I wasn't getting any brief for the day so I didn't expect we would go so far today. We departed from the house to another direction, which was west. Apparently we were driving around to the other side of the lake, on to Mount Masurai (that mountain on the left we saw from the house), and on, almost reaching Mount Kerinci. It was a full 4-hour off-road ride!
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| yes, Mount Masurai is the one on the left! |
So I'm just gonna post some pictures of the never-ending hills we went through here. The trek was so heavy we had to leave the Jeep Rubicon in the first village. And we had to pass three villages--each 1-2 hours far away from the other--with off road trek, before we could finally get to our destination. We stopped at the last village to buy snack because it was way past lunch time and we were starving.
But then, out of despair, we arrived at the weathered wooden bridge with yellow gateway and our heart sunk. It's impossible for a car to get on the bridge, let alone three full-loaded 4WD vehicles!
Fortunately, our destination was right behind those trees and all we had to do was to park and walk the rest of the path.
This place is called Grao Sakti, at Renah Kemumu village, in Merangin District. It is actually a geothermal stone that heat up the flowing water in the river. It was roughly a 100-metre walk up from the bridge, and we came by the signage that led us to this view:
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| the stone heat up the water and built up hot steam |
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| what does it look to you? |
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| it doesn't look pretty actually, but wait till you try the water! |
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| see? those guys couldn't miss a chance to play in the water |
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| the crew: Erlangga, Kang Yaya, Mas Dimas, Jisel and Sedayu |
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| our hosts: Bang Robin and Jisel |
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| this is the best view I could get because I didn't wanna go wet |
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| it's an estuary of two rivers; the left one was from Grao Sakti |
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| check out the wooden bridge! |
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| and we got a peeking hole here |
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| checking for last shoot |
We didn't stay too long here, because we still had a long way back and it was getting dark. The trip back was so tiring, but thankfully my car (RJ4) had this assistant guy, Acenk, who had tons of jokes and funny songs to keep us entertained. We stopped at the first village we passed to get a 5 p.m. super-late lunch of instant noodle. Sometimes, this kind of rush and messy schedule is what makes a trip memorable. I do now miss those times!
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| helping Jisel to go on track again |
It was almost sunset when we departed from the village and still another two villages to go. On the way back, Jisel's car, RJ2, almost rolled. The crew had to help her but I was taking my front row seat capturing pictures. I was too tired to get off the car and I didn't know what to do either. So I quietly let them work. LOL.
We arrived at the wooden house at around 8 p.m. and had dinner. After packing and stuff, we were ready to go back to Bangko City. It was around 10:30 p.m. when we departed. We had a small problem with petrol on the way to main road, but it was solved within an hour, I guess. We dropped Mas Dimas who had to go back to Jakarta from Bangko airport, and carried on. We had another stop for 3 a.m. supper, and after that I fell asleep. The first time I slept on the way, I guess.. Read my last day's trip here.
So don't forget to check Metro TV this Saturday, Dec 9, at 3.30 p.m. for the show. And check my Instagram posts for more picture.
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| as you can see, there's no car access but to go offroad; tell you what, it's 4 hours drive! |
