Dieng

Last weekend, Brett, Mary, Bethany and I went to Dieng Plateau, a wetland caldera area of the Dieng volcano located near Wonosobo, Central Java. The area is composed of two stratovolcanoes, Butak Petarangan and Dieng. I asked our guide what "Dieng" means, and he says it is a Javanese word for something or some place very beautiful. Wikipedia begs to differ and says that the name "Dieng" comes from Di Hyang which means "Abode of the Gods."  Either way, after a treacherous 3 hour drive up a mountain along windy roads with imminent bus plunges threatening at every curve or blind pass, we finally made it to this beautiful place.



Our first stop was a volcanic crater lake. Due to the sulfur and other elements from the volcano, the lake shown an intense light green and milky blue in most areas. The colors have changed and will change based on the fluctuating composition of the water as the volcanic activity changes.

The weather at Dieng was beautiful. being so high up, it was what most Indonesians would consider downright "cold," but to a Michigander like me it was very refreshing and much cooler than the Jogjakarta area. It almost felt like fall temperature in Michigan, actually, so it was quite welcome. Near the crater lake we encountered several small caves and Mary dared to try to fit down in one...

The next stop was part of the volcano itself. Our guide told us the volcano was fairly "inactive," but inactive rarely holds much truth when you are in the Ring of Fire. As you can see by the pictures below, there are boiling mud pools, along with fumaroles and hot springs nearby.

The next attraction was several Hindu temples. There are about 8 temples left in the complex, though at some point there were though to be more than 400. The temples date from the 7th and 8th centuries and are the oldest in Central Java.

The temples are very interesting structures built to honor the Hindu gods. The temples are fairly simple structures, especially on the inside usually only having a small, flat stone table for rituals. The doorways have carvings of early Javanese demons and masks, giving the temples an almost spooky but reverence demanding appearance.