When We Went to Cianjur - Written by Len

Last of Id Fitr, my uncle, my nephews, and me were deciding to visit Gunung Padang, Cianjur. It was take more than three hours from our hometown, Purwakarta, to arrive there. We were four people who ride two motorcycles. It was nice trip when the road and the weather were supporting.

We arrived in Gunung Padang. Some historic tales say that Gunung Padang is  a pyramid that described the oldest civilization in this world. But it's just become a theory. The fact of Gunung Padang is not revealed yet. Some people say that the government is not giving the permission for Gunung Padang revelation.

However, it was become a history for me to stepped on Gunung Padang. I was able to feel the atmosphere with the cheap price. Maybe, when the theory of Gunung Padang is proven right, the tickets will be more expensive. The truth is always be expensive.

Me at Gunung Padang, Cianjur. Taken by my nephew.

But it (the atmosphere of Gunung Padang) have ended when my uncle lost his motorcycle key. So he and his son were deciding to climb down to look up it. It will make your feet tired when you are climbing onto Gunung Padang's upside. Therefore, I taught they won't deciding to climb to upside again. So I and the nephew one, were climbing down to see how the situation was. Of course, when you lost your key, any keys, just one thing you will get in sure: panic! But Alhamdulillah, the key was found. But unfortunately, we were deciding to leave Gunung Padang.

I don't know it was the stupid thing or the best thing when my uncle had an idea to explore Cianjur regency. So we were not took the same road as well as the departure. We took the road which make us to explore Cianjur. Do you know? The large of Cianjur regency is totally different with our hometown's (Purwakarta) large. One district of Cianjur is equal to one of regency as well as Purwakarta. And we rode our motorcycle to more or less (I forget) 3 districts of Cianjur.

So it was a long trip to back home. More than four hours, we were deciding to visit Karang Potong Beach. When we arrived at that beach, personally, I thought it is a beautiful beach. We arrived at five o'clock in afternoon. Well, it was an happiness to see the beach, but it was the terrible time to visit it.

I was thought that why we were not visiting this beach in the first time? But, in other side, our main purpose of this trip was visiting Gunung Padang. This beach is beautiful, but there are some rules to follow by visitors. First of them is we are not allowed to stay closer to the coast. Yeah, we are just given some places to see the beautiful of the sea. But I think it's enough. I still can hear the sound of the sea. I still can say that the sea is beautiful, but eerie.

The terrible time meant two things. First, the time when we arrived at the Karang Potong Beach was the time which near to the night. So we can't stay for a long time to enjoy it. Second meant was, the time when we arrived at the Karang Potong Beach was the time when the sky was cloudy. When the Magrib Call called, the rain came to the earth. So, it's was a terrible time when we visited Karang Potong Beach.

Me at Karang Potong, Cianjur. Taken by my uncle.

Then we were deciding to take our "wild idea". We were going home even it was rain and night. We wore our raincoat and we should face the fact that the trip to Purwakarta, was still long. What do you think? We were riding the motorcycles at night and rain, and the trip was still long. Someone who we met there, we called him "ustaz", doesn't believe that we were going to continue our trip after known that our destination is Purwakarta. He invited us to stay at his house that night and proposed to continue our trip in the morning of tomorrow. But we were nicely refusing the invitation and the propose.

One more thing that I can't believe was we should take the forest road. It was what Google Maps said. Could you imagine? It was night, rain, and forest road! While on the rode, I thought that to get the congested road is better than the forest road. We looked that the other vehicles were rarely. The indigenous was also rarely. The road was dark and cold. The forest road made me to feel the true of loneliness.

For a long time trip, we found a roadside stall. We took some rests there. We prayed Isa. When I was chosen to be Imam, I can't hold the cold. So I pointed my uncle to became the Imam and he did. Then we warmed up our bodies by a cup of coffee and a bowl of meatballs. When we asked the roadside stall keeper how long the trip to Purwakarta is. He said "it still long."! As we'll as The Ustaz, he doesn't believe that we were going to Purwakarta.

Our hearts were happy instantly when we arrived at Bandung. We were happy when the building of the city seen. We were happy when the road seen normally as well as Purwakarta. The atmosphere of Cianjur had been ended. Then we took a rest for while to eat nasi goreng (fried rice). More or less (I forget) two hours, we arrived at our hometown, Purwakarta. It was at 2 or 3 A. M.

Purwakarta

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