Welcome to << MK:BLoG >> - v.10 - |
posted : Wednesday, February 16, 2011
title : Travel to 3 places
We went 3 places today. First one was Taman Negeri Gunung Merapi, at Elang Jawa, Kaliurang. Or “Merapi National Park”. A few months ago, the whole place was blanketed in ash when the volcano erupted, but most of the debri has been cleaned up around the entrance area.     Apparently this park is very popular with the locals, and it’s well known as a “camping” area prior to the eruption of the volcano, however as we proceeded in, the damage appeared more and more evident. It was absolutely silent destruction. Collapsed shelters, fallen trees, crushed bridges, disfigured concrete structures and statues.        But the guide navigated through some dirt tracks and we were up a relatively unscathed dirt path up the mountain. It was a gentle ascent, and after navigating over fallen logs, around large boulders, clambering up crumbling dirt tracks, we ascended to an altitude of 1025m to the observation point.                                   The view of Merapi was a silent and deceptive picturesque view, serene, yet surreal in a sea of fallen trees, and you can clearly see the valley gorged out by the cold lava. But despite the silent screams of the trees, the weather was good and windy, even so, It was still challenging to take a good picture of Merapi because of the heavy cloud lining, but patience paid off and I could get a few nice shots of the mountain that was so deadly just a few months before, I guess this is as close to Merapi as we are going to get.             Merapi museum Coordinates on Google Earth After that we went to the Merapi museum, it was just another simple museum documenting the eruption and history of volcanos, a cheap affair though, simple static exhibits, no Audio-Visual or interactable exhibits, just static posters, rocks, antiquated equipment and displays. The main exhibit at the entrance wasn’t even lighted or interactive.          Anyway, lunch was great! The restaurant is called “Muara Kapus makanan”, and had a very peaceful and simple ambience, open-air shelters elevated over a pond, and the food didn’t disappoint either.           The last place of the day is called “Bronggang lahar dinggin” or “Cold Lava” in Bronggang, a river close enough to the mountain to be still affected by the geological volcanic activity. The river is geothermally heated by the Merapi volcano (sungai panas) and there was steam rising from the water, I estimated the temperature of the water to be easily 50-60 degrees Celsius, I’ve been to hot springs before, but this is different, this stream isn’t geothermally captured for energy, neither is there a tourist resort tapping the hot springs, because this isn’t really a hot springs at all! It’s just a byproduct caused by the volcano and the flooding of the river with mud sediment. Moreover, the water was colored sulfur yellow, yet a few enterprising individuals are already collecting the sulfur water and selling it to the locals as a “health” remedy! Plus sabo dam that was built to withstand the Lahar Dingin was almost filled, imagine that! That means the river is currently choked a few meters high with mud! The whole thing was very interesting (menarik!), mainly because I’ve never seen a hot springs up so close and natural.      This brings new meaning to "crossing" the toxic/perilous river! |
