One of my favourite cousins, Uju, came over for a visit. I say ‘one of my favourites’, so as not to offend any of those who have visited already, or are planning to in future… 😉

We had an action-packed holiday, starting with the volcano outside Bandung – Tangkuban Perahu. The weather is always cool at Tangkuban Perahu, but not enough to justify sales of Russian-style woollen caps and mufflers! You can drive right up to the crater, and we usually have the driver take the car down to park at Kawah Domas. Such crowds on a Monday morning… until we realized it was the week of the Chinese New Year!

After the mandatory crater photo ops and the walk through the market, purchasing unnecessary souvenirs, we hiked downhill to Kawah Domas – the crater with the hot springs. The hike is easy, and quite short, but it is still nice to dip your feet in the warm pools at the end of the trail, and rejuvenate yourself for the walk back to the car.

Eggs are available all along the path to be boiled in the steaming, bubbling crater, if you go for that sort of gimmick. Plus, there are plenty of foot scrubs and massages on offer, as is evident from some visitors getting into their ‘avatar’:

On the way back you can admire the foliage, especially the lush giant ferns.

We skipped lunch, in an attempt to escape the Bandung traffic, but were waylaid by some fruit and vegetable stalls by the roadside, and HAD to stop for fresh pineapples (eaten slurpily right away) and pumpkins (to be turned into divine cake later).