Exploring Papandayan Mountain

Hai guys, maybe this is a very late post, but I think its always better late than never right? Lol. Me and my friends climbed the Papandayan Mountain - a mountain located in Garut, West Java.

It was begin just in Dwi's mind to go somewhere outdoor with me, and then I asked Temmy, my cousin to accompany me to go to Papandayan - which is the most great choice for us the noobs. And after so many discussion, finally we had 15 people in a team!! HAHAHA! People says that it was hilarious to have 15 members of hikers, but who cares? We love the togetherness! XD

We decided to have an agreement - that we just want to had fun on this trip to Papandarayan - no seniority and nobodys will get left behind, and yes, we took care of each others♥ 

Temmy is a very good team leader, he was the sweeper to make sure everyone was okay - we should open a travel agency, bro!

Papandayan is a quite easy mountain to hike and perfect for beginners like us. Don't dare to hike Rinjani or Gede Mountain, it's like catching a danger in the first place! There are lots of warung (mini store) on the mountain - we all surprised too. So after a long journey of walking, we sat there and had a coffee break.

We spent around 3-4 hours of walking to the Camping Place named Gober Hut. Sounds really challenging like we were playing the real Dota game. The path is not really hard in reality, it was just long, long, and uphill. This was also my first time to hike a real mountain - not only hills or cliffs. I need to have my exercise more! :(
Luckily we hired porter - someone who able to carry lots of weight for you to the top. We hired them to carry our carriers also food and mineral waters. Couldn't imagine the real extreme hikers who carry the things himself - I could die lol.

This pictures below is named Tegal Alun - a field of edelweiss, so freaking beautiful! This is my first time seeing edelweiss alive, you know the story right, edelweiss never dies, it's a symbol of eternity :)
That's why we cannot pick the edelweiss off from the tree, it's forbidden. I was fascinated with the beauty of this edelweiss field and the journey was really pay off! We spent like 2-3 hours walking slowly to this place because the heavy rain and then full of energy to CLIMB yes literally we climbed a very steep cliff to the top. My boots were all full with yellow soil. The rain made there was little waterfall between the cliff - made it harder to walk and climb. Thank God we all survived - I was survived with a bit complaints here and there! LOL! I was also quite upset because I couldn't take so much selfie and landscape pictures or even vlogging! But seeing this, made me feel refreshed ^^

Its all white and soft and beautiful

Full team minus ko Ben the photographer lol

Before the Tegal Alun field, we came to this super awesome Dead Forest or Hutan Mati. Can you describe the sublime experience? Here is one I want to show you!
It was all trees before, and Papandayan got exploded so the magma and lava full of sulfate came out and here is the result. A bit of tragic but ended up very awesome. Imagine something magical here like dragons, dark elves, or evil queens? Oh, I am such a dreamer.

Can you spot the fog?

After Tegal Alun, we went back to our camp area, and we found wild boar was destroying our tents to find some food! We were so shocked! But we finally managed to shoo the boar, what an experience to remember hah! XD

We spent the night expecting rain to stop but it didn't :(
We already brought some meat from Jakarta planning to have fun barbeque at the mountain but very sad we couldn't do that. We only succeed to grill some and then the rain really pissed off and we ended up sleep earlier inside tent... No quality time no wagyu satay no sleeping under stars...

Next day, we still on fire, we did not want the rain take off our happiness here. We already planned this vacation far before so we just want to have fun as much as we could. My body hurt, thigh could not be moved because maybe I rarely train the muscles so it become stiff and shocked. We separated - one going to the Tegal Panjang and one packed and back to the car park. Guess where team I was lol.

Tegal Panjang is a beautiful field of thatch (?) I am not sure the English but in Indonesian its called "ilalang". I got these pictures from Ko Ben the photographer. He carried big camera all the time for us lol. 
The path was really made me envy! It was rainforest jungle!! Can you believe that? A wild jungle a real one! I always want to experience the jungle-book or lion-king scene but I can't! :(

They said that actually in the jungle lived cheetah, bulls, panther, and so many jungle animals, but luckily they didn't meet one or I don't know how to say.
They walked around 4 hours just to see the tegal panjang, but it's a really worth journey! Enjoy the pictures :D

Anddddd finally they back to the carpark with the rest of us, we went home at the evening. What a very fun trip, I hope I can exercise more and I will conquer another mountains!