LifeInContrast.com

Last weekend we took a trip to the province of Garut. First stop was the traditional village of Kampung Naga, where they eschew the use of electricity and live the way their ancestors did. It was a little depressing to see antennas sticking out the top of some of the huts, but it didn’t detract from the natural beauty.

(View near Kampung Naga - click thumbnail to enlarge)

Then we headed to our hotel, and later on to some hot springs with an awesome water slide. Read all about it on Denise’s blog. We also visited the resort-y Kampung Sampireun with beautiful uplit palm trees, a fantastic buffet, and traditional Sundanese dancing (see below).

After a crappy night’s sleep, we headed up to the smoldering volcano known as Papandayan. On the way we saw this other “floating mountain”:

Check out the pictures below of Papandayan, one of the most active volcanos in Java, and know that the sulfur crystals were truly that yellow, and the smoke was extremely noxious to the nostrils.

Then we traversed a small lake to an island that holds the oldest stone Hindu temple on Java. It’s also very possibly the smallest Hindu temple in the world - it couldn’t have been more than 50 square feet of land area. A little bit anti-climactic, but the trip on the bamboo boat provided some stunning views:

This weekend we are off to Pangandaran (the most popular beach on Java) and the smaller Batu Karas beach.  Can’t wait to catch some waves and see if I can remember how to surf.