Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape

This week’s challenge is Escape. Last week, I took two days on leave to accompany my father whose got heart disease to get an alternative medication in Cibeber, West Java, Indonesia. Actually, I could just take one day leave, but I decided to “escape” one more day to visit my uncle (my dad’s brother) who lives 28 km from the medication center. The medication is called pashod, or fashdu, in western is common with phlebotomy or venesection (a vein is opened and a large volume of blood collected and discarded). The phlebotomist also asked my father to consume Sembung leaves (Blumea Balsamifera). The leaves taste spicy, slightly bitter, warm and smelled like spices. Nutritious as antibacterial, blood circulation, eliminate blood clots and swelling. After three times going there, my father is feeling better.

We went there on last Monday, the trip took around 4 hours to get there. My uncle, Teddy, waited there with his motorcycle and after the medication we went to his home, Sukanegara village. He’s living with his wife’s family. We met with his parents in law who welcome us with warm hospitality. His mother in law is a very good cook. She prepared wonderful traditional meals.

We arrived around 5 PM. The water was really cold. I forced myself to endure during showering. Sukanegara is located 900 meters from sea level. So yeah, trust me the water was really cold. The temperature was around 19-24 degree Celsius. Not too cold.

In 2010 the population was around 6000 with the ratio men and women was about fifty-fifty. The population density was around 15 per km square. It has a traditional market and some grocery stores. Wherever I saw, I could see tea plants everywhere. The people own around 15 hectares of tea plant, and government owns 550 hectares. The rice from this area (Cianjur) is quite famous.

Tuesday morning, my uncle took me for sightseeing with his bike. I took some pictures to capture my “escape”.