Heat in Bandung at Mt Tangkuban Perahu

In 2009, I went to Bandung, Indonesia.  I brought along my wife, kids and parents.  Bandung is a popular city for tourists and the main spot to do shopping and golfing.  One of the places we visited was a volcano mountain called Tangkuban Perahu  It is a dormant volcano located 30 km north of Bandung city.  We went there by a van.  The mountain got its name Tangkuban Perahu because from the view from Bandung city, the volcano has a shape of an upside down boat.  The word “Perahu” in English is a boat.

Once we reached the entrance, we need to pay the entrance fee at the toll gate.  The fee includes a local guider to bring us to view the volcano crater with hot water springs and boiling mud.  It took us 50 minutes to walk through the trail passing through tropical jungle and river stream.

50 meters before reach the crater floor, we descended through the rock pavement.  We can feel the temperature was starting to boil up.  We even can smell the sulphur, and it was strong. If you cannot stay the sulphur smell, bring along your mask to cover the nose.

This is my first time to step my feet to the crater floor and the experience was unbelievable.  I cannot imagine if the volcano exploded and blew all its hot lava to the ground.

There was a chance that we can buy some eggs from local store located at the crater and boil the eggs in the hot water.  We also tried the mud massage and it felt very good.  The locals helped to massage our legs but it will cost you later.

We bought some souvenir from the local sellers.  My advice is not to overboard with the souvenir sellers because they would tail you until you buy something from them.  Then when you start to buy, other souvenir sellers would crowd you and try to influence you to buy souvenir from them.  The price can be negotiate and bargain for lowest price.  You will regret when you notice that the souvenir you bought are easily to buy at Pasar Besar Bandung (Bandung Grand Market).