Happy New Year, everyone! How are you? Did you celebrate the closing of the decade? After years of spending New Year’s Eve just sitting at home, watching fireworks from around the neighbourhood, last year I finally went on a trip. It wasn’t to anywhere too far away—or hyped up, really—but I had a blast. Agung and I went to Cirebon! Truth be told, I’ve been here before when I was much younger, but I thought I’d go back since there were a lot of interesting places I’d like to see.
Also, luckily, I got to reunite with my old friend Zahra—if you’ve been here a while, you might remember her—who is a native of this small town. All three of us visited Taman Wisata Goa Sunyaragi, which is located quite close to Zahra’s house and yet she has never been here before. It is a park complex filled with numerous coral reefs, creating narrow tunnel caves within, leading one place or another. Apparently, the caves were built as a resting area for royal family in the eras of the Sultans.
It is unclear when the area was built, but the tour guides refer to 1703 as the year of establishment. There are a total of 12 caves in this 15-hectare complex, each one with its own distinct functions.
Hand-me-down shirt + skirt + purse // photos by Agung
We had fun going in and out of these caves, feeling a little like solving a walk-in puzzle. For the most part, we were just trying to figure out where one cave leads. Unfortunately, since we came so close to the closing of the park, we didn’t get to explore all the caves. It also started to get dark very fast, what with the storm clouds rolling over our heads. Some of my favourite parts are the elephant statue in the middle of the compound.
Zahra and I thought we could get on top of it and started to be slightly excited upon seeing a hole in the middle—supposedly for sitting—but instantly burst into laughter when we saw it was somewhat filled with rainwater. Agung, meanwhile, was glued to the camera the whole time, taking these amazing shots—most of which I didn’t even know about.
I wish we’d had more time to explore all twelve of the caves—and not just the two we managed to go through—which probably means we need to go back there again sometime. The trip continues in next week’s post, stay tuned!
Happy New Year, everyone! How are you? Did you celebrate the closing of the decade? After years of spending New Year’s Eve just sitting at home, watching fireworks from around the neighbourhood, last year I finally went on a trip. It wasn’t to anywhere too far away—or hyped up, really—but I had a blast. Agung and I went to Cirebon! Truth be told, I’ve been here before when I was much younger, but I thought I’d go back since there were a lot of interesting places I’d like to see.
Also, luckily, I got to reunite with my old friend Zahra—if you’ve been here a while, you might remember her—who is a native of this small town. All three of us visited Taman Wisata Goa Sunyaragi, which is located quite close to Zahra’s house and yet she has never been here before. It is a park complex filled with numerous coral reefs, creating narrow tunnel caves within, leading one place or another. Apparently, the caves were built as a resting area for royal family in the eras of the Sultans.
It is unclear when the area was built, but the tour guides refer to 1703 as the year of establishment. There are a total of 12 caves in this 15-hectare complex, each one with its own distinct functions.
Hand-me-down shirt + skirt + purse // photos by Agung
We had fun going in and out of these caves, feeling a little like solving a walk-in puzzle. For the most part, we were just trying to figure out where one cave leads. Unfortunately, since we came so close to the closing of the park, we didn’t get to explore all the caves. It also started to get dark very fast, what with the storm clouds rolling over our heads. Some of my favourite parts are the elephant statue in the middle of the compound.
Zahra and I thought we could get on top of it and started to be slightly excited upon seeing a hole in the middle—supposedly for sitting—but instantly burst into laughter when we saw it was somewhat filled with rainwater. Agung, meanwhile, was glued to the camera the whole time, taking these amazing shots—most of which I didn’t even know about.
I wish we’d had more time to explore all twelve of the caves—and not just the two we managed to go through—which probably means we need to go back there again sometime. The trip continues in next week’s post, stay tuned!