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Glowing mountains
Steaming crater of Mount Bromo with Mount Semeru at the backgroundPerfect. The trek was good and pretty comfortable, the weather was fantastic, and the sun was always so forthcoming to us taking photos of her. Mt Bromo and the whole Tengger Semeru nature park felt like another world of its own. As we always exclaimed, its like Mars! And I think all the compliments of how beautiful this place is, are rightly so. Words can't describe the feeling of watching the sunrise and looking at how it unveiled the whole park.
We woke up at 2am and slowly made our way up in the dark with a few torches. Opting for a 2hr+ trek instead of a 4WD jeep that most would, we were rewarded with a clear sky dotted with uncountable shining stars. The path up is dark but mostly clearly marked. Intermittent breaks were taken along the way and while we rested, we locked our eyes at the vast skies as a couple of shooting stars flashed across. We continued our ascent, reaching the peak of Mt. Pananjakan (viewing point) at 4.45am, where one can get a very clear unobstructed view of the sunrise and of Mt. Bromo. At around 15 past 5, the sun slowly rose above
the horizon, lighting up the whole park, where the volcanic peaks can be seen towering above the surrounding ring of clouds. Amazing sight to behold. It felt surreal, almost unreal. This eye feast made the climb up so worthwhile, and it made me fall in love with the mountains over and over again.
We simply couldn't get enough of taking photos and videos from the viewing point. There was even a newly-wed couple having their photo shoot up at the top! After enjoying a couple of hot drinks (a local set up his stall selling hot drinks/food), and receiving our exam results via SMS (!!!), we unhurriedly made our way back to Cemoro Lawang. As we descended, the clouds surrounding Bromo and the surrounding peaks visibly dispersed and disappeared, displaying a vast black patch of land, otherwise known as the sea of sand.
After lunch, we headed for the sea of sand by foot, and it took us almost 1 and a half hour to reach the top of Mt. Bromo's crater. The sea of sand, which is spewed with black volcanic ash from the numerous eruptions, seemed like a black desert with occasional shrubs growing out of
nowhere. The scene is perfect for filming some Martian movies, or so we thought. We hiked to the crater with the convenience of 200+ steps and were treated to sulphur fumes boiling out of the crater. Great view with a pungent smell. We spent a while taking 'desert shots' in the expansive lands before heading back to cafe lava to rest for the day. Enough of trekking done in the past 18hrs!
Tengger Semeru nature park offers the best sunrise view that I've witness, atop a mountain. And I'm sure we will remember how the landscape unveils in front of our eyes, for a long long time.
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Are you forgetting to tell us something...
like who are the newlyweds? Nice sunrise, by the way.