Tangkuban Perahu is a volcano that's erupted as recently as a few years ago. I've never been up close to an active volcano before, so visiting this site was a new experience for me. And that's what travelling is all about.
Located 30 km to the north of Bandung, it's easy enough for someone staying in the city to visit as a day trip. That is if you have a vehicle. I researched getting there with public transport but it seemed like mission impossible.
My only real options were to hire a motorbike for the day or hire a car and driver. Since I haven't ridden a motorbike for 3 years and I've been in Bandung long enough to see how crazy the traffic is, I chose the less adventurous but safer option.
In fact, I hired a licensed tour guide because if I had just hired a driver they almost certainly wouldn't have been able to speak English.
Mr Cokey from Raja Tour Bandung was my guide. I found this tour operator through a Google search. They had hundreds of 5 star reviews so it seemed like a safe bet. Cokey was friendly, honest and knowledgeable and spoke perfect English, so the 5 star rating was true.
So getting to the volcano was easy. A nice drive through the scenic outskirts of Bandung in an air conditioned car.
At the entrance to Tangkuban Perahu I had to pay a foreigner entrance price of 200,000 IDR ($13 USD). Locals pay 1/10th of that. At least I went on a weekday. If I'd visited on a weekend the ticket would have cost 300,000 IDR.
The car park is located on the ridge of the main crater so I was greeted with a fantastic view right from the beginning. I was also greeted by a local guide, who's services were included in the ticket price.
Mr Uca is 66 years old and has been a guide at the volcano for 45 years. He basically knows everything about Tangkuban Perahu and was there during its past eruptions.
After taking some awesome photographs I was given a surprise by the main guide, Mr Cokey. It was a glass of Bandrek, a hot sweet and spicy local drink that the Sundanese consume to feel good.
That gave me the energy to do a bit of hiking. I paid an extra 200,000 IDR for the volcano guide, Mr Uca, to trek with me down to Domas, which is a hot springs area of the volcano.
In typical Indonesian fashion, it's mandatory to pay for the volcano guide to visit the hot springs. I'm not keen on being forced to pay for a local guide, especially when I already have my own guide who brought me there, but there was no choice.
After bargaining for a local souvenir during the trek down to Domas, I enjoyed dipping my feet in the hot spring water. Although I did get pestered by vendors offering to massage my legs with mud for the ridiculous price of 150,000 IDR.
Fortunately, one of the vendors recognised me from KZfaq and saw that I was filming. They quickly eased up on the hard sell and I got to enjoy my time in the hot springs mostly in peace.
After visiting the volcano I still had plenty of time with my guide / driver Mr Cokey. I wanted to try some local food that I wouldn't be able to find in other parts of Indonesia, so he took me to the Floating Market. It's a tourist spot with lots of vendors who sell their food from boats on a lake.
At that place I tried a local food called Colenak. It's a very local food, in fact. It's specific to Lembang which is the town that the floating market is located.
The colenak was delicious, as its name suggests. "Enak" means delicious in Indonesian language. It's fermented cassava that's then grilled, making it all sweet and caramelised. Then it's covered in a sweet sauce to make it even more tasty.
There's about 50 food stalls on boats at the floating market and other touristic things such as feeding animals, Instagram-able gardens and a rainbow slide.
The next stop after the floating market was a strawberry farm, which was a huge letdown as they barely had any strawberries.
The day got better from there, though, and will be continued in the next video.
0:00 Intro
06:16 Active Volcano (Tangkuban Perahu)
16:01 Traditional Java Drink
24:22 Trek to Domas
28:53 Bargaining for Souvenir
35:44 Hot Springs
48:44 Floating Market
55:16 Rainbow Slide
1:03:01 Colenak (Local Snack)
1:10:08 Strawberry Farm
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