THE HIGH LAND OF DIENG, Middle Java Indonesia.

THE HIGH LAND OF DIENG

Photo and Text by Barry Kusuma

Dieng is one of the high land plain tourist spot in central Java. One thing that makes this place unique from the other places is that this place is so sloppy and very steep, but it is planted by different kind of trees and vegetables. For a long time a go this place which is located in Wonosobo regency, is famous for its heterogenic trees and vegetables. Despite of its heterogenic trees and vegetables it’s also famous for its weather which is fresh in the morning and we can’t tell exactly when the cloud will be coming that can arouse the mystical atmosphere.

The exotic view of this place is no longer doubtful because there are a lot of landscape objects to be visit, like Telaga warna is one of the best places to visit by the tourist. Over here we can see there are 3 kinds of lake that have different colors which are blue, green, and brown. Further more there are another lake like Merdada Lake, Sumurup Lake and Pengilan Lake.

Despite of its beautiful scenery and colorful lake, we can visit the historical architecture object. Here we can see the site of the historical ruins of Hindustan temple. This temple was built at the same era with the build of Borobudur temple; it was around the 8^th century. It was the center of Hindustan religion development in central java. The Archaeologies believed that the Hindustan community in this place was the beginning of syailendra dynasty. They built the monumental temple in history. Despite of the temple, we can find the ruins of a kingdom that exist in the past. One thing that makes the temples in this area special is that they were named after the 5 famous figures from the Javanese puppets representative. The part of the temple divided into 4 groups. Which are east Dwarawati, Setyaki, Ontorejo, Petruk, Nala Gareng, Nakula Sadewa, Arjuna Semar, Sembodo, Puntha Dewa and Srikandi. Each group of the templelocated on 2.000 metre height from the sea surface and it had been discovered in 1800.

The volcanoes on this high land of Dieng are still active, because they still produce hot sulphur and some are toxin. If you are interested in visiting some of these volcanoes, despite of its amazing scenery they could be dangerous to visit, so it is better that you asked the local people. You should ask them which volcanoes are save enough to be visit. One of the famous volcanos is Candradimuka, which named after the famous Javanese puppets character of “Gatot Kaca” that being melted in this volcano. The way to get to this place is very steep and winding.

There is only one entrance access to get to this place, which is from Wonosobo. If you are from Yogyakarta direction it is better that from Magelang you go directly to Wonosobo. Prepare yourselves to be amaze by the charming and exotic view of Dieng.

Tips and trick:

1. It is better that if you reach this place before the sun rise, because it has a unique weather. Despite of enjoying the sun rise from behind the high land of the mountain, the weather here can change rapidly, might be because of the mountain climate. The fog often goes down in sudden.
2. The weather here is very convenient especially from 6 o’clock until 9 in the morning, so prepared yourselves to go places to tourist spots in 3 hours.
3. The exotic scenery, so you will need a wide angle lenses such as 12-24 mm, 18-70 mm etc. There will be a lot of stunning scenery here.
4. There aren’t plenty of human interest objects here, but just in case it is better that you prepared tele lenses 80-200 mm or 24-120 mm lenses. You can use it to take pictures of the farmer or the human interest at the traditional market.

Photo & Text by Barry Kusuma

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