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The plan to leave Jakarta was supposed to be around 4 am before dawn, but then I postponed myself to give an extra rest for my body to get better condition especially for my throat. But my relatives in the other part of Jakarta were still leaving at 4 am in order to reach destination before dusk. Finally, I drove my car out of garage around 8.30 am, very late from the original plan, and had breakfast in the car.

My brother who had left earlier had reached Eretan Wetan – Kandanghaur, and informed me that the traffic was heavily jammed started from Patrol village and totally stop at Eretan Wetan. I was just entering Cibubur toll way when I received that short message, so I changed the route to Bandung first, and using Padalarang – Jatinangor toll way then heading to Cirebon, avoiding traffic jam at Kandanghaur. I did not count in detail the route I took, but according to my odometer, this route was about 70 km farther then the route taken by my brother; but since the traffic of the route I took was smooth, so it only took about half hour longer then the one taken by my brother in normal traffic. I filled my car with Pertamax around Jatinangor since gas station in Bandung toll way was run out of stock; and again I filled it again around Cirebon considering that there was possibly no more Pertamax gas station till close to Semarang. All of sudden I remembered that I had forgotten to bring my tripod and GPS, argghh.

Seemed that because I left very late, my brother rerouted his car to go to Guci, a tourist object, near Slawi – Tegal hoping that we would be together to reach destination. My car panel alarmed me that there was problem with my brake, but sometime the alarm switched off. So I suspected that the brake fluid was depleted. I stopped my car and checked it out, and I was right that the brake fluid was at the minimum level, so what I had checked before I left Jakarta was wrong, I should have checked more detail. I knew this problem was not that emergency and did not need immediate action, so I continued driving my car and in the same time I was looking brake fluid to be added. I found out that was not easy to find brake fluid with the specification (neutral DOT 4) needed for my car in the country side.

I had my late lunch at ‘Mbok Berek’ close to small town of Brebes; and since my throat was still in problem and very itchy, I only took ‘sayur asem and rice’ and avoided any fried food. I had reached Tegal and still could not find DOT 4 brake fluid, while my brother had also reached Tegal and had his lunch at ‘Kepiting Prima’.

Along the way from Pekalongan till destination in Bandungan, it was mostly rainy, few was heavy rain, lots of light rain with several dry area. Close to Mangkang – Semarang, I took wrong shortcut to Bandungan but then I used it to buy some more medicine since my previous medicines were almost out. I was back in the correct route to take Semarang toll way to Ungaran and bought some gas again. I reached Bandungan around 8 pm and had dinner at ‘Rina Rini’ before I checked in to Amanda Hotel. I chose the room in the down side of the hotel, at most north of the room row, considering free scenery as my valuable expectation. Later, about more than half hour, my brother had also reached Amanda and stayed just beside my room. But I was tired (and perhaps my brother too), so that I continued to take rest in that night.

I woke up too late in the morning to take picture of sunrise, but I did not regret that since it was cloudy morning. I went around the hotel garden to enjoy the morning cold breeze and asked the office boy to wash my dirty car. I and my relatives had breakfast almost 10 am, after my niece and nephew had swum in the hotel pool. My niece cried in the first time he jumped into the pool since it was really cold.

After we had breakfast then we went to Ambarawa and visited Train Museum of Ambarawa. It was a little rainy when I took some pictures. We then tried old rail using small tourist train from Museum to Toentang, a small train station close to Ambarawa, back and forth. I did not remember how much the costs of the ticket for the museum and for the tourist train were, since all were paid by my relatives. We had no chance to use real old train since it had to be arranged in advance with enough passengers to share the cost, otherwise it would be costly for only several passengers.

We were then heading back to Ambarawa downtown to have lunch in Chinese food restaurant. I was still avoiding any fried food to sooth my soar throat. Finished having lunch, we were then looking for ‘Klenteng’ (kind of Vihara) that my brother’s father in law knew before. That was unique ‘Klenteng’ in the top of small hill; and I took several pictures of it. Our trip was then continued to big pagoda that was seen from the high way between Semarang and Ungaran. We found out that the pagoda was located in Watugong village, called Vihara Buddhagaya. I read in the location that giant Budha statue would be built in that location in the near future. The rain was really annoying us to go around and to take pictures.

It was dusk when we were back to Bandungan. My brother car was heading directly to Bandungan, while mine was stopping few times to look for brake fluid in Ungaran. But it seemed that it was too late, several shops had been closed and I could not find the suitable one for my car. I was close to Bandungan, when my brother messaged me that he would have dinner before back to the hotel. I was then joining him in the humble restaurant ‘Rina Rini’ close to Bandungan market. One of my favorite foods, ‘baikut’ - pork cooked with salted vegetable, was ordered; this menu was good but with its menu size, it would only good for several persons to consume. We would then back to the hotel in the night and took a rest.

The following morning, we woke up just in time when sky was still red. But again, it was cloudy so that I could not take good picture of sunrise. I was then taking picture of ‘Rawapening Swamp’ in the foggy situation. Rawapening was originally a small lake with several swamps in the surrounding area; and as time went by the swamps were getting wider and wider and the lake was getting smaller and drying. Some areas were pretty dry long time ago so that the train could pass on it, as I just did yesterday.

That morning my relatives went to the Bandungan market (you know ladies) to see some items interesting and in the same time they exercised to walk down and uphill. They bought some good and fresh fruits. Some of them were going back using ‘motor ojek – motor public transportation’ due to very steep hill near the hotel. And I picked up the rest using car realizing that they would finally tired on the walk back.

My brother’s plan was to go back to Jakarta that day, while my plan was to continue to Tawangmangu – Karanganyar to see big waterfall named ‘Grojogan Sewu’. It seemed that my plan was really tempting so that my brother’s father in law would like to join me. Then they just changed their plan to join me to Tawangmangu. We would then call the hotel in Tawangmangu to book more rooms. Lucky us, there were few more rooms left for us, even though the rooms location were not favorable, but okay for just a night stay.

While my brother’s car was heading directly to Tawangmangu, my car was heading to Semarang first to buy suitable brake fluid at my relative’s shop in Semarang. I was lucky since the shop was pretty close to the toll gate, so that I did not have to mingle with the heavy traffic of Semarang. Shortly, my little problem with brake fluid was over and my car was speeded to Tawangmangu. The route I took was thru Ungaran, Bawen, Salatiga, Boyolali, Kartosuro, Surakarta (Solo), Karanganyar, Tawangmangu. I had my late lunch between Kartosuro and Solo, at ‘Mbok Sarun’, a very small ‘warteg’. I paid less than ten thousand rupiahs to have ‘nasi pecel’ and chicken ‘soto’ with with tea.

It was almost dusk when I reached Tawangmangu. I checked in to Komajaya Komaratih Hotel. Actually, the original plan was to stay in Pondok Asri Hotel, but this hotel was already full booked and the receptionist advised me to book room at Komajaya Komaratih Hotel. The hotel room was a little smelly and the style was not my type, frankly, but the other options were full booked either, so I did not have other choice. However, this hotel was okay for one night stay. My brother had already checked in and he was going around Tawangmangu to gather more information and other hotels to stay the future. It seemed that nice hotels were not that much in small town like Tawangmangu. My favorite hotel was still the hotel I would like to stay in the very beginning, e.g. Pondok Asri. I and my brother agreed on this issue, and then based on the information that had been gathered several minutes ago, we went to Vihara Lawu a bit above Tawangmangu thru small road in the right side of the main road.

Several visitors were there to perform their rituals. My brother’s father in law did that too, but other relatives were just enjoying the chilling wind. To enter the building, visitors needed to leave shoes and sandals outside; and the freezing floor would chill your feet. I did not bring my camera flash along with me, so that I used built in flash to take picture that actually not enough for that situation. We also got information that there were several places for many rituals around the Vihara, like small temple in front of Vihara where people used to pray to Lawu Spirit and other place below the Vihara for other religious rituals.

We were then back to Tawangmangu; and when we saw amazing scenery of Karanganyar (or Solo?) in the night with shimmering lights, we stopped for a while. My brother was about taking picture when the mist winded across and blocked our sight away. We had no chance to take picture at all and even our road became hard to see, so that we had to drive pretty slowly. We were then going to the restaurant close to Pondok Sari (not Pondok Asri) to have dinner. I was still avoiding any fried and oily food. I rather chose watery food with little oil to sooth my throat, such as chicken ‘soto’.

After we had finished our dinner, we went back to the hotel. My brother and his family continued to take rest, while I and my relative were going out to walk downhill along the main road of Tawangmangu to enjoy town in the night just for a little while. I saw many rabbit sate seller along the road, and many youngsters were sitting on the floor having their delicious sate. Afraid of tire and unable to go uphill back to the hotel then I did not walk downhill that far; and I was back to the hotel and took a rest.

I was late to wake up in the following morning, so that my brother and other relatives had already checked out and went to the waterfall while I was still having breakfast. I was a little poignant for being late to wake up, loosing chance to see the quiet waterfall in the morning. I had quick breakfast and then checked out right away to go to ‘Grojogan Sewu’, a great waterfall in Tawangmangu. Instead of passed thru ordinary gate, I chose the second gate down below that had relative gentler trek. But I was astonished to see the gate still closed while the day was already shiny. My brother’s car was there but they were gone away. I knew that they must have found an alternative road to get in. So that I asked local people to show me that road, but he refused to show and advised me to wait till the gate opened by the officials. Why should I wait those lazy officials? I could not wait for that and found the road out by myself. I planned to see the waterfall early in the morning when it was still quiet and took good picture of it; more than that, the weather would usually be better in the morning than it was in the day or later. Not that long, I also saw other local people used the same alternative road I used to enter the area.

When I was close to the waterfall area, I found that I was a little late since there were people there, even though it was not that crowded. There was small pool for people to swim down below the waterfall, but I was not interested in swimming neither taking picture of it. I was more interested in the small stony river around the area. Not that long, visitors flocked into that area. It was really hard to find good place to take picture. Moreover, it started to rain, phew. I was used to swim into the waterfall basin, but seeing that situation, I canceled my chance. I also realized that the landscape around the waterfall had been rearranged and was quite different compared to that more than several decades ago when I was there in the first time with my beloved parents. On the way back to parking lot, the stony trek became so slippery due to the rain. I felt so pity of the little baby brought by his/ her parents; I was afraid that if they slipped down, the baby would most likely be injured. From ‘Grojogan Sewu’, I and my brother separated; my brother went back to Bandung and Sukabumi, meanwhile I continued my trip to Wonosobo.

I was not really sure what had just happened in the parking lot, I saw few visitors were arguing with local people who rented the horses. It sounded that they were having miscommunication about the deal made before. I was just taking picture of the horses and went away to continue my driving to Wonosobo. That time I took this route, e.g. Karanganyar, Solo, Kartosuro, Boyolali, Selo, Mungkid, Magelang, Secang, Temanggung, Parakan, Kledung, Kertek, Wonosobo.

I had not been passing Selo for such a long time ago. This place should be very good, since it was between active volcanoes, e.g. Merapi on the South and Merbabu on the North. I was absolutely correct, the scenery around Selo was amazing, and beside that the mountain breeze was so relaxing. I found new hotel in Selo, named Agrowisata Selo Pass. This hotel was located in the right side of the main road from Boyolali to Mungkid and had operated for around two years. For such small town like Selo, this hotel had pretty good design and great scenery. Not far away from this hotel, there was higher good place to enjoy the small town scenery of Selo called New Selo. This place was good indeed, but very humble with several small shops selling some supplies.