Pangandaran Things to Do

By now we were starving. We went for dinner
in a little village near the beach.
We didn't had much instructions like
'we leave at that hour or....'
The nice thing was we all got along just fine ,
the mood was relaxed and lazy...

The five of us had dinner together ,
exchanging tips and what we learned
on food by now.... nice , interesting.
They hadn't tried the fried sweet tempeh...and
we didn't knew...

And afterwards.... swimming.
This place was called 'Batu Karas'
And is know by surfers. The beach seemed to
be at least a little bit cleaner...
We rented a big motor tyre and let ourselfs
go with the flow.

We watched those characteristic blue crab fish
on the rocks...

After the swimming we made a stop in a little
village to see the rotan bridge.
This bridge has an important role in the local
community. You see the village was at one
side but the kids went to school at the other side.

This hanging bridge was quit strong. They
even drove over with a motorcycle.

Everybody who wanted to go to the
other side had to pay a 500 indonesian roepia.
For them it is quit expensive I guess...
For us it is about 0,05 euro.
An example of local economy.
(if you look at the sign board , the latest cathegory ,
WISATA , that are we , the tourists. lol)

Near the water here were growing palms.
A special kind of palm that is used to make
the roofs water proof. It is a palm that grows
as one single stalk with leaves.

My absolute highlight that three weeks during
holiday if I had to choose one thing ,
it would be THE GREEN CANYON .

Absolutely amazing.
The picture is taken before really ariving at
the green canyon. At the time we were in
Pangandaran it was really quit there.
But it was weekend and you could sence that
a lot of weekend tourists were expected.
So , I would have thought that there would
be a lot of people going to the green canyon..

But that wasn't the case.
You could get there by public transport ,
but it isn't easy and one of the local tour
operators is an easy and cheap solution.

So , we went with the five of us , one guide
and one driver and a german couple and
another 'Antwerpenaar'. It's a small world.
About 30 km to go.
Of course we had to make a stop first...

At the end of the peninsula there is a
national park and a nature reserve.
It is not that big...540 hec.
And a part of it is open for public.

The entrance fee is so low...

If I heard about the place , the comments
where not too positive.
Not too much animals , dense vegetation , small.

I loved it ...it is very nice and special.
It rises up from sea level and I had one of the
most remarcable meetings in my life.

Pangandaran is a village , 20 000 souls strong.
60% of them live from the sea and 40%
have an income from agriculture.
That is what someone told me.

Who are all those people selling souvenirs and
having hotels...

Whatever...the special thing about Pangandaran is
its location. It is a peninsula. Both sides of the
village have got nice beaches.
And that is rather unique on Java.

But the best parts are still to come...

My favorite playground near Pangandaran beach....

..... overlooking fishermen's boats...