Gate to Heaven in Dieng

Hey Peeps!

First of all, please follow my vsco (ronayurismono.vsco.co) to see more amazing photos from various places! Okay let's go back to the topic, long time no see! this time I will describe one of beautiful place in Indonesia that I have visited this summer vacation (July, 2015). Bali is the most common as well as the most mainstream tourist destination, therefore I decided to explore different place in Indonesia to show the world that Indonesia is full of magnificent sceneries. Mountain area will be explained in this post since previously I have posted the beach area of Indonesia (Pangandaran). For tourists and visitors who are willing to hike in the dawn just to experience and witness the sunrise, Dieng will be the right place for you.

Dieng is a high land in Central Java, which is considered as part of the regency of Banjarnegara and Wonosobo. It is located in the west of  Sindoro and Sumbing mountain. The name of Dieng is taken from the word "Di Hyang" which means "Abode of the Gods". To see the sunrise, it is preferred that the tourists stay the night in Wonosobo town or in one of the small village (home stay in the resident houses) the day before as they have to hike in the dawn to catch the sunrise. The sunrise can be seen by hiking the Sikunir hill which is located in Desa Sembungan (the highest village in Java island). Sikunir hill is at an altitude of 2,260 above the sea level. For those who spend the night in Wonosobo, it is required to travel by car to Desa Sembungan, at 3 in the morning. The travel time from Wonosobo to this village is about one hour, then the car need to be parked and tourists have to continue the journey by hiking the Sikunir hill. On the other hand, if you prefer to do home stay in Desa Sembungan, you need to wake up and start hiking at around 4 in the morning. The price range between the hotel in Wonosobo and home stay is of course different. The hotel provide more comfort with higher price, it costs around 400 thousand rupiah (Rp. 400,000) and above depending on the type of room. While home stay has a range within Rp. 200,000 until Rp. 400,000 which serve typical classic village situation, however it gives ever lasting memories :)

As a precaution, the temperature in this place is far from the average temperature of Indonesia. During the day the highest temperature is around 15 degree Celsius while at night it can be a s low as 6 degree Celsius. Hence people need to use thick jacket and in addition mask have to be worn to avoid the dust of the hill while hiking.

This photo is taken while I was hiking and you can tell that it was dawn. This is proven by the reddish line which shine horizontally on the horizon.

And there you go, the sunrise!

One of the amazing picture from the Sikunir hill

The Telaga Cebong (Cebong Lake) that is located in between the mountains

Afterwards the next place that you can visit to see the beauty of this place is the lakes which are 15 minutes away from the Sikunir hill. Several lake can be found and people can enjoy the scenery of it from the top of the hill. As you can expect, we have to hike again through the following paths shown in the picture below.

The hike is shorter when in compare with the hike in Sikunir hill. It took only 15 minutes to hike this hill and the expected scenery is amazing!

Telaga Warna (Warna Lake) is on the left and Telaga Pengilon (Pengilon Lake) is on the right.

Telaga Warna means coloured lake as you can see that it has kinda greenish colour. This is due to the refraction of light in sulfur deposits in the bottom of the lake. While Telaga Pengilon can be used as a mirror due to its clear water, coincidentally Pengilon is the meaning of mirror.

The third destination that can be visited is the crater in Sikidang area, this places are placed near to each other hence it is delightful to visit Dieng as many different activities can be tried and done! This area has craters, motorcross trial as well as mini traditional market. The craters are dangerous so step back and never try to go inside and swim in it :p A lot of people also sell masks as the sulfur might cause headache if it got inhaled for a long period of time.

Sikidang Crater

The last place that I visited is the temple. Candi is the Indonesian word for temple. There are lots of temple in Dieng, however due to limited time, I only saw two temples. These are the Candi Setyaki (Setyaki Temple) and Candi Arjuna (Arjuna Temple). Candi Setyaki was used as a place for worship. Unfortunately due to soft ground and climate, some of the temple is ruined.

Candi Setyaki

This is the ruins of Candi Setyaki

The Candi Arjuna is one of the temple in Candi Arjuna Complex. This complex consist of five temples which are Candi Arjuna, Candi Semar, Candi Srikandi, Candi Sembrada and Candi Puntadewa. Candi Arjuna is the main temple in this  complex, the size is around 4 meter square. 

Candi Arjuna is on the left side, while the middle one is Candi Semar