Freezing in West Java

After a German evening yesterday, today we wanted to go back to the real Indonesian feeling. At 10.00 (punctual - so not Indonesian) we went to the car and headed off. Together with Pater Handry, who had been the head of Asput, before Anna and I came there.
Our destination -Bogor Rain City and with the air con on highest level we head to the nearest motorway. This is really impressive, in the middle of the City a motorway with 4 lanes.
The motorway is good filled but according to the Pater there is hardly any traffic. And I f I think about yesterday evening, I can imagine what he is talking about.

After paying the fare we are free to go and are travelling with around 65 km/h.
Try to do that in austria and the people will go crazy.
Anyway...
In our driving fridge we finally reach bogor and are immediately welcomed by....  traffic.

The best thing here is, that the people don't care at all about lanes. If there is space for me, hell yeah let s drive between a bus and a truck. That's totally fine.
After maybe twenty minutes we reach our destination, and are actually almost driving past it. But thank god that driving backwards is not a problem here.

Welcome to the royal garden of Bogor, where not only a wide variety of flowers and trees are at home but also the Indonesian president. His white castle with golden top can only be admired from the distance, seems like he doesn't like visitors.
But the flowers are more than happy to present their beauty.
Walking, dancing, photographing and mosquitos killing we are spending our time and pater Handry is a real good companion. I can see why the girls liked him, he is just really carefree and living in the moment.

There are trees that reach the sky, there are the ones that have their roots above the earth, there are gigantic lotus plants and a lot of orchids. It is a beautiful place and like a lung filled with fresh air.

We also start to talk about the president. I just had troubles imaging him driving on the highway to his work in the city. Driving or rather waiting in the traffic jam.
It seems that he in fact takes the highway.
But the high way.
He uses his own helicopter to get to work, oh well...  If there's nothing else he would wish for.

Anyway that s not what I wanted to talk about. 
After relaxing we walked back to our fridge on wheels and decided to go to the pass.
After taking the wrong turn twice we are back on the highway for the average person and on our way to puncak.
The street is formed like a snake and is meandering upwards. On both sides of the streets you can see kiosks and sometimes in between the tea plantains.
It is amazing, after a few minutes we can see over bogor and all those plantains. It is time to drink tea and the sheer mass of green is so impressive. Even more so that the plantains are free from waste.
A bit further up we get some fruits. Bananas and markisas. With a little snack in a restaurant, with mainly islamic waitresses we are strong enough for the way back.
On the puncak pass the temperature is close to our fridge and I was really glad to drink some tea.

And now we are on our way back. With icy toes, a red orange sky a few clouds and approximately x100 other vehicles we are not driving but damming our way back.

Sweet sunset.

But all these amazing views  I was able to see today were worth it. Also the rest of our trip starts to take form.

And in the meantime we have taken up on speed - rushing back to the hot city. Oh jeans, socks and pullover - I am coming.

P.S: A little one shot in a different language. I think the majority will still be German but Anna may will write somewhat in Indonesian. Oh and the flower pictures are on my camera.... you 'll get them later.