Spent the last three days at an eco-tourism place called PPLH in Trawas. Admittedly, I went with the impression that I would be roughing it out for the three days… ie. Trekking to a campsite/dormitory, bathing in make-shift toilets and eating from a little camping stove. I couldn’t have been more wrong. PPLH, while not exactly 4-star, far exceeded my expectations. Our host school was really considerate and put us up in the supposedly VIP bungalow chalets while their own students stayed in maybe 10-20 bed bungalows/rooms which were actually also pretty nice.
While I had expected to be also having plenty of physical activities, it ended up more leisurely and fun. There was a leisurely 30min walk (not really a trek) to a local Javanese village to observe their lifestyle and another fun walk along a river which was already ‘modernized’ cause the government had already build a concrete river bank. That walk ended up with some water splashing fun in the river and eating plain rish with grilled fish using only our hands. The last activity was slightly more physical.. involving a 45-60min long trek through forest path up a reasonably steep mountain to visit Jolotunda, an old Hindu Temple.
On the whole, it was a pretty interesting experience. While comfortable, we were always on the look out for frogs and lizards and other strange insects and creatures creeping into our room. On the first night, I woke up to find a frog on top of my mosquito net! I have no idea how it got there. Thank God I decided to use the mosquito net.
4 more days before going home to Singapore. Barely 17 days to the 10km StanChart run. I’m cautiously worried cause I’d kicked my toe against the bed when I first arrived and till now, while it’s gotten better, it’s still hurting. Hope it recovers in time. Will probably get it checked out when I get home. Hope it’s nothing more serious.
