On Tour

Destination - Tea Plantation... it was about 40Km from the hotel which translates to almost a 2 hour drive through the country side... the buildings that line the roads are by north american standards shacks, however here these are the coveted markers of success. As we continued on the winding mountain road, the hills were so very green, the occasional person walking on the side of the road had a large stick across their shoulders with baskets suspended on each end of the stick. Some had bamboo in the baskets others had greenery (I assume a vegetable of some type.) These pedestrians, reminded me that i was in a foreign land, 1/2 km later a large billboard advertising marlboro... mixed indicators... the billboards seem so out of place. Autos here are very expensive, so the majority drive motor scooters, it is not uncommon to see a family of 4 or 5 on one scooter.

I wasnt sure how tea grew... never really thought about it, rather surprising given how many cups of tea i have consumed... I knew it was the leaves that we were steeping but that was about it.

Turns out tea is in fact, (at least here) grown as a shrub... maybe 3 ft tall... and the stalks of these bushes were so very thick, the reminded me of Bonsai, so i speculate that generations of tea growers have kept these plants to a convienent working level. Picture hillside after hillside covered in row after row of tea shrubs, with narrow paths running between for picking the tea leaves. I did purchase a bag of tea leaves so we will have to try indonesian tea.

After the plantation, we continued with our exploration... now i should mention that our driver's english was shall we say very very weak... i truly wasnt sure where we would be going next... at one point he gave me a choice left or right...the left seemed to go up a mountain, i though a perfect opportunity for photos... so up the mountain we went... we reached the top, where there were a fair number of tourist. The vendors, however i believe outnumber the visitors.

As I got out of the car, I smelled a familiar scent... sulphur... maybe we were at hot springs? I followed the crowd to the vista area. I am looking down into a volcano... Tangkuban Parahu volcano, i am told it last erupted 2005 and that we can walk down into the volcano and look.

Now, one thing i do pride myself in is that I have common sense. This morning, an earthquake (6.2) hit central java (not far from the volcano that erupted earlier this month) so NO I have no intention of going down into a volcano... the view from here will suffice.

We continued on our drive and passed a hotel/restaurant/park that looked interesting, so we asked the drive to stop. We decided to have lunch at the hotels restaurant. The moment we sat down we were served a large glass that looked like beer, (I dont like beer) i picked up the glass to sniff - it was hot tea... oh it was so very good... no sugar or cream required. Our waiter brought menus, we giggled a little as they were all in sundenese (sp) no english... we asked if they had a menu in english... we were given 2 pages in english. now i really feel the need to mention this, because i have encountered it everywhere, the locals always apologize for their limited english... can you imagine anyone in the west, saying to a foreign visitor I am sorry i dont speak your language... not likely more often than not sad to say the comment would be if you come here... speak english. Lunch was very good, the setting will stay with me all my life.

When we were ready to leave our driver informed us there was a problem with the car. Turns out the key would not go into the ignition... a second car was called... so we waited... for over two hours ... we were amused by the fact that **it happens everywhere LOL we sat under a tiki shelter and people watched, the restaurant was, it turns out very popular with the locals. At one point a local family approached us, mom, dad, the kids, grandparents about 10 in total... suddenly the older women of the group pushed in between us and the family took a picture... now it is a very strange feeling being a tourist attraction... I have no idea what was being said but boy do i wish i knew... they hugged me and said tank you, bowed and went into the restaurant...

Eventually, the second car arrived... tired from the fresh mountain air, we returned to the hotel... i tell you I slept like a baby... :-)