That didn't happen on 1st January 2018. My friend asked me to join her spending new year night camping at Ndlundung camp site. "Well, why not!" I said. Going out town has always been special for me, more special than the new year eve itself.
My friend is a Christian, she took her Church friends and family for camping. Seem that I was the only Muslim joining the event. But that's okay, being different in faith is not a problem in friendship to Indonesian. We could get along well by respecting each other faith.
So I went with my friend by motorcycle to the camp site in 2 hours ride. Her friends and family will come later. The chilling breeze of mountainous region grasp us on our way. Along with beautiful scenery of Mt.Penanggungan slope. Green rice terraces carpetting the slope, making it more jaw dropping. Luckily the road itself was in a good condition, and the clear sky has been more supporting on our way. Clouds encircling the top of Mt.Penanggungan, made it look more mystical than it is before.
Mt.Penanggungan is a small sleeping cone shaped volcano, located in East Java. It is a part of Arjuno-Welirang volcanic line, one of volcanic compound in East Java. Its position is somewhere in the middle of those two other volcanoes, Mt.Arjuno and Mt.Welirang. These volcanoes, especially Mt.Penanggungan, has played a big role to the Javanese culture and history. It is said to be a sacred mountain as many historical remains found on it. Those remains dated back a thousand years ago.
Many tents has been set up at Ndlundung camp site. We had a hard time to find a good place to set up our own. There are tents belong to local boyscouts. But they were on the other side of the location we intented. So I went around to find the left over places, we have five tents to set up, unfortunately they are going to be set seperately. There is a woman that helped us setting up our tents. She's been here from the day before. So that she can find the best spot earlier. My own little tent sit beside hers.
The time comes when the other members came. There were many of them, 12 of them I guess. I didn't know she would take the whole church members. Once we settled down, we got busy with our own evening activities. I was planning to wash myself at the nearby river before the sun down. I took one of smaller member with me to the river. He was a 10 years old boy having the same adventure sense.
The camp area is full of pines. Its shape like teraces with pine trees in between the tents. I walked down following the river sound. Once I stepped foot on the small river, I was amazed by the surrounding scenery. Lush rain forest vegetation covering almost most of the hills area on the other side. While its valley is full of crops with small clean water river, or I should say canal, on its side. The water itself is managed in a way that it could flow in between terraces. All I could see was green color. Green and refreshing.
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| Boyscout's camp |
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| The location of our tents |
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| The flowing water through terraces |
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| Terraces of the valley |
Reminder of Childhood
I followed the river upstream to find good spot for getting wet. The river flow is as deep as my feet. It runs fast. I had to cross it several times. Then suddenly, I saw a natural pool on the river branch not far from where I stood. "That's the place I'm looking for" I said to myself.
The water was freezing cold, I had to slowly put my feet into the water. After I took of my long pant. It's time to get wet, litterally. The stream forming a small waterfall going to the pool. Though it's not as deep as the normal swimming pool. Having this in the middle of nowhere is fun. We had fun for few hours. Taking photos and underwater videos is a must to do as we got all wet.
This made me forget that I was a grown up man, feel like my childhood came back to me. No, it's not the time to be an adult. There was no one else but me and the little boy that time. So nothing disturbing our fun time. The boy was busy catching the water bugs, one that stay float with their long thin legs. When I, on the other hand, was busy making underwater videos.
The noisy night
When we came back to the camping site, the other members start to do the same. I took a rest a little while with chocolate bar on my hand. The other adult members were starting to make diner.
When the night came, many other campers started bonfires. We made our own too, but it was intended to cook our fishes. A delicious diner I would say, nasi and grilled fishes were the main menu. Not to forget the coffee I brought along. They too have coffee, but I prefer my fresh grinded Mandheling coffee.
The blurry moon and the stars covering most of the sky view, the cricket noise too, dominating the night. Everyone was busy chatting and joking around with their camp members. Some laughing very loud for hours. These noises made me feel like I wasn't in the middle of the jungle.
I got sleepy so easy, I thought that there were nothing else to do after diner time. Most of the members were new to me. I couldn't get along to all of them, only a few. So I decided to lay down in the tent. Yes, I was alone inside a dark tent. I could hear the crickets noises from surrounding, and yes, the loud laughing too.
I thought I could get a good sleep coz I was in the jungle. I was wrong. The culture of having fireworks during the new year night had come to remote area like this. Holy shit, I didn't expect that. It's been going for as long as two hours I guess. So I couldn't sleep the way I wanted. I was dreaming of a good undisturbed sleep while camping. I didn't want to see or hear fireworks like one we have in cities.
Resolutions and the new beginning
Yeah, that's my new year alright! I had a good time, so I thought. I woke up early in the morning 1st of January. Fresh air was all I need, I am sure it will refresh my mind. To get more refreshing to my body, I went to the pool again. My friends were already there having shower.
There were small dispute before we went home. I decided to get my tent ready, while they insisted to have breakfast. So I left my half ready tent for them. Simple breakfast was enough for our energy. Once we finished, we continue packing up our stuff. Not too much for this new year, but it's enough.
Well, my resolutions to be done would be, more traveling and setting up new bussiness. I haven't done exploring East Java, especially the south coast region. My book would not complete without doing so, and I hope it will be done sooner than I expected. Coz I can't wait to explore the Nusa Tenggara Islands once my book is done.
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| Small waterfall |
