DIENG

Penetrating The Depths of Imagination

Everyone who lays their eyes on it will surely click their tongue in amazement. It makes you unable to move your sight to other directions. Such alluring natural sketch is spreading out before you. Oh, Dieng…you are surely able to lift our imagination into a magical astonishment.

Even since my first sight, the splendor of Dieng panorama had already amazed me. The fatigue i suffered from the trip on public transportion where I had so sit with my leg folded along the way would then subdue, changed by the freshness I felt when entering the area of Dieng.
The lines of mountains and green field area spreading out. The crawling thin mist left me awed. Indeed, the beautiful image of Dieng is too tempting to be missed.
The sensation of dieng does match its name. The word of Dieng can be traced from various sources. In ancient Javanese language, the name Dieng comes from dihyang which means "kahyangan" ( abode of the Gods). In ancient Sundanese, the word dieng is the acronym of two words
namely di and Hyang. Di means " a high place or mountains, while Hyang means Gods, So Dieng means the mountains abode of the Gods. But some people believe that the word Dieng is derived from the words adi and aeng whereas adi means beautiful and aeng means astonishing.
As a whole, those two words would mean the beautiful and astonishing abode of the Gods. One thing is for sure, the word Dieng refers to an absolute beauty and charm.
Dieng is a plateau located at about 26 km north of Wonosobo and 55 km northeast of Banjarnegara, Central Java. The area is about 619.846 hectares wide. It is surrounded by a group of maountains, namely among others Mount Sumbing (3,377 m), Mount Sindoro (3,151 m), Mount Perahu
(2,565 m), Mount Bismo (2,365 m), and Mount Rogojembangan (2,365 m). It lies on 2,093 m above sea level. It has a fresh almost cold temperature, ranging from 15 Celcius Degries in the afternoon and 10 Celcius Degries at night.
"In the morning of July and August, the temperature can reach 0 Celcius Degries. We even sometimes can have a pouring thin snow, "says Rohmat, a local resident.
The locals call such extreme temperature as bun upas which means 'poisonous dew' since it could damage the agricultural crops.


IN OUT

I started my journey going around Dieng before the sunrise. Accompanied by a guide, I first stopped at Sikunir hill to see the sun rose. Wow, I couldn't help but holding my breath to see how the sun "was born" in the east. That amazing view had erased my sleepiness and brought all
my sense back. The next charm was the lakes. Dieng has somes beautiful lakes. One of them is Telaga Warna (colorful lake) which truly has three colors. The sulfur content brings the greenish color, the red algae creates red color while its clear water reflects the blue color of sky.
With that uniqueness,, and the back ground of Mount Simboro and Mount Sumbing, Telaga Warna really does look elegantly attractive.

Just a stone's throw away, we can find Telaga Pengilon. This lake is also called cermin Lake (Mirror Lake) due to its mirror like glittering. The biggest lake in Dieng is Telaga Merdada with 25 hectares wide and two to ten meters depth.
Another one is Sumur Jalatunda (Jalatunda well). It is not a lake tough it looks like a lake. This well is the crater of a volcano with the diameter of 200 m and 100 m depth. It has one special characteristic. Its water volume has never stayed the same. It has never been dried or overflowed
in any kind of weather.
The post-volcanism and geothermal symptom can also be found in Dieng since is still has some craters. One of the craters is Kawah Sikidang, a volcanic crater whose mouth can be seen from its lip with a verry strong smell of sulfur. It lies 1 km from Telaga Warna. This crater was once
only a small crater. But it began to increase in number as if it jumped out so then the locals call it Si Kidang (A kind of deer).
There is one crater which became the location of Ruwatan 1 Syuro ceremony that is Kawah candradimuka. Here, we can find the solfatara in the form of white smoke. I was also amazed by Kawah Sileri, the widest one (about 2 hectares) in Dieng plateau which was still active. It is called
Sileri because its boiling and bubbling water looks "leri" (rice water). Not far from it we can also enjoy the beauty of Air Panas Bitingan (Bitingan hot water) and Curug si Rawe. We can also see Tuk Bimolukar, a water spring with olden stone shower.
Dieng has agro tourism too, namely Tambi Tea plantation, located on the slope of Mount Sindoro, arround 800-1.800 m above sea level. it is called black tea due to its black color. You can feel its sensation when you have it warm in the freezing morning with the singing birds around you.

As a metter of fact the natural resources of Dieng can be found not only the surface buy also in the deep down of the earth. Its geothermal content can be utilized as the power plant.
another uniqueness of Dieng is that you can feel its mythical nuance. There are several caves which are often used as the famous one is Gua Semar (Semar Cave). It is 4 meters long with stone wall. Next to it are Gua Sumur and Gua Jaran. Inside of Gua Sumur, we can find the source of
holy water named Tirta Prawitasari. At this place the Hindu people witt usually hold their religious ritual, muspe or mubaki. Besides all that, Dieng has a various fascinating flora. The Pine trees can be seen from distance, erecting to the sky. The Potato and cabbage field looks so nice,
strawberry and edelweiss as well. Not to mention the rare plants like carrica and Purwaceng which you can hardly find in other areas. Even the wasabi, the imported plant from Japan are grown well here.


HUMAN CREATION
In Dieng you can see not only the natural beauty, but also the masterpiece of human race. There is flourishing set of temples here, which are believed to be the mark of the beginning of Hindu culture in Java at around 8th century.
The temples were named after the main characters of the Puppet of legendary Mahabrata Epic. Candi Pendawa Lima consists of feive temples lying in two rows. Four of them, Candi Puntadewa, Sembadra, Srikandi and Arjuna, are facing west. Right in front of Candi Arjuna, there is a smaller
temple named Candi semar. Apart from them, there is Candi Gatotkaca in the west of the group of Candi Pendawa Lima. It is located on the foot of Pangonan Hill while Candi Bima is located around 1 km from Candi Gatotkaca. In the far north, in Bukit Perahu, we can see Candi Dwarawati.

It gives you such a thrilling sensation to step on the front yard of those temples as if you were in the fantasy place. The white mist will soon ambush you even when you are still in the foot of the temples. Not to mention the freezing air. All of them will give an unforgettable exotic memory.

An Archaeological museum can also be found in Dieng which you can see directly if you stand in Candi Bima. It has hundreds of statues, relief, building components and prasasti (historic inscription written on stone)

From Gardu Pandang Tieng, aroung 1.800 m above the sea level, you can see the whole landscape of Dieng. That not was not the end of my journey in Dieng. My last stop was Dieng Plateau Theatre (DPT). It is the centre of information about the natural resources and culture of Dieng. Here,
visitors can see the 20 minutes semi conductor film about Dieng Plateau. It is located on the slope of Sikendil Hill, not far from Colorful lake.

The locals' houses are also something worth seeing. The locals paint their houses black! It is the color of tar which is used to coat the roof and the wall to prevent them from being rusty. It is also able to absorb the heat at noon. That way, the temperature inside of the house remains warm.


HARMONY

Last but not least, In Dieng I can stell feel the existence of the getting hardly ever heard sensation, namely harmony. "The people are very friendly," says Arens, a German tourist. And he is absolutely right. The courtesy of Dieng people can warm your deepest heart. "Please come over for lunch
and dinner "or" please don't hesitate to see us when you happen to visit Dieng later again" are the common expressions from the locals for the visitors.

Finally, my four days journey in Dieng has ended. But its memory will stay in my heart. Its alluring charm has really amazed me and penetrated the depths of my romantic imagination.