Some reviews on tripadvisor wrote this lake as a usual one; not that attractive, dull and dirty while some of them wrote this as a just family lake. Wow, what a disappointment, cause on my last visit to this lake -on weekday, where there wasn't so many visitors and not so high prices offered- I enjoyed my 3 hours sightseeing on this cloudy and full of mythical lake.

A short description about the meaning of Situ Patengan on the entrance gate

Located in Ciwidey, South Bandung, around 1,600 m above sea level, it has a very romantic story which resemblances the name itself; Situ means lake in Sundanese language and Patengan was taken from pateang-teangan, also Sundanese, means look for.

Short description about Batu Cinta on Pulau Sasaka

Local people believe in a romantic tale regarding the history of this lake: A love story between a king's son, titled putra prabu and a goddes who lives as a human, ki Santang and Dewi Rengganis respectively. They fell in love each other but unfortunately they had to apart for so long time. For how great was their love, they kept searching one another until finally met up in a place called Batu Cinta or "Rock of Love". Dewi Rengganis, the goddes, then asked ki Santang to make her a lake and a boat for them sailing together.

Now, the boat is believed to become an island named Pulau Asmara/Pulau Sasaka or Sasaka Island/Romance Island. Based on this story, whoever come to this sacred 'Rock of Love' and sail surround the island will gain a true love. Will you believe it?

The available for rent boats

As I remember the entrance ticket was quiet affordable, only IDR 6,000+, parking fee around IDR 2,000+, in total you just need to prepare each $2 to get in. There we can hire a boat to sail along the lake and enjoy the scenery. It was quiet and not so many visitors at that time which made me didn't meet partners to sail with, beside my bf. Usually the boat can carry up to 10 persons with price IDR 150,000/boat. Since we were only 2, we afterall had to rent the boat and paid for IDR 75,000, lol! But, well, thanks for the privacy.

So many available boats!

It was drizzling along my way to pulau Sasaka and to reach Batu Cinta, so I couldn't get brighter pictures. All the things you saw are those that got edited and the maximum results I could achieve from my all-foggy-and-cloudy pictures. There wasn't any special thing on Batu Cinta physically, just a rock, in fact. I once tried to reach and sat on it, but it was too slippery and I didn't want to fall into the lake, that would be so embarrassing. So I gathered all my consciousness only just for taking its pictures.

The legend, Batu Cinta or Rock of Love

Well, I don't really believe in folktales, in Sasaka island we only took our time to feel the fresh air, listen to the drip of water, the local people and cultures, took so many pictures, since I would see it crowded on weekend. I personally wanted to capture the loneliness feeling, the more of the nature and also the relaxing moment from the start I arrived. There were stalls for you to enjoy hot tea or coffee, roasted corn along with Bandung specialties drinks: bandrek and sekoteng, a ginger thing to warm you, although the temperature wasn't that cold, around 17-23 C.


Maybe some of the reviews about how dull is this local attraction was half right, but what's to blame, this is nature, we just want to keep it wild yet enjoyable. The area is about 150 ha mostly dominated by lake and forest.

Small gazebo, there!

How to get there

---

It is 50 km from Bandung city, heading to the south, to Patengan village, Rancabali district, Bandung regency. Ah, yeah, have I mentioned I really enjoyed the tea plantation along the road.

tea plantation to Situ Patengan

I would love to visit here again next time, maybe bringing more friends and more family members, to get cheaper price to rent the boat, lol!

See you on my next post!

References:
Situ Patenggang
Situ Patengan; Legenda Batu Cinta di Tengah Danau

This dress was a present, however it didn't fit me well. The person who gave me this thought she had the same taste just like me, but.. I exactly didn't think that way. In the end, I needed to alter the dress, which unbelievably too a week before I could wear it properly. It used to has long sleeves and the length was below my knees-almost midi, I look so short.


The shoes also were another gift, not exactly a gift. My auntie bought this but unfortunately once we got home, she realized that the size was too small for her (36) and she.. unwillingly gave these to me.


See you on next post. Have a nice day!