Indonesia - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 186

TANGKUBAN PRAHU VOLCANO
AND THE DAGO TEAHOUSE WALK
he mountainous region to the north of
Bandung is the heart of the Parahyangan
Highlands - the “Home of the Gods” - a
highly volcanic area considered by the
Sundanese to be the nucleus of their
spiritual world. A pleasant day out from
Bandung on public transport takes you
first to the 2084m-high Tangkuban
Prahu , the most visited volcano in West
Java, 29km north of Bandung. After
decades of dormancy, the volcano erupted
several times in October 2013, and
continues to spew out vast quantities of
sulphurous gases. To get there from
Bandung, take a Subang minibus from
the train station (30min; Rp15,000) and
ask to be put down at the turn-off for the
volcano, where there's a Rp55,000
entrance fee. From here you can either
charter an ojek or minibus up the asphalt
road to the summit (10min; Rp10,000)
or walk up - it's about 5km up the road,
or take the good footpath via the Domas
Crater, which starts just over 1km up the
road from the guard post, to the right by
the first car park. he information booth
at the summit car park has details about
crater walks; guides will offer their
services, but it's pretty obvious where you
should and shouldn't go - just be sure to
wear strong hiking boots. he main
crater, Kawah Ratu , is the one you can see
down into from the end of the summit
road, a huge, dull, grey cauldron with a
few coloured lakes. From the summit you
can trek down to Domas Crater , site of a
small working sulphur mine.

path winds downhill through a gorge and
forests - just before the teahouse are
World War II-era Japanese tunnels and
the Dago waterfall, set amid bamboo
thickets. he teahouse itself has superb
views over Bandung city. From here,
minibuses connect to the city centre
(15min; Rp4000).

THE DIENG PLATEAU
he moody expanse of the Dieng Plateau
northwest of Yogya lies in a volcanic
caldera 2093m above sea level and holds
a rewarding mix of multicoloured
sulphurous lakes , craters that spew
pungent sulphuric gases, and some of the
oldest Hindu temples in Java. he volcano
is still active - clouds of poisonous gases
killed 149 people in 1979 and forced the
evacuation of 1200 people in 2011 - and
the landscape up on this misty, temperate
plain is terraced on nearly every surface
with cabbage and potato plantations
clinging to the edges of impossible slopes.
Dozens of homestays have sprung up in
Dieng village and there is an increasing
number of multilingual guides in both
Dieng and nearby Wonosobo. hough
many travellers arrive on day-trips from
Yogya, it is worthy of an overnight visit
(not least because of the four-hour
journey from Yogya). he temples here
are interesting and the plateau offers a
different, more temperate side to Java.

4

WHAT TO SEE AND DO
here are numerous trekking options
available on the plateau and further
afield, as well as sunrise trips to Sikunir
Hill and Cebong Lake . All the main
attractions can be reached from the
village of Dieng , just across the fields
from the plateau's main temple complex.

The Dago Teahouse walk
On the return journey from Tangkuban
Prahu to Bandung you'll pass through
Lembang (Rp6000), where you can change
on to a minibus for the resort of Maribaya
(4km; Rp4000). here are waterfalls near
the entrance gate and hot springs which
have been tapped into a public pool.
Further down is a larger waterfall , which
costs extra to see (Rp8000). An ugly iron
bridge has been built right across the lip of
the falls, and this is the starting point for
an easy walk down to the Dago Teahouse
on the edge of Bandung (6km; 2hr). he

The temples
It is believed that the Dieng Plateau was
once a fully self-contained retreat for
priests and pilgrims. Unfortunately, it
soon became completely waterlogged,
and the entire plateau was finally
abandoned in the thirteenth century,
only to be rediscovered, drained and
restored some six hundred years later by