THE SOUTHERN MRANGGEN: HILLY VILLAGE

Weekend is perfect time to do our hobbies.

In the last week of September, it was Sunday, My friend and I cycled around Mranggen (Mranggen is the village where I am living in). This was the second time we cycled together, after previously we had ever cycled together to follow a fun-bike event in Semarang.

On the day before, my friend sent me a message on Whatsapp. The message was he invited me to cycle to the Marina beach in Semarang, but I recommended him another place nearer to go: “How about Banyumeneng?”. For your information, Banyumeneng is a village which is situated in the southern Mranggen district (perhaps the southernmost). 

My friend agreed and said he would follow me because he had never gone there. We started from house at around 05:15 AM, the traffic was still quiet and the air was still fresh to breathe. But on the road we had to go alongside the dump trucks (mining trucks) that forced us to be more careful and inevitably had to look back because the road was narrow and a little bit slippery due to spilled sand falling from the trucks. On the way, we also met some cyclists and greeted each other by ringing our bell. For me, that is one of the most interesting parts from cycling. 

After around 15 minutes, we finally arrived in Banyumeneng. My first impression on people in this village (on Sunday) was that people here were more active than people in Mranggen. Many people invaded the road to walk together or to jog with their peers, which is something hardly found in my village. Another interesting thing from this village was a Sunday market was there every Sunday morning, opened above a bridge, although the sellers were not too many. 

This village was surrounded by hills and portrayed the countryside scene. Full of trees and fields grew on the sides of the road. There were both uphill and flat road yet in a good condition despite far from the downtown. At the end of the uphill road, we would see a gate which was the border between Demak Regency and Semarang Regency. We decided to only stop before the border gate as the road after the gate becoming steeper ahead.

On our way home, we also stopped at a place, I was not quite sure with the name of the place and which city it belonged to. But, clearly, it was an alternative way to Semarang where you will be in Rowosari after going through the place. This place offered us a scenic route, it was surrounded by terraces, plus still rarely houses around. We could also enjoy the view of mount Ungaran and hill with a neglected unique structure like “Egyptian pyramid” on its top from that place. Ironically, the area behind the terraces was a mining, well known as "Brown Canyon"- it was where the aforementioned trucks getting their dump filled. 

After being tired of cycling in adequate distances. I invited my friend to eat Pecel Lodeh. It is a native food from our village. As far as I know, It only exists in my village and is difficult to find such a food in another city, even in other villages around Mranggen. I prefer to call it the daily breakfast menu for Mranggen people since they often eat it for breakfast and it is mostly found merely in the morning. 

We went home happily, safely and fully

The scenic route

Uphill road