Kawah Putih

Almost every time I went back home to Jakarta, we always went to Bandung for a night or two just for a short getaway and mainly to eat Bandung local food that I could not get in Jakarta. I heard so much about Kawah Putih (translated: White Crater) and people kept telling me to go when I visit Bandung, so I'm glad I finally did late last year.



Kawah Putih is volcanic crater located at Ciwidey which is about 50km from Bandung. But really, it took hours to get to this place. Traffic jam is just business as usual both in Jakarta and Bandung, but I kid you not the trip from Bandung city to Ciwidey felt like forever regardless we left early in the morning trying to beat the traffic. I remember we went on a Sunday too and they had a local market on Sundays it seems. We got stuck at this market where the whole street was just full of private cars, local public transport and general people walking. That's right guys, no strict traffic rules in Indonesia. People walking and crossing the road wherever they want, public transport stops to get passengers and let passengers out wherever they want.

Anyway after about 3 hours or so we finally managed to get there. We saw a lot of tourists already at the parking area (of course). Exhausted from the road and seeing so many people, I wasn't feeling too excited. But you know, people talked about this place and I guess it's somewhere that I haven't been so I can tick it off my list.

As soon as I got out of the car, the air outside was quite chilly. I mean, I know we were quite high up above the sea level, but I guess in my head I always think of my home country having this hot and humid tropical weather all the time. After a short walk through this path, in front of me was this beautiful crater lake with the turquoise colour water surrounded by the hills and the mist or fog just keep moving and dancing above the lake. So. Pretty. Yes there were just too many tourists and if there weren't as many this place would have been perfect, but I was just struck by the beauty of this view that I could almost ignore the crowd. I could watch this lake and the mist for hours.

So if you happen to be going to Bandung, I highly recommend you to check out Kawah Putih. If you can, organise your trip on weekday instead of weekend and start making your way from Bandung city as early in the morning as possible, you should probably leave at 6am to avoid bad traffic. That's what I would do if I have a chance to visit again.

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