11/4/18 Weds: We woke up at 4am for the short drive over to bottom of Mt Sikunir (entry at IDR 10K per pax) at 4.30am. It was very dark, we had to use our phone lights, and though it was just a short 200m climb up some stairs, I was panting lol.
We got to the top of Mt Sikunir (2350m ASL) before 5.40am, the time of sunrise. In front of us was Mt Sindoro, another active volcano. Our guide, Diwu is a university student there, and he helped us take lots of photos while we enjoy the view of the "eggyolk bursting into life"~
There were a number of people around, but not so packed that we couldn't get photos by ourselves. Diwu suggested we change an angle too.
After 1, 2 hours, we made our way to the other side of the mountain, took some shots in the "forest" (which I loved a lot), enjoyed the scenery for a bit, and began making our descend back to the starting point.
Saw locals growing potatoes, tried some fried finger food and took photos of the "Dieng Brighton boxes" (resembled those in Melbourne haha~) before Diwu drove us over to Arjuna Complex to see the earliest surviving Hindu temples in Central Java.
If I didn't remember wrongly, Diwu mentioned that the place now is mostly filled with tourists, not exactly for religious praying much now. Interestingly, the temples all face the West.
We drove to Sikidang Crater, an active crater that emits sulphur smoke. People are advised to wear a mask, because the smell of sulphur odor is strong in the area.
Yes, you can still see it "boiling" from the surface! Dieng Plateau was formed from the eruption of the old Prahu mountain centuries ago, but volcanic activity is still active in the region today. The thing is, there are still residents nearby, shops and workers who would risk their health and life to go down to collect the rocks and make them into sulphur powder.
I bought a pair of slipper for IDR 25K. Next up, Diwu drove us to Telaga Warna, also nicknamed "the colourful lake" in Dieng Plateau. He parked the car across the road, and we had another long flight of stairs up a top to view the lake...
Not all that colourful, but the shades of green are pretty. There's a tree with platform attached to it, and we took turns to climb and help each other on top haha. *I think that Jess is more afraid of heights than me though lol.*
Diwu is another great photographer, isn't he? I love the last shot above.
The final stop for our tour at Dieng Plateau was lunch back at the same eatery we were at yesterday. WL had nasi goreng (forgot what I ate), and we bade goodbye to Diwu there (paid IDR 180K per pax for his guide and transport fees). Met a female solo angmoh traveller there who came to explore Dieng by herself too.
Adit drove us back to Yabbiekayu in Yogyakarta again, for our next 4 nights' of stay at Bungalow 3 there (S$448.20 for 3 pax). *The outdoor garden which allowed us to glance the rice field looked like a painting!* At night, we called for Grab and headed out to Mediterranea restaurant, apparently cheap and good for western food.
Only IDR 356K for 3 mains, one pizza, 2 drinks a beer that we ordered. The ambience was good too, and it was filled with many tourists. Later into the night, we cabbed over to Alun-Alun Kidul (Southern City Square), a shopping and makan area. We were too full to eat anyway, so we rode the Odong-odong (colourful cars blasting loud music and that worked like bikes) for 2 rounds.
There were two huge banyan trees in the middle of the square, and myth has it that one could only walk through the centre of the twin banyan trees (with eyes blindfolded) if they have pure hearts and no evil intentions. We saw many people and students playing it seems, but we didn't try it haha.
Not easy getting a Grab back to our Airbnb at night. Worse still, WL thought he'd lost the key for a minute, and we had to have the staff help open our doors. We were so sian and were prepared to pay money for the "lost key" until he'd found it somewhere... phew!
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