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Published: March 4th 2007
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Mount Bromo
A break first. I sat here for an hour taking in everything, so quiet (minus the howling wind) and peaceful. And just like that she was gone...or so it seemed. After our short-lived reunion ended, I was in the middle of a city I knew nothing about, and had a single page on Indonesia ripped out of a 5 year old Lonely Planet I found on Gili Meno. Somehow, someway I got on a few buses, and ended up in Probolinggo...the base to magnificent Mount Bromo. Bromo was one place I wanted to visit on Indonesia, thanks to Baraka showing me the landscape. Unfortunately I arrived in another foreign bus terminal at 11 o'clock, knowing nothing about the area. A young woman started talking to me asking where I was going and what I was doing. When I told her I was traveling by myself, didn't speak Indonesian, had no travelguide, and no clue where I was, or where I was staying that night, I thought her jaw was going to smack her toes protruding out from her open-air sandals. She thought I was crazy to be doing this, telling me Indonesia was a dangerous place...lol and not to trust anybody (so I should be trusting her because...?). Nice to hear the locals telling me this. She offered to help me
Sunrise
Breathtaking, that's all I could say. find a decent hotel in the area, as my bus wouldn't leave until early the next morning. Sensing that she wouldn't take
no for an answer I let her sit me on the back of a random guy's motorbike in the dark to take me to a nearby hotel. Thinking this wasn't the best move of my trip, I figured regardless, it would be an experience. All worries were unfounded as he took me to a decent hotel nearby where I got to get a sound sleep.
The next day provided more problems as I couldn't find anywhere to exchange my Japanese yen, nor figure out how the bus would work to take me up to the volcano. Using my honed negotiation skills (of course I still got ripped off...lol) I decided to go up the mountain on the back of another guy's motorbike. This ended up being a fabolous idea, as I got to see the countryside without any bus windows blocking my view. Reaching the peak, the dumpy guesthouse was as barren as a motel on Kingston road, perhaps worse. But the view, well, I don't think I would ever ask for a more ridiculously gorgeous, exotic,
Still beautiful
Last shot before I headed to Yogyakarta. strange and out-of-this-world view. This guesthouse was right on the edge of the old volcano's rim. Now, several new volcanoes have started to form in the old volcanoe's cone. Bromo is the one that is constantly smoking (the short one), Batok is the one in the middle with the wrinkles, and Semeru is the one in the far background. I have never in my life seen anything like this landscape. If you don't want to study to become an astronaut, nor spend millions a la Lance Bass, then simply go to Mount Bromo and you have left planet Earth. It wouldn't be surprising whatsoever to see a little green figure darting from rock to rock, as aliens or martians would feel at home in this locale.
I met a guy from Scotland (he happened to be working in Scarborough as well, though, the real Scarborough England, and not ghetto Scarborough, Ontario!) and two girls from Finland and we took a Jeep up to the viewpoint to take in the view. It was a gorgeous day, but unfortunately by the time we got to the top, clouds had rolled in blocking most of the lower view. After this I decided
Bird Market
Yup that's a bat hanging upside down. to take a walk up to Bromo. This was an amazing idea, as I walked around the rim of the volcano, seeing the eternal smoke being released into the atmosphere. You could see right into the volcano, and some people had trekked all the way down to the floor of the volcano. I thought about it, but decided it wasn't a great idea, as it was slippery, I was wearing running shoes, and was trekking by myself. Plus, the sulfuric smoke I was inhaling wasn't exactly making me feel 100%. It was amazing seeing this landscape, where the death of the volcano spread to outlying areas making everything grey and dead. And seeing it gradually lose its affect and the green of the surrounding areas start to grow. I will go back here one day, I will, it is that amazing.
Our team of a Scotsman, Finnish girls and myself woke up at 3:30am the next morning to catch a sunrise and we were not let down. It was as perfect as you could ask for and I will always remember the sun breaking over the landscape as both Bromo and Semeru in the distance emitted smoke for our
Dieng Plateau
Basically an open hole in the ground with boiling mud/water. Pretty crazy and cool. eager photos.
After this, Craig (the scotsman) and I continued onto Yogyakarta where I spent my last few days in Indonesia, taking in the locals and buying some goods, including a wicked dart gun. I don't know how I got it back to Japan, but it's in my apartment and is quite popular still. One of the last interesting things I did was go to the Dieng Plateau, an area up in the mountains with many hotspots of geographic activity. We went to sulfur lakes, and saw holes in the ground just constantly boiling water / mud. We also visited the famous bird market where you could buy any living thing you wanted. From roosters, chickens, bats, lizards, maggots, rabbits, dogs, cats and chickadees dyed bright pink, yellow etc. If an animal rights activist ever went through this market they would have nightmares for months. It was savage seeing these animals locked up in cages with absolutely disgusting living conditions. I guess it's hard to blame Indonesdians though, when they are living in similar conditions. We can't expect them to make living areas for animals better than the ones they are enduring themselves.
So was the end of
Dieng Plateau
The terracing goes on for miles and miles. my trip, and I had an overnight train, flight to Hong Kong, flight to Osaka, another overnight train, sleeping two hours in a train station, another train finally getting to my home town Nanao at 6:45 am Tuesday, January 9th. Allowing me enough time to have a shower and take the train back to work for 8:00am. Let's just say that wasn't the best day of my life.
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