Avet Vagari: More craters and sunrises at the Dieng Plateau

With another week before my flight from Jakarta, I decided to make one more stop before heading to Indonesia's capital. A friend had suggested the Dieng Plateau: a place for hiking, volcano watching, and sunrises. From Yogyakarta, I saw several private tours offering day trips to the plateau, but no one seemed to know how to get to the place by public bus (actually, several people knew, but they knew very different information). I headed to Yogyakarta's bus terminal in the morning, hoping for the best. I was told that there was an express bus leaving in the afternoon, but since I didn't want to wait, I was put on a local bus to Magelang, which took about an hour, but left immediately (it seems the local buses leave almost constantly). The Magelang station was tiny, with only a few minibuses, and I was directed to one headed for Wonosobo. That was a bit of a longer ride, and the bus was absolutely packed and extremely hot, but the mountains we were headed for looked beautiful. Wonosobo is a popular place for tourists on their way to Dieng to stay - apparently it's easy to find a ride up to the village, and the town itself is supposed to by lovely - but I'd decided to head all the way up and find accommodation there, since I knew I wanted to hike to see the sunrise the next day, so I asked for the bus to Dieng and was directed to a tiny (and completely full) van, where I perched on a stool beside the door. We drove into town, and then I was told to exit and wait for another bus to Dieng. I hadn't counted on this fourth bus, and was a little annoyed, but in the end it was a much more comfortable ride anyway. It was a long but gorgeous trip up into the mountains: everything green and covered in clouds. I found a guesthouse (crummy, as I'd read all the guesthouses in the area are) and then took a walk along the town's only road. I walked down to the crater lakes, which should be bright green, but in the evening they were rather unspectacular. I had dinner at one of the more popular guesthouses, where the owner gave me a map of the area and talked me through the sunrise hike for the following day, then crawled into bed after an exhausting day of travel.

Sleepy evening in the Dieng village

Mt. Merapi from Sikunir sunrise point

The next day I woke up at 3 and headed out along the dark road. There were a few local tourists around, but the walk was mostly quiet, apart from the occasional motorcycle heading up. The sky was mostly clear, and the full moon was so bright that I hardly needed my flashlight. The way was surprisingly well-marked (more so even than at Mt. Bromo, a far more commonly visited volcano). It was an easy walk too: only a slight incline up to the Sumbungan village (Java's highest village) where the vans and motorcycles must park, and the scenery was beautiful. The moon illuminated the outlines of the mountains and lakes as the path wound around them. Past the parking lot, the path became a series of steep, poorly maintained mud and stone steps - by far the hardest part of the trek. The top was crowded with people who'd driven up, but I didn't see any other Western tourists. It started to get light - there was gold behind the mountains and pink visible just beyond Mt. Merapi, which sat on top of a sea of white clouds - it looked as though the base was covered in snow. When the sun rose, the colors were spectacular, and then the sky turned a beautiful bright blue. The farms on the slope below us, and the sides of the nearer mountains shone emerald green, while Merapi - flanked on either side by more volcanoes - remained a smoky purple.

As I headed back down, a few villagers and farmers were on their way up; everyone I passed grinned and greeted me, and were delighted when I returned the greeting in Bahasa. The walk down was equal to the sunrise in terms of spectacular views: everything was vibrantly green and incredibly peaceful. Despite the weather forecast that had warned of rainstorms and clouds, the sun was shining and warming the otherwise chilly valley.

Lake at Sembungan village

My next destination was the Bukit Pandang, from where I was told I could have a good view of the crater lakes, without paying the exorbitant tourist entrance fee. It was a pretty steep incline, but it was absolutely worth it. From a bamboo hut built up above the hill, I could see down into the crater where the famous Colored Lake and Mirror Lake nestled into one another. Behind the two lakes are the gorgeous hills of tea plantations - the patches of neat green and brown rows seem like squares of some enormous quilt.

Bima temple

From the overlook, I headed to the Sikidang crater. I came to the Bima temple first: a lone stone structure, with beautifully carved Buddhas all along the top. From there I crossed through the gate to the crater itself, following the road through a sulphury wooded area - every so often a light blue, steamy lake was visible. I reached the crater - a barren landscape, across which several spots were letting up pillars of smoke. I followed a tour guide across the rock, stepping carefully over streams of boiling water. I came to the crater itself - unlike Bromo, we weren't high above it, but level with it, just inches from where the murky blue water was lapping over the edges. Hugh billows of smoke were coming from it, at times completely enveloping us, and nearby were several vents letting out wispy breaths of the same sulphuric smoke.

Dieng's most famous attraction, which I still hadn't seen, is the Arjuna temple complex, so I headed through the farmland toward the temples. I followed a narrow brick path through plantations, where farmers were watering and harvesting their fields, and finally came to a clearing where the five Arjuna temples stand. They were smaller than I'd anticipated, but the five of them in a row was quite a sight. They were all intricately decorated, with differently shaped roofs and windows and alcoves, and most were in good condition - although one was undergoing renovation. The backdrop of course was stunning: beautiful green hills and farms.

View from the road to the temples

Arjuna temples: Can you believe that sky?!

I had a classic Dieng lunch - Mi Ongklok (noodles in a fishy broth with veggies and chicken sate and peanut sauce) - at a little food stall, where I was the only customer. The owner, when she learned that I spoke Bahasa, was eager to chat with me and hear my opinion of Dieng. I finished my lunch, said goodbye and then spent the afternoon wandering in town, enjoying the sunshine and the atmosphere. The town is the definition of tiny, but the people I passed were so friendly and everywhere I looked were gorgeous mountains, and the occasional column of smoke from the craters dotting the landscape. I headed up one of the hills over the lakes to watch the sun set. As it did, the giant pillar of sulphur gas caught the light and turned a dazzling pink.

Mirror Lake and Green Lake at dusk

Sikunir crater smoke at sunset

Not useful.

I was planning to head back down to Wonosobo around midday the next day, to catch an overnight bus to Jakarta. Wanting to make the most of the day, I got up at 5:30 and started the walk up to the summit of Gunung Prau. It's a popular place for a sunrise, but to go up in the dark requires a guide, and, having already seen a Dieng sunrise, I decided not to spend the extra rupiah, and instead watched the sun come up as I climbed. The path winds steeply up and around the back of the guesthouses, looming over the town and the crater. It then turns into the farmland in the hills there, where only a couple of eager farmers had begun the day's work. Soon, I followed the path away from the farmland into a woodsy area, where pine trees were growing and the ground was extremely muddy (and fairly slippery). Even so, it was incredibly peaceful: I didn't see a single person going up, and only met people with their guides headed back down after watching the sunrise. It was around two hours up to a radio tower, where I was the only one looking over the 360 degree panorama of the spectacular mountains below me. Another 20 minutes took me to the summit, where there was a group who'd camped overnight, but otherwise the ridge was all mine. As it was still early in the day, I sat there for some time, just looking out over the valley on either side before making my descent down and saying a final goodbye to Dieng.