Puncak at last

The last week has been pretty quiet. The girls are in the districts and I'm hanging out at the office chugging along on my modeling. It seemed that half the office was gone, so this place has been like a ghost town. I spent a lot of time hanging around with the bros. I also learned something very important, that I should have figured out from the start. Eat where the locals eat. This is more important here than in America, since there are seemingly no health inspectors. Since I figured this out, I've been eating only where recommended by Ronal or Gito. This has been huge. You can't just walk into any old roadside tent and expect decent padang.

On friday night we held a little celebration in favor of Wesley's birthday. Happy 21 wesley! Naturally, we upheld the "#5 Taman Malbar official birthday tradition" by tying Wesley to a telephone pole, pelting him with eggs, then pouring water all over him. We also came up with a new idea to put him in a big bag and pour water in. Here is all of us after bagging wesley. Hardly a fair fight. Its a careful match of not getting tackled by an eggy wesley but also getting close enough to bag and/or pour water on him. Good times had by all.

Saturday was mostly uneventful. I believe I went to the grocery store and perhaps took a nap. However, on saturday night we went to a karaoke place, asian style with private rooms. I knew this would be a tall order as Indonesians love to sing and I was with a very musical crew. Despite a rough start I briefly held the high score until Yoga brought down the house with this number.

Ronal and I belting something out. This was the dream team combo until the aforementioned Yoga/Wesley duet.

The next morning at 5am it was finally time to make a run at Puncak Pass, the mythical cold tea plantations in the mountains. While it was tough getting up early and 45 min each way on the motorcycles made me a bit sore, puncak was worth it. Its a very beautiful area high in the peaks. Most of the rolling hills are cultivated with tea.

It was hard to say how cold it was at 6am. I was in short sleeves and briefly wished I had long sleeves before I thought better of it. It may have been in the upper 60's? Hard to say, but the Indonesias were dressed for this bout of extreme low temperatures. Beanies, jackets, gloves.
Here is me at one of the overlooks.
Here is Ronal and Eric on a "tea walk" to watch the sunshine. I'm embarrassed to say I was out of breath after that short jaunt uphill. This does not bode will for my 2 day hike in 2 weeks.
Looking back towards the road.
They will plant tea anywhere. No slope is too steep. Although with 4 feet of snow these tea fields would ski nicely. Below is a good example of the roads. (Not pictured: motorists ignoring traffic laws)
Waiting for sunrise with Eric and Reza.
Sun starting to come over the ridge with Mt. Iforgotthename in the background.
The reason you have to come this early is because the traffic is so bad by 8 or 9am. By then this road will be stopped traffic and bumper to bumper. It also can get brutally hot on exposed slopes later in the day.
Tea-time, pointing out something interesting in the distance.
An example of the peaks nearby. They were capped by on again, off again fog banks.
More tea. Its quite the operation they have going on up here with roads for trucks, motorbikes and footpaths criss crossing the hills.
Ronal leading us to the "extreme" route down. It was intense.
Sun finally revealing the eastern slope.
We took off down this dirt road for some breakfast and a great view. The breakfast was strange... Ginger tea soup stuff that was sweet, spicy and gingery at the same time. It also had some sort of neon pink gelatin fruit, soggy bread and nuts in it. I'm glad I tried it but I didn't want another bowl.
The lookout spot, populated with young couples.
Reza scoping the gnar in the distance.
Hanging out at the lookout. That cool pack I have is courtesy of Eric. Thanks pal!
On the ride back at about 10am we watched the endless traffic jam going in the other direction. Why anyone would even try to go at midday is beyond me. We also stopped to try some red cassava which I was suspicious about, until I realized that it was just baked yams. mmmm....

After taking a nap for the afternoon, I woke up and played soccer with the guys. Nobody was too sharp after not playing in a month but it was a lot of fun anyway. I didn't massively overheat myself which means I am adjusted to the temperature.

After the game we went to this place to grab some mie ayam bakso. Literally noodle chicken meatball but its different than it sounds. Again, listen to the locals and eat what they do. The food was great and cheap. This is pretty typical of one of these roadside tent/restaurants although this one is bigger than most.
All in all, a great weekend with the bros. I should have listened last weekend when they told me not to go after 7am or so. The sunrise is also very nice and the place loses some magic the later in the morning it gets.

Here is Eric, very excited about the sunrise.