Beach therapy: Reaching Jakarta escape velocity

Beach therapy: Reaching Jakarta escape velocity

Metro mad. Hey, what a wacky name. If anything though, it is
an understatement. In Jakarta, just the journey down to the
supermarket to purchase a shopping trolley full of instant
noodles and prophylactics can be enough to turn one into a
jabbering, batty, loonball. It is a jungle of money grubbing,
urban paranoia out there. A gray, post-nuclear winter harvest of
baso balls, perspiring cab drivers, irritatingly chirpy credit
card promotions girls and ATM queues. This city can sometimes
feel like a wire stretched across the hemispheres of your brain
as taut as it will go before its snaps like some malevolent
hypnotist's fingers, awakening the dreamer into a vision of hell.

It can sometimes take an effort of will to break the cycle of
urban self abuse and drag one's sorry behind out-of-town.
However, the effort is invariably rewarded with the supine sense
of well-being that comes from communing with the glories of
nature ... except for the mosquitoes of course, they can get
stuffed.

It can be easy to be down about this country when choking on
the dusty, rectilinear, concrete hyper reality of Jakarta while
simultaneously reading news stories about all the dreadful things
that go on here. Outside the metropolitan area though, West Java
can be one incredibly beautiful place. Volcanic highlands,
deserted beaches, hot springs, forests and mountain peaks: all
these can be yours and as a bonus, Indonesians living outside of
Jakarta also seem to be generally more relaxed and amenable than
their urban counterparts.

My preferred haunt is Pelabuhan Ratu which can be reached by
traveling directly south from the capital until one hits the
coast about 150 km or three to four hours drive away. I usually
find that around Bogor the sphincter muscles begin to relax and
the air starts to freshen. After that, the final 40 km to the
beach (don't miss the turn just before Sukabumi) are quite
breathtaking. This road to the coast is in very good condition
but is virtually deserted as trucks and buses dare not take it as
they risk certain doom on the hairpins. The road winds through an
amazingly lush and panoramic mountain pass before crossing a
raging river and plunging down to the coast.

When you reach Pelabuhan itself, pick up a fish from the fish
market ready to be cooked later in a beach hut warung, all sizes
are available, from little tiddlers to what appear to be basking
sharks. Heading along the coast from town you will find yourself
on a gorgeous, 20 odd kilometer beachside run from Pelabuhan
itself to the town of Cisolok. The road takes in long deserted
beaches, paddy fields, avenues of trees and various cheap(ish)
hotels and restaurants. Along the way you pass the huge Samudra
Beach Hotel. Originally a haunt of first President Sukarno, a big
Pelabuhan fan, but now simply haunted, the hotel is in a pretty
sorry state of disrepair, truth be told. About 10 km along the
road from town you pass a place called Pondok Kencana on your
right. This is a spacious complex of very comfortable chalets run
by Australian expatriate Mr. Leo. Opposite Pondok Kencana you
will find Ombak Tujuh, a hotel/restaurant/bar, which features
live music and is the nearest you will get to nightlife on this
peaceful stretch of coast.

A few hundred meters down the road is a small village called
Cimaja. This is where the surfers hang out as the good breaks can
be found here. Budding surfers should drag themselves down to
Daun Daun, a cheap surfers hotel and also the Green Room, a
surfers bar and hangout opposite. A friend of mine likes to joke
that these surfing expats do not actually surf, but instead carry
their boards down the path to the beach to some secret bar every
morning, only to return at sunset with a set of fabricated
surfing anecdotes.

A couple of km further down the coast is a placid strip of
sand known as Sunset Beach, which is a good option for the non-
surfers. Here one can stay at Wisma Tenang, a cheap hotel that
opens out onto the beach and is run by Dutch expat Mr. Charles.
Opposite Wisma Tenang, Annie's Tavern, run by long time German
expat Mr. Dieter, will provide you with hearty food, drinks and
bonhomie. Another much-loved place to stay is the Ocean Queen
resort, which can be found a further 5 km or so on from Sunset
Beach, past the village of Cisolok. Moreover, a km or so inland
from Cisolok there are some hot springs, which are great fun to
visit although it is seemingly not humanly possible to enter the
hottest of the pools without boiling oneself alive in 20 seconds.

Pelabuhan Ratu is an excellent place to surf, re-harmonize
your chakras or drink duty free vodka on the beach under the
shade of a tree while some local ibu massages your cares away.
Unfortunately, business is not so good for the locals down here
at the moment. The 1998 financial crisis did some of the damage
to the tourist scene here, but last December's tsunami has also
deterred many Indonesians from venturing within 10 km of the sea.
The Indian Ocean is unquestionably dangerous and people drown all
the time on Java's south coast; victims of the vicious undertow
or the goddess who lives in the water, according to local legend.
The waves can be tremendously enjoyable though, and you should be
fine if you do not venture out of your depth.

The fact remains though, that while Jakarta teems with 11
million people 150 clicks up the road, on most weekends,
Pelabuhan is a quiet place. There should surely be thousands here
every Sunday but your average Jakartan seems to prefer to take
his wheels inland to the heights of Puncak and Bandung. If you
need to retreat from the psychic distress of overcrowding and get
in touch with your inner, hippy self however, burn down to PR for
a weekend of nature...man.

Simon Pitchforth