Enjoying Sukabumi
For more than twenty years, haven’t I stepped my feet in this southern city of West Java. Famous for its sweet delicacy, Mochi which tastes and looks like the Japanese one, and its pretty girl or Mojang as what Sundanese saying, Sukabumi offers stunning picturesque scenery which surely exceed one’s expectation, including mine.
My trip there came as a sudden impulsive long weekend getaway. Had to admit that my budget was kind of limited as I just came back from another a-week-trip to Japan previous month before. I thought that this getaway would mostly be a stay-cation and culinary adventure since the hotel that I booked was a pretty decent one. But I was wrong.
Me and two friends of mine started the Day One by visiting the famous Situgunung. It’s located 16 km from the city or a 30 min ride by car. Situgunung Tourism Area has range of various activities, from the instagram-famous suspension bridge to soothing Curug or waterfall. The name itself comes from the lake that’s located there (situ in Sundanese means lake, hence Situgunung literal translation is Mountain Lake). Should you choose to go there by car, you need to park the car on the gate outside the complex area which from there there will be another 1 km or so of hiking to reach the suspension bridge. Be mine to wear comfortable shoes and bringing extra clothes or rain coat will not hurt too. During my trip there, heavy rain came pretty bad it made us soaked wet and had to buy rain coat from local merchant.
Situgunung will cost you IDR50k. In our opinion, the price is worth the view plus you’ll get free welcome drink and snack.
The suspension bridge lies as long as 250 meter. They claim that this is the longest suspension bridge in the country. It’s built solely for tourism purpose: to enjoy the aerial view of forest from 150 meter above ground and to ease the access for Curug Sawer (Sawer Waterfall) that lies at the end of the bridge.
Fortunately, my friends were more prepared than I was. They had made reservation for rental car for our Day Two trip. We wandered to the southern part of Java Island, Pelabuhan Ratu and Ciletuh. It was a 2-3 hours trip and though it was a long weekend what I assumed to be a heavy packed traffic, apparently was not. The ride went well and hardly faced any traffic whatsoever.
We paid a visit to the Monastery Nam Hai Kwan Se Im Pu Sa. It’s built by the cliff on the beach and has this amazing panoramic sea view. On this monastery you can climb hundreds stairs to reach the praying area at the top of the cliff, the view was even more stunning.
Ciletuh itself, which part of the Geopark complex, was not very good. The weather was unbelievably hot (well it’s a beach afterall, should expect this better) and the beach sand was rather dirty. Our driver mentioned that across the sea by 15min ride with a boat we could reach Kunti Island which by his experience that it was more beautiful and not as crowded as Ciletuh beach. Yet we chose not to go there as the heat was unbearable and after short research on google the island didn’t startled us that much.
Curug Cimarinjung was our next destination. As someone that had almost-zero experience with kinds of waterfall, this one was majestic. Tall as high as 50 meters, you’ll be awed by how much amount water come pouring from that high. Since the curug is located near the sea, the water was colored brown from the accumulated mud of the mountain. Plus, it was a rainy season so more mud in the water. It was not as clear as what we saw previous day on Situgunung. But still, was it magnificent.
Ciletuh and Pelabuhan Ratu were separated by one big cliff yet it took 1 hour to reach either end. We paid a visit to Pantai Batu Bintang afterwards. The name came from the formation of star-like rock that protruding to the sea like a mini peninsula. It lies hundred of meters to the sea and people utilized this dock-like for fishing and swimming on a deeper water. It was also the starting point for local fishing ships to sail off.
As the emerging urban city closed to Bogor and Bandung, a lot of hangout places were starting to spur in Sukabumi. We tried this new place that had an industrial modern look, Di.Suatu.Hari. A rather unique name, it translates to Someday. Following the current trend of cafe, Di.Suatu.Hari widely offers the same pattern: excellent coffee taste, beautiful foods presentation and instagram-looking design interior.
It might not be the top-of-the-list vacation place on many people’s, to be frank there is a growing fond for Sukabumi for me. Lots of place to visit, to witness and to take photos. And this city should at least made to your top five go-to-place in the next long weekend holiday!
-R
Journey on Journal 