As I mentioned in the last post, I went to Tasikmalaya (Tasik) for a weekend getaway. Tasik is the hometown of my helper/homeworker, Bibik. She had been working with us for more than a year now. I have met one of her sisters in Jakarta, but I never met her children and her mother who live in Tasik. Plus, I wanted to getaway from Jakarta for a while.
Tasik is one of cities in West Java, about 270km (5 hours driving) from Jakarta, passing Bandung and Nagreg. We started from home at 5.30am and arrived in Tasik around 12.30pm. So it’s normal and quite a nice traffic.
First we went to Bibik’s house to drop her off and to know her family. She will stay there for one night and tomorrow we will pick her up again to go back to Jakarta. While for us, we already booked rooms in Ramayana Hotel near the center of the city. We checked into the hotel, got relax for a while before starting out to explore Tasik city.
Our first destination was Sentra Bordir Kawalu. Honestly when we searched Tasik places list in the internet, we just noted down the places without really read what they are. For Sentra Bordir Kawalu (Kawalu Embroidery Center), we expected to be roads or area with many embroidery shops. Apparently the shops are formed as usual residents’ houses without any signs and showrooms. We did not know which house to go in. They usually already have big clients or distributors who take their products using trucks daily to sell them in other places, especially Tanah Abang market in Jakarta. We found one shop though that has a sign and showroom. We entered it but nothing interesting. Maybe the good ones already taken to Jakarta.
Next we visited Situ Gede. Like other small towns, Tasik has no traffic jam so it’s really quick to go from one place to another place within the city. Situ Gede (Big Lake) is a lake located inside the city. When the water is high, we could rent a boat to go round the lake. When we went there, the water was quite low and it was about to rain, so we didn’t take the boat. Along the lake there are many food stalls selling grilled fish and coconut drinks. It was still in the afternoon so we did not want to eat heavy foods yet. We bought coconut drinks and some snacks like otak-otak, corns, sausages and round tofu. Okay, that’s a lot xD
Next we wanted to go to Alun-Alun (townhall) where Tasik people usually gather before sunset. But it started raining hard and windy (that made us stop for a while in front of Indomaret). We then went to Plaza Asia, the biggest shopping center in Tasik, just to take a shelter from the rain. Plaza Asia is located in a big complex together with shophouses outside the mall, a hotel and a water park.
After walking around fhe mall for an hour, the rain hadn’t stopped yet, but not as heavy as before. We got into the car again to roam the city. We passed by Alun-Alun, no people there of course with this rain. The park was greeny, clean and looked very well maintained.
Then we passed by Masjid Agung (the biggest mosque in Tasik). Not like usual mosque with round dome, this one had pyramid style, a typical Sundanese mosque. It looked very peaceful.
Tasik is also called Kota Santri (Pesantren Student Town) because it has many Pesantrens (a traditional Islamic’s boarding school). Islam has been their culture too, because I saw a lot of women in veils (hijab) on the street.
From the mosque, we went to a famous meatball restaurant named Bakso Laksana, which is very near Alun-Alun and the mosque. I can tell Tasik people love meatball/fishball noodle (Mie Bakso) so much. Every corner of the city has Bakso restaurant, more than Nasi Padang or even their traditional Nasi Tutug Oncom (Nasi TO). Bibik also loves Bakso. While she’s staying in my house, she often buy and eat Bakso.
From there we headed back to hotel. My husband then bought Nasi TO on a food stall just outside our hotel, and we ate it in our rooms. Oncom is a fermented mold (type of fungi). Tutug is a Sundanese word means ‘to hit’. Nasi TO is Oncom and rice being mixed together by hitting them. Eating Nasi TO is a must thing you should do when going to Tasik. Like other West Java area, Tasik has many delicious culinaries.
The next day, we played in the hotel’s swimming pool. My little daughter really loved playing in the water, eventhough she’s still afraid to swim, she didn’t want to go out of the pool.
Around 10am we checked out from the hotel. Before picking up Bibik, we wanted to visit Mount Galunggung, a sleeping volcano. It takes around 30minutes to go there from the city. In this place, we could go up the mountain to view the crater from above, or go down to the crater side, or go to the hotspring. We decided to go up.
From the carpark, we had to go up 510 steps! We did not expect to work out today. We took around 1 hour to go up and down. But it’s really worth it. The view up there was uhmazing!
From Mount Galunggung, we went back to the city to eat for lunch. We could not find a Nasi TO restaurant (still craving for more), so we just went in any restaurant that looked very crowded (means good, rite?). We ate at Sambel Layah. Apparently, it was crowded because the food was REALLY cheap! It’s like one main course including rice, chicken and drink only cost Rp.10,000/person. The food itself was not that nice, and the service was terrible. Our food came almost 30minutes (maybe more?). This restaurant offers a really hot chili sauce, and already has many branches in 11 cities across Java island, but not yet in Jakarta.
From there we picked up Bibik at her house. It was already 3.30pm, quite too late to go back to Jakarta. The traffic was very bad. We arrived at home around 11pm. Should have gone out from Tasik earlier (like 1pm or something ya). Anyway, it was a nice weekend getaway. I cannot wait to explore another West Java cities.
