Puncak: Jakarta’s Lush Backyard

Mount Salak as seen from a viewpoint on the way to Puncak

As he carefully navigated the bends and twists of this mountain pass through thick fog that drastically reduced visibility, he kept murmuring wow and phew, being both perplexed and relieved every time he managed to conquer a sharp turn. My father was at the steering wheel with my equally jittery mother sitting next to him, eyes wide open at the motion-sickness-inducing road. I was in the back seat, and after a while I fell asleep, only slightly aware of the situation my father was dealing with.

Back in the days when we were still living in the westernmost part of Java, we had to go through this difficult pass to reach Bandung, the capital of West Java – the province which once included the small city where we used to live. Puncak, as the pass is…