The Road To Puncak

Two months ago, I spent the weekend in the Javanese Highlands in an area called Puncak (pronounced pun-CHAK).I was getting my Jamaican grove on with the small Jamaican contingent I know in Jakarta. It was DJ P's birthday and he wanted to celebrate out of the city and enjoy the lushness and calm plus building some irie vibes with his friends.

Puncak is situated around the peak of Mount Gede – Pangerango in West Java and is about a two hour drive south of Jakarta. With its lush greenery, low level of pollution and all around chill out factor, it is no wonder why it is so popular with Jakartans especially on weekends so driving there should be a breeze, right? Eh, no!

In what was supposed to be a two hour journey, took over FIVE HOURS! To say I was not a happy camper from leaving Jakarta to getting stuck in about hundred miles traffic on the highway to Puncak had put me and my travel companions in a foul mood. Not to mention that some people turned back to Jakarta including my ride home There was a solution to this whole ordeal and that is to take an alternative route. How to find one is the question, therefore we got a little help on the way.

While we were stuck in traffic thinking out loud on how to get to Puncak. It was already dark at 7:30 and we were getting antsy. Our Indonesian driver spotted this young lad walking along the traffic queues saying he knows an alternative route. The driver and JP (South African who speaks fluent Bahasa) pricked up their ears and spoke to the young boy. The polite enquiring then turned turned into a heated negotiation about how much it would cost them for the information he's given.

So we agreed RP70,000 plus he gets to ride with us for assurance.

With the ride being fraught with dark and narrow back roads up a mountain, our little helper giving us football banter (he's a Chelsea fan) and getting a little lost on the way. It took us over a further 2 hours to get to the villa. So we got there at 9:30, a little pissed off and busting for the loo but all those ill feelings were set aside when I saw the food and liquor on offer. With lovely Jamaican food in my belly and building up some good vibes. We all danced the night away and had some great conversation. Our good time was halted by an Indonesian who was clearly not a fan of Dancehall music (kill joy), I went to bed and slept in one of the many beds available at the villa.

 

We left a few hours later at 9:30am to avoid the traffic back to Jakarta but alas the traffic gods that be just cannot let it be. We were stuck in the hills of Puncak in miles of traffic facepalm. I was not impressed again we took a dangerous alternative route thanks to an ojek. We got back to Jakarta around 1:00pm. So if you calculate it, we spent more time in the car than in Puncak. This made me frown. I already griped about Jakarta traffic in a previous post, but this by far was the most unpleasant journey I've had since I've been here.

Despite this I took some pictures of the lovely setting and I would love to give Puncak a second shot:

Living room in the villa

Lakeside of the villa

Rice and Peas and Oxtail

I stayed at Puncak Bukit Danou.