A
strong scent of clove-tobacco slowly tinge tingle the old olfactory. Soon I woke
and found myself staring outside the window. At the skittering lights of the road
lamps and the pale full moon in the otherwise dark dark night. Soon after the smell of sweat on fake leather seats and
gasoline. My lips formed a wide wide
smile, I’m on the road again.
Last
week me and my girls from Uni-days,
Bollie,
Zaki, Dian, and Pepeng went for a quick break from the city to Batu Karas
,
Pangandaran. We agreed to meet at Terminal Kampung Rambutan at 8 PM before
hopping on a night bus that will take us straight to Pangandaran Terminal. I
got there on time and so was Zaki, but the others were a tad late since the
traffic on several roads going to Rambutan were pretty hecticly heavy. Bollie being the last one arrived was red and enraged,
“Can
you believe the traffic, come on! Forgot today’s payday. And there’s this guy who was
obnoxiously close try to offer me whatever so I said to him ‘Get off me will ya,
are you trying to rob me or something?”
FYI,
when you’re arriving alone in major bus (even if you wear your best poker face),
there’ll be multitudes of people asking you where you wanna go, what bus you’ll
take etc, that soon will pretty much get on your nerves. So Bollie’s reaction
is pretty much understandable.
Plus “I just got robbed, so I am still pretty
pissed off, okay!” said Bollie using THE excuse that she would abuse later on.
Love you, girl.
We
were obviously late for the 8 PM air-conditioned bus (which in fact leaving at
7:45), so we took the economy class Perkasa Jaya (55.000 IDR) being the last bus scheduled
to depart at 9PM. We sit at the back of the bus and try to keep our voices
down. I said tried, not succeeding apparently. We chatted and giggled until our
jaws hurt, mouths dried, and our lids heavy…. At this, I think the other passengers were mumbling
“Finally!”
It
took 9 hours on the road before we got to Pangandaran. Upon arriving the bus
conductor asked us on whether we want to
be dropped at the beach or at the terminal.
“Terminal!”
we said.
And
soon he was calling for the beach-heading passengers to step off. And then he
asked us, still clouded with sleepiness, to step off too.
“But
we want to be dropped at the terminal,” .
“This
is the terminal”
“But
you said beach”
“Yes
this is the terminal and that is the beach”
Apparently
the terminal and the beach are in a walking distance, which made the first
question pointless since we’d all be dropped off in the same spot. Light
giggles soon turn our mood on.
The
terminal was smallish, in fact it doesn’t even count as one for us big city
girls. And except for the arriving passengers, there are no signs of “living”.
After
we freshened up a little in the public toilet we try to find ourselves an
angkudes to hire (a public transportation in the size of a station wagon, much
cheaper than rent-a-car, if you’re going alone rent an “ojek” instead.) We were
going to Batu Karas, a much quieter beach area about 45 minutes away from
Terminal Pangandaran. After small-talking with Kang Dede, the angkudes driver
we agreed to rent it for a day instead (for only 250.000 IDR including
gasoline). Again laughter boomed in the rusty yet reliable old car.
 |
| Kang Dede, our main-man! |
If you plan to stay Batu Karas, never, I mean never ever try to sleep at Pondok
Teratai. The caretaker was rude and very disappointing. I’ve booked a room two
weeks before and she said that all the rooms were full, and blame it on us.
“What do you mean we’re not confirmed? I’ve
called you twice. Here’s the phone
record“
“But
I don’t have your sms”
“I’ve
send one, right after I call.”
She
rushed back inside looking busy. Apparently she doesn’t have a note whatsoever
and rely solely on sms.
“Can’t
find your sms.”
“But
I called you twice, and you said yes.”
“Well,
this guy here called many times, and no room for him either.”
“If
you want another confirmation, then why don’t you ask us via sms to make sure.”
“Well
talking is easy, but I am busy. “
Rrrrriiiigggghhhtttt…..
What the fuck? We were irked by her rude response, and walked out even if there’s
a room available after twelve (with the cost doubled of course, thank you
effing much). We passed Pondok Teratai before dinner, and there’s a minibus
parked inside their lot. No sms my ass.
On
the brightside, we got ourselves a nicer and much cleaner room at Bonsai
Bungalows next door. The only room available is theone with the aircon and six beds for 500.000 IDR which is purrrfect
for the five of us. After a brief rest,
we go straight to Cukang Taneuh/Green Canyon.
You have to rent a boat (75.000 IDR, fit for five passengers) to see the Cukang Taneuh. But unfortunately since it has been raining all night, the water level along with current has risen so high it was too dangerous to sail through the canyon. So we could only saw it from a safe distance. On a sunny day the river's color is green, thus the name, but it was muddy brown when we're there. A bit of a bummer of course, since it's our main destination, but hey!
