Left Bali!!!
Trip Start
Jan 16, 2006
1
61
102
Trip End
Ongoing
Mount Bromo, Java,
Indonesia
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Got my mediation money on Friday, went to the pub, went to another pub, went to Bounty where we discovered 2-4-1 before 12. Why has nobody mentioned this to me before??? It's a Godsend. Make the most of it I say. So we did. Then we went upstairs in Bounty to which end I have no idea. I recollect very little, except that I know I left to go to Espresso to do my residents set of at least 4 songs. And that's what I remember.
So woke up still drunk, and went to the pub. I would provide more detailed reports of the pub, ie. people we met, what happened in each, but to be honest, what i do remember, I'm not sure which day it happened on, as the next day (Sunday) was the same.
The general pattern was: Get up, have breakfast/lunch (I guess there are those who might refer to this as brunch...) have a drink with it, move on, meet some people, chat to them, move on to find football, watch it, go to Bounty for 2 fishbowls at 2-4-1, dance, go to Espresso, sing, forget stuff, and go home.
So we HAD to get out of there. Tuesday was the fateful day. Up early, breakfast at the hotel - first time in a while we've been up in time - then in the taxi to Denpasar. Get harassed by around 7 people all trying to get us to go to Java with their bus company, it felt a little like being on the rack, finally settling on the cheapest with air-con, and then waiting bloody ages for the bastard thing to set off. When we did finally set off we made it as far as the inside boundary of the bus station and waited another hour while mre people came to fill the bus up.
Bromo
Good journey by all accounts. Anyway, got to Probolinggo where we had to get off this bus to catch a public bus to Cemoro Lawang - the village by Mount Bromo. Sod that, we'll get a shuttle bus. More expensive but after 10 hours already we don't care; just get us the hell there!And we did get there - legend driver taking 180 degree mountainside turns at breakneck speed with one hand pressed lightly on the wheel, as though 2 might have been considered a bit western - at around 11pm. Wait, what time to we have to be up to climb to the viewpoint for sunrise? 3am. Awesome. My wildest dreams coming true all in one go.
Oh yeah, it's bloody cold up there.
Anyway, we got up at 3.30 or something, got warm clothed up, and headed off, not really knowing where we are going, so we set off where we thought we were going. Lo and behold... we were right! Most of the time. One uber sketchy moment where we lost the path, halfway up the mountainside, ato be climbing - yes climbing - up the slippery mud bank following the smallest path in the world, with nothing but a 500 meter sheer drop beneath us. It's ok though, I had my Puma trainers on! With a little more dramam and consternation as to whether we really should continue or go back - the go back option receiving the response "I aint goin back down that" - we made it back to the path. And waddya know... it's a short cut! ("It's a short cut, it's meant to be harder. If it was easier it would just be the way")
And we got to the top.
Let me tell you!!! It's absolutely awesome up there. At the start, due to our super levels of fitness, our superior short cut finding skills, and, and, no that's it, it was too dark to really see anything up thre. But as the sun came up over the hills/mountains to the (West/East??? insert appropriate direction here) East I think, the view became absolutely amazing. We were at the viewpoint, not on Mount Bromo itself. We figured the viewpoint would be better otherwise it wouldn't be there, if Bromo itself was better, why would you need another viewpoint? And it was stunning. Looking miles down into the caldera (look it up) and across to 3 volcanoes, one live and smoking the whole time, one big cool looking one, and another bigger one that hsent big plumes of smoke out every so often. It was just bloody good. See the pics when I (finally) upload em.
So after a couple hours up there, tummies-a-rumblin, we headed back down the path to the hotel, warmed up with a cup of tea and good brekkie, and debated whether to climb Bromo or go to Jogjakarta at 10am. Jogja won. Quick hours kip and off we were on the road again...
