This writing is the second part of my post about the mystiques of Tangkuban Perahu Mountain. While the first part I explained to you about the famous legend behind the origin of the Mountain, this second part will detail to you a bit about stuff that you can do while you are there. And no, despite the legend involved in here, unfortunately you cannot kick any boats in there (which is admittedly a shame…)

The mountain itself is located approximately around 30 kilometers away from Bandung, and can be reached in about 30 minutes using private vehicles. You can also usually rent a taxi (typically the minimum rent period is 5 hours, with additional charge applies for any extra hour) or if you don’t want to be hassled, there are numerous travel packages available from various travel agents. You can go there with public transportation as well (cheaper, but be ready to be inconvenienced): travel first to Lembang, before heading towards Subang, before finally arriving at Tangkuban Perahu.

The mountain is seated at an elevation of 2.084 meters above sea level, so a good stamina and health is recommended if you want to visit all the things that the mountain offers (jackets and sweaters are recommended since the weather is kind of cool.) Any troubles getting there is well worth the effort since the tradeoff is great: this mountain provides you with an area with the sort of natural beauty and scenery that are still relatively virgin from any human influence, making it a rare treat especially in times where cities and places tend to get more and more crowded and polluted.

Tangkuban Perahu Mountain is actually an active volcano, although do not let this fact scare you. There are certain spots that cannot be traversed due to natural hazards, but the areas permissible to be explored are nevertheless very beautiful and unique in their own ways. There are currently nine craters available in this Mountain: Kawah Ratu, Upas, Domas, Baru, Jurig, Badak, Jurian, Siluman, and Pangguyungan Badak. The first two, Kawah Ratu and Upas, are the biggest two amongst the nine. Some of these craters cannot be visited, however, due to the fact that they exude harmful toxic gas that you wouldn’t want to be best friends with. You are required to purchase the service of a guide if you want to explore the craters—one escort is worth around Rp. 20.000,- (US$ 2) to Rp. 30.000,- (US$ 3), which is not significant compared to the coolness factor and bragging rights stemming from visits to a crater of an active volcano. Be advised, however, that the sulfur carries with it some strong odors—those who are easily nauseated by such smell are strongly recommended to carry with them things that can be used to block or at least reduce the blow: stuff like perfumed handkerchief and the like.

There are numerous other things too. Peddlers and sellers are quite abundant around the site. They can either be a blessing or a curse depending on your viewpoints. More often than not, they are very persistent in trying to sell their items to the visitors its borderline annoying and troublesome. The flip side, however, is that some of the items they’re selling are indeed quite interesting, and if haggling skills are one of the things you have learned well in your life, they will serve you very well in this place. Amongst the things that you can purchase here are carved stones and onyx, jewelries and trinkets, dolls-bags-hats from synthetic fur, and even pieces of sulfur that (allegedly) can be used for medication purposes.

Places to eat and stay are available near the premises (Saung Ranggan and Mawar Hotel is the closest restaurant and Hotel, respectively), although of course fine dining or luxury Hotels are not an option (yet) here. This place is also situated very close to Lembang, which is a very popular place to visit as well (I will discuss that place on another post), so all in all, it’s a great idea for you to visit Tangkuban Perahu if you are in Bandung.

Tags: Bandung Tourism Spots, Mountain, Tangkuban Perahu, Tangkuban Perahu Bandung
Categories: Bandung Tourism Spots

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 2:45 AM and is filed under Bandung Tourism Spots. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.