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Garut to Bandung

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It was the day I cycled from Garut to Bandung. I left Cipanas, 6 km out of the Garut town center without getting a breakfast. It was too early. Fortunately in Leles I found a road stall offering me an excellent gado gado which is a traditional dish in Indonesian cuisine, and is a vegetable salad served with a peanut sauce dressing.

Leles was promising because there's a temple to visit. It was a nice little 8th century temple: Candi Cangkuang. However after seeing Borobudur, Prambanan and Dieng Plateau, this one was not that exciting anymore.

I left Leles only to find out the road was slowly climbing again. I had expected that though so I wasn't very surprised. What I didn't expect was that at the junction in Nagreg the road went very steep up. It didn't take long but it was very steep.

What DID surprise me was that I saw now local Indonesian cyclists on excellent bicycles climbing the hills.

At the highest point, just before Cicalengka I was just over 1000 meters altitude. Then a quick and easy descent followed. Soon after Cicalengka I was on a 4 lane motorway where it was busy, especially in the other direction where it was a long traffic jam.

Garut to Bandung: cycling into Leles at 7AM

In Cimahi I witnessed a traffic accident, not strange if you see how some people behave on the road. Fortunately no injuries but it did create a traffic jam on the way to the motorway. I went however to Bandung following the old road. It was all urban jungle from here on. More then once I thought I must have been in Bandung but it turned out to be one of the many suburbs. And the closer I came to Bandung, the busier it got.

Living here generates a really "cool" view out of the window.

To my surprise I kept seeing cyclists too. I didn't like it at all. The road was busy and smelly. There wasn't much to see. The only reason I cycled it was that I had to pass Bandung.

Bandung railway station: working hard or hardly working?

I spend an extra day in Bandung to get some extra rest but as usual I felt a little lost in the city. Just north of the railway station it was quite pleasant and I found a nice little hotel away from the crowds. However, on the south side of the railway station it was chaos.

Compared to the minarets, the Mosque of Bandung looks very small.

There's still some Dutch colonial remains to be found in Bandung. And right in the middle of town there's still some left of the old city center. It's probably not what most people in Bandung are proud of. When I walked through these small streets it was clear this was an area of the very poor.

Bandung has several museums inside the city and many hotsprings around. In 1992 I had visited Dago and the waterfall there. This time I couldn't care less to go despite it had been a very beautiful and pleasant trip, I didn't feel the need to go back again.

I am not much a city person and I was glad the next morning to leave this very busy place, only to find out that I finally found those very busy roads that everybody always talks about when they speak of the traffic in Java.

Continue traveling to Bogor, Jakarta or take the road to Garut and Cilacap

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