Foggy December Escapes

“It ain't even cold outside, not where I'm from Feeling like it's mid-July under the sun” - Winter Things lyrics.

I wished I could have titled this Winter Things, just like the songs that Ariana Grande released a while back under her album Christmas & Chill. I recently went to a mountainous hilly area just 2 hours drive from my place. If I am being honest, I kept getting surprised that I hadn’t really explored this province again as an adult. I always felt like distance is quite relative around these places that it takes either 2-4 hours and you'd ended up in some beautiful areas.

For instance, 2 hours drive passing through a toll road would take me to a mountainous area and 3 hours train ride would take me to another province. But at the same time, I can drive for 4 hours and I’d still be in the same province. An hour and a half flight, I could already be in either Malaysia or Singapore. When you think about it in terms of time rather than money, it’s pretty interesting that it’s all pretty close.

About a week ago, I went out of my way to find a foggy hilly side. While it isn’t really cold this particular area has a December mood to it. It’s a small lake that’s located on the foothill of Mt Lawu. This area is known for its strawberry farms and rabbit meat as one of their local delicacies. The average temperature in the area is around 15C to not more than 25C. During months like October to January, it is quite foggy that we can’t see the lake. You can see the fog up close and they are moving from the mountain to the lake and so forth during these months.

There are actually plenty of attractions to do in the area such as riding on a speedboat or circling the lake with the horse or jogging. This area is quite well-known even during Dutch occupation. My family has been here multiple times as well and this is one our must-visit during holidays as a kid. But that day was my first time, revisiting this place as an adult. So, you can say that this place has a lot of memories to me. I never thought that the place is that beautiful. As a kid, I was desensitized of this beautiful place. I went here too often and it felt like the usual. But that day, I started appreciating this place again, as in how beautiful this place can be.

In this place, visitors can park anywhere and I was choosing the quieter side of the place. It was the perfect spot since there weren’t too many people or tourists around it. I could enjoy the scenery and captured some great shots of the place.

One of the coolest things that happened in the place was when the fog completely covered the area and I was taking a selfie. It creates a cool blurred background that is like a studio backdrop. In these two pictures the fog was moving and actually, it was to the point where behind me was simply fog.

This was how it looks when the fog was extremely thick. I didn't take more pictures of myself but I told my mom to pose for me because it looks way better and in the end, she came home with some great pictures to show off to her friends.

As I've mentioned, people also come here to experience the speedboat circling around the lake. These are some of the shots that I got to capture on my picture along with the speed boats that are parked around the lake.

You can see how foggy some areas can be in this place but that can also show how beautiful this place can be. At that time, I wished I was exploring more areas but because I got a little moody that day, I only explored a small portion of the place.

I forgot to mention that in this area there hotels and cottages that's overlooking the lake. Just as you can see in this picture below. It looks cool isn't it? I wish it was painted in a certain way that looks more aesthetically pleasing but either way, they look cool. I only stayed once in those areas with my family as a kid. I don't think I would do it as an adult since I think there are better place with better views around this province that offers great staying experience.