Visiting Baduy Dalam and Baduy Luar! (Inner Baduy and Outer Baduy)

I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START I'M SUPER EXCITED

So on June 29th until 30th, I visited Baduy, both Dalam and Luar (Inner and Outer) for the first time in my life! It was so much fun!
I arrived at Rangkas Bitung Station as my meeting point with the team. After that, we took a 1.5 ish hour trip with this minibus looking thing to this place called Ciboleger Village. We ate a bit, and had some light conversation, like yknow, asking names and stuff. But I can't really remember names that well, so I forgot everything in a heartbeat HAHA :( but I remembered the names eventually
At 2 p.m, we took some pictures and started walking and I SWEAR THE FIRST FEW STEPS WAS THE HARDEST!!

Our beautiful faces before the trip. There were guys too, but they didn't do pics as much lmao

Maybe our bodies weren't really used to walking while carrying a lot of stuff in such a hilly environment, but after an hour it got easier (????) not really but like my heartbeat wasn't as crazy. I thought I was the only one experiencing that but turns out, a lot of people did too so I didn't feel so weak and alone hahaha

There aren't much that I could say but everything was so breathtaking, even though my feet hurt like hell (even till today lol)

So yeah after walking for approx. 4 hrs we arrived at Baduy Dalam (Inner Baduy). SO, here, there are the 2 main rules that you need to follow:

-No phone, laptop, camera, etc. Only flashlight to guide your way. I really respect that, maybe to maintain their purity, like not exposed to technology.

-No soap, shampoo, toothpaste, detergent for it can harm the environment

Oh, and if you're a foreigner, you can only go to Baduy Luar. You can't go to Baduy Dalam. That's quite unfortunate actually because Baduy Dalam is SO BEAUTIFUL!!

Like the river is so clean, no lamps, just hanging candles (?) to light up the house, everyone was chillin, etc.

Then we arrived at our place at 8 pm? I guess I'm not sure I didn't wear any watch and not allowed to turn on my phone. There are 3 Baduy Dalam Villages, and mine was called Cibeo.

I was soooo freaking tired but relieved like, 'Damn I made it, I thought I was gonna die.'

Then we had dinner at 9 with our host, Pak Juli Arsyad. He's really kind and patient with our questions because we be askin stupid stuff like 'how do u get married' but he still answered them anyway :)

I'd like to summarize the things that I learned that night:

-Their belief is called Sunda Wiwitan, which makes them respect nature so much to the point that they don't even use soap and stuff

-They only wear black and white clothes, it symbolizes balance. Like day and night, good and bad, man and woman, etc.

-No doctors, only shaman. No hospitals as well.

-No school. Everything is taught by their family (or sometimes like there will be this gathering for adults, managed by Puun/tribal chief)

-They don't wear shoes or sandals. They can be punished if they wear one actually.

-They also can't use any form of transportation. So, fun story (not so fun actually), like my host, Pak Juli, often invited to Jakarta or Bandung, and he had to walk for 2 days to go to Jakarta, and 15 days to get to Bandung. Like, how crazy is that?!?!?

-Their cups don't have ears. And when I asked why he said 'It's just what it is'

-They can't use silverware to eat. Only eat by hand.

-Both men and women do farming

-The Puun decides the babies' names

-They do arranged-marriage, and there are 3 steps of proposing. Oh, and they use silver rings, not gold.

-Their houses are all the same size and layouts, only the Puun has a nice house

-They don't have any ID, well actually some do, but like only a few.

-They don't vote. Well, they do, but Pak Juli mentioned that Baduy Dalam votes for anyone who wins. lol fair enough

-The crime rate is so low, but they do have this sort of jail in Baduy Luar (They called it LP). People will be held there for 44 or 40 days (i kinda forget) if they do sth wrong.

-If they want to marry someone outside Baduy Dalam, they need to leave Baduy Dalam, unless their partner could survive Baduy Dalam's strict rules (for some cases, Baduy Luar people could, so they move to Baduy Dalam)

-People will work together to build houses. With no nails and no hammer.

-They could read and write, I saw some scribbling on their walls like alphabet letters but not in the right order.

-There are no crazy diseases because they're healthy AF

-They have their own months, so another fun story is I asked what about that day's date (it was 29th June 2019) and he said it's the 25th day, 5th month, the year 2019

-People in Baduy Dalam get married at the age of 20-23. It will be embarrassing if you're old and not married yet

-They do accept trader coming in and out. They buy stuff like this funny looking water bottle and bowls.

But they also have another DIY water bottle made of bamboo and they fill it up every morning.

I believe there are still some things that I learned that night but as for now those are all that I can remember

After that, we slept with the fireflies :') it was so magical

We woke up at 5.30 and went to the river and OMG the water was soooo clear and cold and ofc I just had to jump right in. I also drank straight from the river. It tasted so good.

Then we had breakfast and took a stroll through the village.

At 9 a.m, we (sadly) had to leave and walked for another 5 hours to get to Ciboleger. I proudly state that I'm the first few people that arrived at Ciboleger HAHAHAHA maybe because the view was so pretty I could really enjoy things and not get too tired. I got there at 2 p.m.

Here are some of the pics that I took (from Baduy Luar, ofc):