Botram Lunch

From the Saguling area, where we visited the cave of Sang Hyang Poek and the underwater cavern of Sang Hyang Tikoro, we continued our trip to the Rajamandala Karst in the west of Padalarang, about 25 kilometers to the west of Bandung.

The trip from Saguling to Gununng Masigit Village, the 'base camp' from which we would start our exploration of the Rajamandala Karst, took about 45 minutes. It's about lunch time when we got there. And here's how our luch was prepared:

The Sundanese people (the idigenous people of West Java) call it botram. I don't know what the most appropriate English translation would be because, depending on what the context is, it can be described as a friendly gathering diner, a picnic, or a potluck. I'd describe it as a communal eating where everybody would eat foods (usually simple ones) prepared on a single platform like the whole banana leaf you see in the above picture.

Our botram lunch that day consisted of nasi liwet (rice coocked with spices and salt fish/anchovy), fried chicken, tempeh and tofu, lapapan (fresh vegetables) and sambal (fresh chilli sauce). As you can see from the above picture, everybody ate the same foods spread over the banana leaf using their hand.

Dari daerah Saguling di mana kami mengunjungi Gua Sang Hyang Poek dan Sang Hyang Tikoro, perjalan kami lanjutkan ke kawasan Karst Rajamandala di sebelah barat Padalarang. Sebelum memulai eksplorasi kawasan tersebut kami botram makan siang dengan menu nasi liwet, tempe goreng, tahu goreng, ayam goreng, lalapan dan sambel.