Why you need a girl’s trip once in a while
One of the things that I miss the most when I move to Australia is going on a holiday adventure with my best friends. We had so many adventures in the past before life took our time too much. From staying in a fancy hotel (because I won a giveaway contest for a free stay in five stars hotel in Bali), to weekend getaways with only a backpack.
One of the most memorable trip was when I went for a weekend trip with my best friends to Cimaja. To live and work in Jakarta means layered of pressures, start from the professional life and personal life too. That’s why me and my best friends like to getaway on the weekend from the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle.
Cimaja Beach is located in Pelabuhan Ratu, West Java. It’s the closest surfing beach to reach from Jakarta. Pelabuhan Ratu is also one of my best friend’s home town. We stayed at Cimaja Beach Club, a famous accommodation among the surfers and also famous for its delicious breakfast. We don’t surf, so obviously we were there for their delicious breakfast!
How did we experience our trip to Cimaja Beach Club? Read more!
1. Cimaja accommodation vs holiday goals vs budget
We want to go on a relaxing holiday by the beach with limited budget. Cimaja Beach Club is the accommodation that meets our need because it sits right in front of the Cimaja Beach.
The price for two persons and an extra bed is affordable for the 3 of us with breakfast included. It’s so much within our budget! There are 3 selections of breakfast from Pancakes, Big Breakfast, and Granola. We were actually finding difficulties when we have to decide what we want for breakfast, we wanted them all!
The staffs are amazing! They are very kind and attentive, always ready to give information every time we asked. And they have 2 friendly Dalmatians that company us when we hang out at the Common Space.
You can check out Cimaja Beach Club website through the following link: http://www.cimajabeachclub.com/ for the accommodation price. Jeremy, the owner, is very responsive and he speaks Bahasa Indonesia too! Too bad we didn’t have the chance to meet him when we stay there.
2. How to get to Cimaja?
We were looking for a cheap yet convenient transportation to reach Cimaja Beach. So we decided that we are going to mix our transportation. We started to check other options of transportation by checking the train schedule and whether the accommodation provides train station pick up, etc. We wanted to arrive at Cimaja at lunchtime, so we made online reservation for the 08:00 am train depart from Bogor to Pelabuhan Ratu. We also made reservation for a car pick up at Cibadak train station where we got off from the train.
These are our transportation details to Cimaja Beach Club (CBC):
Since we are all living in Tangerang Selatan, or Greater Jakarta if you want it sounds more fancy, here is how we travel from our home to Cimaja Beach:
- Commuter Line from Jurangmangu to Bogor station IDR 8,000
- Pangrango train ticket Bogor Paledang — Cibadak Executive class IDR 50,000
- Car pick up from Cibadak station — Cimaja Beach Club IDR 117,000
From Cimaja Beach to Jakarta:
- Car pick up from Cimaja Beach Club –Cibadak station IDR 117,000
- Pangrango train ticket Cibadak — Bogor Paledang Economy class IDR 25,000
- Commuter Line Bogor to Jurangmangu station IDR 8,000
Total cost per person IDR 325,000
We departed from Jurangmangu at 05:00 am and arrived at Cimaja Beach Club at 13:00 pm. With a mix of transportation types, we have reached our destinations with affordable price yet still have the comfort that we need.
If you want to follow our way of transport, here a few tips:
- From Bogor Commuter Line station, you have to walk out of the station and cross the street to reach the Bogor Paledang station.
- Carry a backpack to bring all your necessary items, it will make you walk easier without quickly feel exhausted.
- Pangrango train Executive class is very comfortable with reclining seats and most likely full like the economy class, where you have to sit on a non-reclining 3-seater.
- Be careful when you use the toilet because the train rail is not always flat due to the contour of the terrain. You will experience minor shakes, so please consider that when you are doing activity in the train especially in the toilet.
- All the car drivers only know fast or super fast driving and they are most likely tried to precede other vehicles including buses. I would suggest you to drink Antimo, dimenhydrinate tablets for dizziness and wear your seatbelt even though you are sitting in the back.
NOTE: We drank Antimo from the accommodation to the Cibadak train station. When we arrived at the train station, we literally a bit “high” and slept immediately when we sat on the Pangrango train. What a strong medicine!
Of course, there are many other options of transportation that meets your need. You can rent a private car from Jakarta to Cimaja or other alternatives transportation.
3. How many restaurants in Cimaja?
As soon as we arrived at Cimaja Beach Club, we immediately ordered lunch. They offer lunch menus with relatively same price like in Jakarta. We have ordered fish dabu-dabu with rice and also beef rendang with rice. They were delicious! I know, we’d probably tired and hungry, which makes every food are delicious. But especially the fish dabu — dabu was just fantastic. The fish were fresh and the dabu — dabu was just on the right amount to make the tastiest lunch dish.
In the afternoon, we went down to Citepus beach by public transportation. We enjoyed the sunset and cheap dinner by the beach. There are plenty of “warung” or small restaurant along the beach with mainly Indonesian Chinese food. We ordered meatballs soup, fried noddles, noddles soup, and none other indomie soup with meatballs (a very typical Indonesian menu). The noddles soup was bad, so sad. But it’s fine; we can always order something to eat at the accommodation in case we get hungry again!
You can find many restaurants around Cimaja and other beaches on surrounding areas starting from seafood and other Indonesian food. We saw one restaurant that serves pizza and pasta, but it was the only one nearby.
This is an area where you need a transportation to get around to tourist destinations. But, there aren’t a lot of tourist destination options anyway. So there are probably 3 things you can do when you visit Cimaja.
1. Surfing
If you are a surfer, Cimaja waves are perfect for the long-board surfers. You can rent a scooter and reach other surfing beaches.
2. Eat and Eat
Whether it’s the grilled fishes and seafood, fried noddle and noddle soup, or just the simple meatballs soup, you can explore Cimaja culinary by foot, with a scooter, or by taking public transportation.
3. Being lazy
You can have a lazy holiday by walking around the beach and meet the locals catching the fishes, or read a good book while playing with the friendly dogs. You can stay inside the AC room when the heat is unbearable and turn on your playlist with a portable speaker.
There was one interesting story during our stay at Cimaja. After dinner at Citepus Beach, we realized that there was no public transportation to take us back to the accommodation. And to walk back is more than 5 km.
There are no public transportation after sunset because the fishermen rent the public transportation to go to the market. The only choice was to take the motor taxi or famously known as “ojek”. So we found a motor taxi driver and he went to find another 2 because there were 3 of us. He returned with only 1 more motor taxi, so 2 of us have to share 1 motor taxi. It was a unique and funny experience that we will never forget!
There are always interesting events when you are going out on a girl’s trip. Those experience will enrich you and basically make me appreciate them and myself even more.
You might not be able to do it a lot these days due to the pandemic. But I don’t think the situation should limit your creativity. You can always arrange a staycation in the city where you live, or a Zoom night with wine party, etc.! The most important thing is not to lose that friendship connection. It’s important for your mental health.
