Tired of hustle and bustle of Bandung traffic in the weekend? Long for a breath of fresh air and a peaceful country side? Or, just get bored and seek a new place to chill out? Grab that car key and head out to the mountain. Go to the peak of east Bandung. Take a break in the sky. Look down as if you’re a guardian angel.

Warung Daweung (warung = small cafe), or better known as Moko Daweung, is sited on the peak of East Bandung. You can get there from Jl. Pahlawan, Jl. Padasuka, Mr. Udjo’s Angklung House, as well as from north of Bandung, i.e. Dago Atas. To get information on how to get there from Bandung city search for “Moko Daweung” on the internet. There are several articles (in Bahasa Indonesia) written by fellow bloggers describing the route to Moko Daweung in quite detail. Should you need a translation, feel free to email CGH.

What is it about Moko (that’s how we call it) that is so special? To us, it’s not its beverages, nor its dishes for sure. The trip itself is a quite interesting experience and always refreshing. The narrow country road is far from smooth. At times we have to pull over to the curb when a truck is coming our way. Sometimes there’s a deep cliff on our side or crumbly red earth walls squeeze us in between. At one point we have to stop and pay some road fee, about Rp 1000 if I remember it correctly. Is it an off road track? Maybe, maybe not. We were so proud driving an off-road vehicle with its humongous wheels and there it is a bebek motorbike took over and rode uphill effortlessly.

The encounters with locals is no less tickling. An exhausted grass-man sat down by the road, a boy played with a broken branch as if it was a golf club (there’s probably a new golf course opened by where he lives), children hung out by the road awaiting praying time, and outdated Independence Day’s decorated gates marked local administrative lines.

On arrival at Warung Daweung, the tapestry of vegetation waved to us from down below. Going in further to the daweung sky plane, it instantly reminded me of the high plane of Maya ruins in South America (from its photos I’ve seen in National Geographic magazine). It’s such a bizarre feeling to grasp that I was probably standing by the bank of what was once an ancient ginormous lake. And Bandung was merely the bottom of this lake. And then volcano eruptions or earthquakes caused a big crack in the lake. And the water all drained out. And NOW, there it is, Bandung city with its glows at the bottom of the valley surrounded by sloping farm lands! How bizarre!

Warung Daweung’s hilarious menu awoke me from dreaming of being in Maya ruins and all those Bandung’s legends. Coffee, Hot Kuwah (Hot Soup), Hot Goreng (Hot Fritters), Hot Snack, Minuman Lunak (literal translation of Soft Drink) are the categories. From Rp 2,000 for hot tea to the most expensive Rp 15,000 for thonk seng (lamb stew). Note: This is based on 2007 price.

It was a warm early evening, so I opted for Minuman Lunak. ~

CGH is located about 1/3 of the trip length to Moko Daweung from Jl. Pahlawan, Bandung.

Check out The Legend and History of Bandung in Bandung Tourism’s website.