I am opening my arm and feeling the air at the side of the top. It is quite cold, but totally refreshing. Slowly the cloud in front of me walks away and right away we four are speechless seeing how incredible what we see in front of us. Right in front of my eyes lays down a incredibly beautiful green carpet. Houses, roads, forests look extremely small. It feels like I am looking down at 3D map. The big Merbabu mountain is standing so stoutly far in front of us. The cloud is right above my head, I can even touch it. It is surely the magnificient top of Andong mountain.
Andong mountain is located in Ngablak, Magelang. You can start hiking from Srigading village, Ngablak. For those who like a cheap trip, it is the best place for you to gain such an experience. It is free for the hikers!
Andong mountain is not too high compared to the other mountains such as Merbabu mountain, Lawu mountain, Sumbing mountain and the others. The height is 1.736 metres above the see. Thus, Andong mountain is the best place for beginner like me to try hiking. It just takes around two until two and a half hours to approach the top.
After arriving in Ngablak, right at the foot of the mountain , we start hiking. We passes a forest full of pine trees. We hike, and hike and hike. As far as you can see, green color is everywhere with bright blue mixed with the white above. The scenery is totally incredible during the journey approaching the top. We meet with some villagers who just finished seeking for the grass for their livestock.
“ Ngantos antos nggeh, monggo kulo aturi pinarak...” they great us friendy in Javanese language. Please take care and pass by our house, they say.
“Nggeh mbah, tornuwun..” we says thanks straightway with big smile in our face.
Hundreds stairs then welcomes me after we get through the forest. The stairs bend right on the side of the mountain. We can see the whole city below at our right. But, the cloud blocks it. What we can see is thick white surrounding us. Sometimes, little cloud disappears and creates such a hole heading to the city. It is extremely beautiful.
“Fighting!! We are going to reach the top !”, said one of my friend, Yanta. He is such an expert in hiking. He is our leader and he has ever hiked this mountain alone.
“Where is the top?”, I said impatiently.
“Just hold on, it is getting closer.”, he said.
There is a small hill standing before the main top of the mountain. To answer our curiousity about a small house over there, we climb that hill.
For you who do not bring tent, but you tend to spend one night and see sun rise from the top of the mountain, you can sleep that small house at the top of the small hill right before the top of the mountain. There is a small house facilitated with some plaited mats inside. When sunrise comes, you can hike to the main top and see how incredible the sunrise is!
But, if you tend to do one-day trip, you can go down again from that hill and start hiking to approach the main top of the mountain.
The most challenging road is waiting us in front! After we hike one big hill heading to the top, I can see a small path bending in such a way like the back of the cow. Andong mountain is famous with ‘geger sapi’. ‘Geger’ means the back and ‘sapi’ means the cow. It is because of the shape of the road right before reaching the top of the mountain.
“We can do it! Fighting!”, Angga, one of my friend, yells. Then, he walks in front of us passing through that small path. We are on fire and follow him afterwards.
It is rainy season and the road is a bit slippery. We have to pass through the small path on the top of the mountain with abrupt cliff in the left and right to reach the real top. We doesn’t walk with our feet, instead we walk with our bottom. On my right, I see the whole city with the cloud above, while in my left I see the pine forest.
Once we get it through, we hike once more, and here we are! After hiking for approximately two and half hours, finally we can reach the top of the mountain.
As we reach there, the cloud is so thick and we cannot see anything except white color. But, after we wait while taking a breath and eating our food, the cloud slowly walks away and we can see the whole city from the top with Merbabu mountain standing up far in front of us with the cloud surrounding its face.
It is like seeing the 3D map. The view is incredibly magnificient. We can see the whole city with the asphalt road bending in such a way, green forests, and many houses in between with the white cloud above it, lower than us! It is sunny and the air is completely refreshing. The green and the blue above mixed with the bright white color gives such beautiful harmonization.
“Our life is now perfect, but it has a perfect moment!”, Agam, one of my friend, said while enjoying the breeze.
Well, it is completely true. And it is such a perfect moment to hike and see how beautiful God’s creature is.
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