Dieng Plateau
A Volcanic Plateau At Two Thousand Metres Holding The Oldest Hindu Temples In Java, Built In The Eighth Century Older Than Both Borobudur And Prambanan · Wonosobo, Central Java
Dieng is a volcanic plateau at TWO THOUSAND METRES in central Java, and it holds THE OLDEST HINDU TEMPLES ON THE ISLAND - the small stone candi of the ARJUNA COMPLEX, built in the eighth century, OLDER THAN BOTH BOROBUDUR AND PRAMBANAN and standing alone in an open field with mountains behind them. The rest of the plateau is still volcanically alive: SIKIDANG CRATER bubbles grey mud in the open, and TELAGA WARNA, the coloured lake, shifts turquoise and yellow with dissolved sulphur. IT IS ALSO GENUINELY COLD. Frost forms here in the dry season and occasionally kills the potato crop - something almost unheard of in Indonesia, and the reason the name means abode of the gods. THE PLATEAU'S CHILDREN SOMETIMES DEVELOP DREADLOCKS SPONTANEOUSLY, and a real ritual exists to cut them - a genuine local phenomenon rather than anything staged for the visitors who now come to see it happen. It is a home, an altitude and a working potato farm long before it is a sight.
Dieng, Banjarnegara and Wonosobo Regencies, Central Java, Wonosobo, Central Java, Indonesia
THE PLATEAU IS OPEN COUNTRY with individual sites charging separately - the ARJUNA TEMPLE COMPLEX, SIKIDANG CRATER, TELAGA WARNA and the SIKUNIR SUNRISE VIEWPOINT each collect a small fee, and COMBINED TICKETS EXIST and are worth asking about. SIKUNIR IS A SUNRISE PROPOSITION, which means leaving Dieng village around 4 AM for the short climb. THE SITES OTHERWISE KEEP DAYLIGHT HOURS. DIENG VILLAGE ITSELF has simple guesthouses and is the sensible base; WONOSOBO, about an hour down the mountain, is the larger town. CLOUD ROUTINELY CLOSES IN FROM MID-MORNING. THE DIENG CULTURE FESTIVAL, which includes the dreadlock-cutting ceremony, is held annually, usually in August, and fills every room on the plateau. Bring warm clothes in every season.