The Amazing Ujung Genteng ( Indonesia )

[pandawa]

It has been awhile since my last trip on my motorbike, I have been to Elephant Conservation in Lampung, wandered around Central Java, and the last one was a trip to Southern Banten, Sawarna Beach twice, first with my wife and second was with the guys from Indonesia. You can click below links to have a peep on the previous trips.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...lampung+kambas

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...tral+java+love

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...hlight=sawarna

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...hlight=sawarna

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...hlight=sawarna

ADV Indonesia have set to have a gathering to Dieng (I have been to Dieng on my Central Java trip) on May 21, 2009, unfortunately I cannot join the guys for the gathering as on the same day my brother in law held an engagement ceremony. I rather choose this one than sleeping on the couch aye. My brother in law’s fiancé lives in Sukabumi, 3 hours ride from Jakarta. I was thinking that it would be great if I could continue the trip to Ujung Genteng. So a week before the engagement, I dared myself to ask my loyal travel partner which is my wife whether or not we could continue the trip to Ujung Genteng right after the ceremony. As I expected, she said YES. AWESOME!

Then I started looking for more information about Ujung Genteng, mainly I was looking for information on where to stay, what to do and places we can visit around the area. I was wondering because I have never heard anyone in the family talk about this place. What I found was many visitors come to Ujung Genteng are foreigners, and most of them are professional surfer or windsurfer they have been to this place more than 10 years ago. Ujung Genteng became one of holiday destination for local people from the last five years because of this one guy Mr. Petrus (www.ujunggenteng.co.cc) who started his campaign and set holiday package to local people (mostly to young people and backpackers) and I guess word of mouth marketing works very well. Ujung Genteng is not a strange place for professional surfers and windsurfer the virgin beaches of Ujung Genteng are famous from the Aquarium beach to Seven Waves beach. I saw many pictures of these people on those beaches. These professional surfers are mostly come from Australia and many other countries. I wonder why we Indonesians not know much about this place, I only heard the name.

Beside the amazing virgin beaches, there is one place you cannot miss, the endangered sea turtle conservation. So there you go beautiful places to see.
From what I have read and have heard, the trip will take about 8 to 10 hours, such a long ride not to mention riding through mountain and hills beforehand.

What the heck, we have to do what we have to do if we want to visit this place

Okay, let’s the journey begin.

I woke up in the morning on 21^st May feeling excited. Since my wife and the big family going to drive and will go through on motorway, I decided to go earlier since motorbike can not pass the motorway to cut time so I could be in Sukabumi about the same time as they are.

First, check on my GPS to see how long it will take me to get there, but hey, you cannot really rely on GPS that much since it shows different route, it looks like it is circling than the normal one. So I decided to use common sense instead hahaha



I went to wash my motorbike first to remove all dirt and oil residue after the service a day before.

I filled up my gas tank first, bear in mind that there is no gas station in Ujung Genteng (only small gas kiosks but they charge a lot and who knows what they put in the gas) the closest will be 30 Km before Ujung Genteng, in Surade city. We will pass the city before Ujung Genteng. The gas also has lower octane rate.




The road was somewhat empty although it was a national holiday maybe because I went early in the morning and it stayed empty even after a half an hour ride. First stop was at Cicurug, smoking time, and I text my wife, she was still at Sentul which is one and a half hour behind me, great no need to be in rush then I will get to Sukabumi first.



I got to Sukabumi first, the cars were stuck in the traffic, so I decided to go to mount Gede it is close to where my brother in law’s fiancé live. There is an old tea plantation called “Pondok Halimun” I have only seen the plantation on TV when I was a kid so being close to the place and uncertain waiting time triggered me to make a visit, just to feed my childhood curiosity on what the place look like in real life.









Well Pondok Halimun is quite nice, it is 1000 meters above sea level, expect a fresh, breezing air (compare to polluted Jakarta this is a real fresh air). I saw many hikers at this place; they want to hike to the top of mount Gede. The view is nice and the tea plants look like a wide green carpet from above.

[pandawa]

While I’m enjoying the fresh air, there are a lot of missed calls on my cell phone from my wife and my brother in law, I called my brother in law cell’s, “Where are you?” he asked we are already at the ceremony and the whole big family is waiting for me. Dang... I have to go down and need to change my clothes as well and shoot! It will take me 45 minutes to go down on an off road condition.


I told my brother in law to wait for me
When I finally arrived at the place, everybody looked at me and booed at me “what took you so long?” hahaha. I made an excuse I have already there but they are late so I let myself finding a cup of coffee first hahahaha




Then the ceremony started, my brother in law gave a ring to his fiancée and bla bla and Oh my wife looks so different in traditional clothes (Kebaya and Songket), she is not in her riding gear .



And here they are the soon to be married couple.

.
At 1 pm the ceremony finished, great, I thought it would be finished later than that at 3 pm the least. Everybody headed back to our hometown except for us. Ujung Genteng here we come yippeeeeeee.

Okay, check the GPS again, and again we cannot really rely on it, as the route does not match. So I decided to follow the road sign to Ujung Genteng. We got ourselves into the wrong junction, we supposed to make a right turn later in Cibadak junction instead we made a right turn way before that, it was not a wrong route or anything only that the route we take is longer than the usual route. It took us 4.5 hours ride from Sukabumi to Ujung Genteng where it should have taken us 3 hours from Pelabuhan Ratu.
After 3 hours ride in the pouring rain, we made our first stop, to straighten our legs and have a ciggy break.

We made a stop at Lengkong, I asked the local people whether we are on the right path to Ujung Genteng, they said yes but Ujung Genteng us still faraway, shoot! I thought we were nearly there.





Alright…ride on the bike again after 45 minutes ride or so we got to Kiara Dua, we have to pass hills and mountain to get to this place, through tea plantation and Christmas trees (my wife said there were Christmas trees. Kiara Dua is a small village and is the meeting point if you take Pelabuhan Ratu route and is the only way to Ujung Genteng from this point.. Okay another 50 KM to Ujung Genteng at least we are on the right track now. We passed Jampang Kulon a three-tier city then Surade another three-tier city. We made another stop in this Surade to stock up on our cigarette and snacks just in case we could not find any snack and cigarette kiosk in Ujung Genteng



At last, the smell of ocean. We could see the ocean on top of the mountain around Ujung Genteng Welcome Gate (forgot to take a picture, I guess our curiosity defeated our narcissism hahahahaha alright another 15 KM from the gate to our hotel and Sunset is closing by as we got closer to the hotel. We stayed at Pondok Hexa, it is own by a lady from Jakarta as well. This is quite famous hotel in the area (my wife said that it is more of a motel or hostel than a hotel) a lot of families, backpackers and those who travel on their motorbikes well. The hotel is very decent located right on the front of the beach. I took a room with air con and no TV. It cost us around USD 40 for two nights.

[pandawa]

Finally, after 5 hours ride from Sukabumi and 2 hours ride from our hometown. I have a chance to stretch my legs properly and straightened my waist now. After one hour, lying around we took a shower and headed to the hotel restaurant for dinner. We met Mang Engkus; he is a multitasking man in the hotel. He is the hotel manager, the head of the chefs and bellboy as well. He offered us a tour to the sea turtle conservation at 9 pm, the tour always take place at night as that is when the turtles climb offshore and lay their eggs before going back to the ocean. He said I can not ride on my own bike as the path is quite difficult for a bike like mine. We have to go through Mangrove trees, bushes and sandy path not too mention that the path is wet because of rain yesterday, most of the Guide (a bike taxi) ride on 100 cc motorcycle, which is lighter and smaller. I insisted on riding my own motorbike and need the guide altogether. He said okay just be careful because I am not used to the track.

So at the 09.00 pm, Gunawan, the Guide cum one of a chef in the hotel cum a tour guide came to our room. We left the room at 9.30 pm, I asked how long it takes to get to the place, he said 20 minutes. Okay fine not too long then. Off we go, we had to pass three small rivers, went through mangrove trees and bushes and also ride along the beach shore on paths that have been created by all this Guide (note; they took what ever paths to their liking and to their convenient as there are no right paths here, no road sign no street lights). I almost fell off my bike 5 times, riding through unclear paths in the middle of the night not too mention passing a dozen of small puddle. Finally, we got to the sea turtle conservation after 30 minutes ride.



My bike surrounded by the Guides’ motorbikes

We had to walk (damn!) along the beach for 600 meters to get to where the turtle lay eggs, it was so damn dark I could only hear the waves crashing the shore, my wife was muttering she had a hard time catching her breath hahahah we had to hurry and no lights allowed before the turtle finished burying her eggs on the beach. After half way down on the beach we saw camera lights flashing, DANG! Do we miss it? I was sort of running toward the flashlights when I got there I saw one turtle about mid size (Gunawan said that it was not big compare to other turtles which three times the size) to me it was big already hehehehe everybody was busy taking pictures the poor turtle as she was digging her way back to the ocean. This is an endangered species, as I heard from Gunawan there are people from Jakarta or somewhere try to bribe the conservation watchmen for the turtle eggs even though the price is expensive and most of the time these people got their wish. It is too bad, aye?





Ah God creation, so beautiful
.
After seeing baby turtles (they are release to the ocean in the afternoon at 5 pm daily) we headed back to the hotel, another riding in the dark heheheh



I felt so tired and tried to close my eyes at 12 am we have a plan to see the sunrise from the fish market pier. Have I mentioned that Ujung Genteng is place where you can view both sunrise and sunset altogether?

We managed to wake up in the morning even if it was a little late, it was kind of cloudy but we headed to the fish market anyway to view the sunrise and get ourselves some breakfast.







After taking a couple of pictures around the fish market, we headed back to the hotel. My wife did not feel okay, she needs to lay down for a couple of hours. We plant to go to Cipanarikan beach to view the sunset. Cipanarikan is located after the Sea Turtle Conservation. It is one of a nice beach in Ujung Genteng. A must visit place.

While my wife taking a rest, I went out wandering around the neighborhood, taking some pictures and getting lunch for us. I was lucky as the day was such a beautiful day, clear sky was so blue and the wind was not that harsh. For Jakarta people who most of the time cannot view any blue sky, this is a utopia.

[pandawa]

At 4 pm the guide, this time it’s Gunawan’s friend, we are ready to go to Cipanarikan, what a beautiful day and I hope it will last. We went through the same track we went the night before to Sea Turtle but like I said, this guy also took different paths. Now I could see the track I have went through the night before, it is indeed bumpy and quite off road, with several motorbike tracks laying around the area.













We finally got to the beach, I dared asking the guide whether or not I could take my bike to the beach and he said “this is where you can park the bike, unless you are able to climb on the steep hills before getting to the beach and lose the grip of the bike and fell off to the river”. At that moment I was ‘Naaaaa, I want to enjoy the trip with my bike”







After 10 minutes walking up to hills I could see the beach. WOWWWW that is the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. I reckoned this one is even nicer than beaches in Bali maybe because it is still a virgin beach. The beach has a white, clean sands and big waves I hope this beach stays this way in the next 10 years..but I doubt it.






We started running around and playing at beach, enjoying the view.
What a nice view, we started taking stupid pictures of ourselves on the beach hahahaha









We enjoyed at this place until sun went down.

[pandawa]

We headed back with satisfaction filled in our lungs, even if I had to go through the same tracks again I do not care.

Our last day in Ujung Genteng, after got ourselves ready and packed our stuff into the motorbike boxes, we headed to Curug Luhur Cikaso, it is an hour ride from Ujung Genteng, located around Surade area. Curug Luur Cikaso is a waterfall, famous Indonesian bands have made their video clips here. Off we go. We make a right turn from Surade to Tegal Beulud area. It is located around 5 or 6 KM from Surade main street.


We have to visit to this place, the road sign to this place is pretty clear. We finally got there, parked our bike and headed to the river where a rented boat is waiting to take us to the waterfall. You have to go through the river to get to the waterfall, as it is quite a long walk if you insisted to get there walking. It cost around USD 6 to rent a boat, we divided our rent with a couple of students hahahaha.







The waterfall is beautiful, there are three waterfalls side by side, I cannot capture them altogether in a shot since I do not own a wide lens.







After quite sometimes we decided to call it a day. It is time to go home; our daughter is waiting for her slice of an adventure in a water park swimming heheheheh.


We took a different route home, we made a right turn to Pelabuhan Ratu route at Kiara Dua instead of taking the same route we used three days ago. We had to pass the tea plantation, hills and Yes, we took a different road now, through the pelabuhan ratu. But tracks are still the same we had to go over the mountain and hills, but it is shorter from the first route. We finally out of the hilly mountain and got to Pelabuhan Ratu, had lunch and headed off to Jalan raya Bogor Sukabumi. The holiday is over people are heading home as well, the result heavy traffic we took another route to Bogor, through Cipaku area. Rain accompanied our trip home right until Jakarta.

So long Ujung Genteng, we might pay a visit there one day with my daughter.

Where is to next? hahahahahaha

Thank God for your beautiful creation and thank to my lovely wife to always say yes for any trip on the motorbike

Where is Ujung Genteng, Please find coordinate and map below

[achesley]

Looks like you people were having lots of fun. Thanks for sharing.

[Gadget Boy]

thanks for showing us your part of the world.. it certainly is beautiful.. looks like a fun time and ride

[T-REDZ]

Originally Posted by Gadget Boy

thanks for showing us your part of the world.. it certainly is beautiful.. looks like a fun time and ride

Thank you Bro..
Such a nice compliment.. Come visit Indonesia then sometimes..

[pandawa]

@ GB and achesley, Sure it's for fun mate

[Fustercluck]

Very cool pics, thanks for sharing those.

[calrider]

Thanks for the wonderful report. Indonesia really looks like a beautiful place. Keep them coming!

[pandawa]

yes it is a beautiful place, just come over mate..

[motocrazy]

Thanks for the ride report and great photography. My father is Indonesian but I have yet to visit (I live & grew up in the US).

[the darth peach]

I love that last pic!
Thanks for the report!

[pandawa]

Originally Posted by motocrazy

Thanks for the ride report and great photography. My father is Indonesian but I have yet to visit (I live & grew up in the US).

Ask your father to see his hometown, I think he know where all nice spot in here