Mount Bromo, Indonesia

  Malang, Java, Indonesia
Friday, October 10, 2008

Bad start to the day again - bought a lovely french baguette in a bakery last night, planning on having it for breakfast as we had an early start. Was just about to tuck into it this morning when I discovered that it was infested with ants - even though I had it really well wrapped up, there were thousands in there, eating away at the nice fresh bread! We were supposed to be picked up by mini-bus at 8am to take us to Malang, our stopping off point for Mount Bromo. The guy shows up at 8:30am and shows us to the mini-van (which was surprisingly modern and spacious) then drove round the town til 10am picking up other passengers. So two hours after we were supposed to be leaving Yogyakarta we finally left for Malang. We couldn't believe the standard of driving we witnessed along the way - absolutely suicidal stuff every few minutes. Anyway, we made it safely to Malang (just about) after 11 weary hours in the mini-van and checked into a basic hotel. Had a quick look round the town and had some dinner. Malang itself doesn't seem too interesting.

Sunrise at Mt Bromo

Sunrise at Mt Bromo

The next morning we met a Dutch couple who checked into the room beside us. They were also planning to climb Mount Bromo (an active volcano) the following morning so the four of us set off together looking to book a trip to the volcano. We were first quoted 325,00 Rupiah per person, then 575,000 per person then finally 250,000. We were about to book the tour for 250,000 (just under 20 Euro) when the Dutch guy suggested we just hire a car and driver to take us there. This we managed to do for 600,000 (less than 50 Euro) between the four of us - bargain!!! So we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering round the city, spent a while online, saw a couple of Cathedrals and Mosques, the Town Hall, nothing special. Went out early for dinner and hit the bed early as we had arranged for the driver to pick us up at 2am.
The driver showed up on time and we left the hotel just before 2am. About 1.5 hours into the 2.5 hour journey we came across a pick up truck stuck in a mud flow. We had to wait for about 30 mins until it could wriggle itself out and as the roads worsened our own car struggled to keep going and avoid getting stuck in the mud. At one point we though we wouldn't get to see the sunrise at all, but, fair play to the driver, he got us there just in time. The sunrise itself was absolutely amazing. Seeing the sun come up over the volcanic landscape is something neither of us will ever forget, its definitely been noted as one of the highlights of the whole trip so far.

Scenery from Mt Bromo

Scenery from Mt Bromo

The viewpoint where you can see the sunrise is about 3,500 metres high and was quite cold at 4:30am. We were like celebrities up there and the two of us must have posed for about 50 photos with local people who were eager to have a photo of a white person amongst their holiday snaps! One particular group of schoolgirls from Jakarta were really hyperactive for such an early hour and they had is in stitches laughing, asking us to do peace signs for the photos and stuff. Think I've mentioned in the previous blog that the people are so nice and friendly here but I'll say it again!
After seeing the sunrise the driver dropped us down to the base of one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes - Mount Bromo. It took us the guts of an hour to climb to the top and by this stage the heat had begun to kick in. Lots of Asian and Indonesian tourists hired horses to take them up to the volcano crater but we walked - didn't want to cheat ourselves! Up at the top of the crater we saw another unforgettable sight, plumes of smoke and sulphur billowing out of the volcano, it was like the biggest chimney in the world. And the smell from the sulphur was unforgettable too, I actually dry reached, nearly vomited and half the people up on the crater were looking very queasy too.

Us with Local Girls

It smells up here

We were back down the volcano and at the car at about 7am and the driver dropped myself and Lydia to the nearby town of Cemora Lewang where we said goodbye to the Dutch couple who were heading back to Malang. We had breakfast and booked a bus - ferry - bus ticket that was leaving at 9am and would have us in Denpasar in Bali by 7 or 8pm -a long day traveling ahead!
Oh by the way, got the best response to my nationality today - it went like this:
Local: Where you from sir?
Me: Ireland
Local: (Takes a long look at me, touches my beard and says....) Gerry Adams!