Recalling Sarangan

[caption id="attachment_50688" align="alignleft" width="281" caption="Facebook.com"][/caption] This freezing night suddenly brought me back into the past fifteen years. It was when I graduated from junior high and spend the last moment with friends in a farewell tour. In the last two of three nights of the tour, we shared best wishes and all with refreshing weather and view of Lake Sarangan as our greatest company. Indeed, it is the famous Lake Sarangan, the pond which probably one of the oldest and most famous tourism site on the area. Frequently regarded as part of Central Java's Tawangmangu, Sarangan is able to attract thousands of visit to this region each year. Lake Sarangan is a dormant volcanic crater administratively situated on Sarangan village of Plaosan subdistrict, Magetan Regency, East Java. It lies some 16 kilometers to the west from downtown of Magetan on the south slope of Mount Lawu. With the area covering 30 acres of land, this lake the deepest end of 28 meters during wet season. The altitude of 1.287 meter above sea level provides the area with humid and fresh mountain air with temperature ranging between 18-25 Celsius degree. The lake is where the main attraction of the area lies. Various kind of amusement above water are available here. Along with friends, visitor can rent a specially designed boat and paddle it across the lake. For more speed above water, motor boats can be good options. A 4-meter-wide paved walkway is already built surrounding the lake. Visitor can rent a horse to ride slowly along this path. You can always ask for the owner's companion if it is your fist time riding horse. If acquainting with horse needs to lengthy a consideration, you can take your partner and walk this memorable path. Moment around sunrise or sunset is perfect time for both activities. [caption id="attachment_50689" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Facebook.com"][/caption] For safety, a children playground was built to keep out the children from the lake without companion. This fine garden is equipped with various kind of child's play. After that, you can take your children to taste some rare delicacies or pick some souvenir available on its traditional marketplace. One of local commodity of Sarangan area is rabbit. There are plenty of rabbit farming on the area provides rabbit for both consumption and pets. The famous delicacy comes from it is rabbit sate. This kind of amusement is available in almost every corner of Sarangan, even in front of your room if you wish. Not only natural attraction, Lake Sarangan also has interesting traditional ritual called Labuh Sesaji. This is a cleansing ceremony aimed to look for safety and wealth. In accordance to Javanese lunar calendar, this ritual is held every Friday Pon of month Ruwah. Gamelan and various kind of traditional music instruments enchant their rhythmic melody along the ritual. The ritual reaches its peak on the procession of Gono Bau from the village to the lake. Shaped like a mount, Gono Bau is a 2.5 to 3 meter high mound of rice. Along with the parade of traditional cavalry, Cucuk Lampah, shamans and elderly, and Bagus Dyah couple wearing traditional costume, this offering is brought into the lake. As you can imagine, Lake Sarangan with its surrounding hilly terrain is where one can find all kind of amusement, from chilly to tasty, from adventurous to romantic, from mountain to the pond.