such as like those in this Instagram post from the Laska Hotel Ciletuh.
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| The route to Ciletuh |
We stopped for breakfast at the Kedai Bubur Ayam Cianjur. Porridge is one of the go-to breakfast dish in Indo. Are you team mix or not? I'm more of semi-mix guy. Does that count? 😊
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| "Bubur Ayam Cianjur" - screengrab from a |
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| popia bihun goreng? |
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| I gave this a skip because we still had a long way to go 😇 |
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| shiny happy people |
If I'm not wrong, we arrive at the chalet slightly after two in the afternoon. Shout-outs to our driver and co-pilot. We at the back were
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| purposedly bought the "Out of Office" T-shirt :D |
These guys came prepared and even brought cooking utensils and grocery to cook us lunch (and dinner!). And the spread was awesome and the taste even better! Kalah kedai weh!
After the sumptuous meal, the boys were karaokeing, true to the saying - Gendang gendung tali kecapi, kenyang perut suka hati 🙌.
We made our move to go the nearby beach to catch the sunset. Unfortunately, the sun disappeared behind the clouds at it was setting. But we still managed to capture great shots and enjoyed the moment.
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| I purposedly bought this "Out of Office" t-shirt 😄 |
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| The magnificent seven |
The guys had made plans with the hotel guys to buy and cook us fish for the dinner. I'm not sure if I'm familiar with the kakap fish, but what I do know is that the fish was fresh and the bumbu (perap or seasoning) was soooo goood! I remembered hearing the phone conversation in the car that the hotel peeps were asking if we wanted 4kilo fish! I think they settled for less heavier fishes. After getting a taste of the cooked fish, we wouldn't mind for more fish.
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| Also, checkout the sides that these guys made! 🤤. I helped to peel off the skin of a couple of the singkong (ubi kayu - cassava) 😆 |
May 11, 2025 (I)
Did I forget to mention that the Indonesian people are morning folks? Yes, they are. They woke up at the break of fajar, while I on the other hand would wake up 10 minutes before sunrise 😁. I'm used to Subuh at 6 and sunrise at 7'ish. My morning alarm clocks are set at 6:20 and 6:40. Obviously I'll wake up for the latter, with a 5-minute snooze 😇.
When everybody had woken up, they asked us to gear up for jalpag (jalan pagi - morning walk). Wait what? 😅. They convinced me that hiking was not in the list. It turned out that it was one of the pleasant walks that I ever had.
When you were smaller, did the teacher ever ask you to draw your village? Well, most kids even me would draw paddy fields, waterfalls, river, mountains and the beach. Don't forget the birds shaped like little m's. Well, my kampung has none of those. Hahaha. Well, there's a parit (a ditch) by our grandparents' house which did have small fish and lintah 😁.
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| Search result for "drawing of paddy fields with river waterfall" (courtesy Google) |
Anyhoo, sorry for the sidetrack. What I'm trying to get at was - we encountered all of those during our jalpag! Curug Cimarinjung (air terjun - waterfall), the rice fields, the river and the coastline.
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| Our jalpag route |
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| Muka tak mandi 😅 |
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| The other 2 friends got left behind when they were taking pictures in the rice fields |
After getting back to our place, these guys stormed back the kitchen and served us nasgor (nasi goreng). Hebatlah!
For the remaining of the morning until checkout, some of us just chilled at the pergola playing some neat games like UNO, the pirate game and a balancing tetris block game, while the rest just relaxed in the chalet.
May 11, 2025 (II) - Laska Hotel & Resort - Ciletuh
After checking out of Penginapan Bale Kambang, we moved to another hotel - Laska, a short drive away.
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| One for the pic - at check out |
At first only us the original three were supposed to extend another night in the Ciletuh area. Wesak or Waisak they call it over there, is also observed in Indo. So we welcome them to join us at Laska. We upgraded to the Suite room because the previous room that we booked was just the Family Room. It only has Queen and Single beds. The Suite room comes with a King, 2 single beds and a living room. And the best part, we have a private pool, all to ourselves!
The theme is to relax and enjoy ourselves. Hence the absence of many blogworthy pictures, especially in the pool 😇.
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| Off to Laska |
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| Killing time while waiting for the room to be ready |
Okay, here's the video that my friends compiled of us killing time. We had to think of 20 or so poses and stay in character for 5-6 seconds. We were lost for ideas after 5 😅. And the ending ... it was epic! especially when it was unrehearsed 😂. That abang staf is the star of the video. Shout out to him! 🎆
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| The gang at breakfast |
Well written zeck, as one of actors on the play you wrote here I feel like I had or did a good part, anyhoo let's do boys (from dua negeri serumpun) trip again in the near future...
ReplyDeleteYes! Jommm. Hopefully the trip is sooner than later.
DeleteU guys are definitely the main actors. I just tagged along ;).
Terima kasih for making me feel at home and welcoming me.
Hmm the formatting is out of whack. Hopefully I can fix that 🙈