Sulfury Mount Bromo

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The next stop after Gili Air was the large Indonesian island of Java. We finally landed in the sleepy little town of Cemoro Lawang overlooking Mount Bromo after two long days of buses and ferries.

(A quick note about the ferries in Indonesia: I will never, ever be surprised to hear that yet another Indonesian ferry has sunk. Pretty certain that these are the cast-offs of countries that actually have safety standards. My friend noted at one point that the boats appeared to be held together by paint as much as anything. They take the expression "rust bucket" to a whole new level!)

The ride up to Cemoro Lawang in the overloaded bemo (mini van bus) was a kick! It carries school kids home, takes villagers, veggies, coconuts, chickens, tanks of pesticides and whatever else from place to place along the road. As the road winds wildly up through veggie patches and little villages, the air gets progressively cooler.

We got up in the dark the next morning to do the sunrise at Bromo. Being the wet season, all we got was a lot of cloud. Still, we wandered around the rim of the crater and admired the sulfury smoke emanating from the depths.

The locals aggressively sell jeep and horse-rides to the tourists. Certainly the Indonesian and other Asian tourists were taking full advantage of this service. I think we looked quite strange to be happily walking around even though we clearly could have afforded rides. Weirdos!

My impression is that people don't walk by choice in most of the world. Even in the most dirt-poor towns of Indonesia, nearly all transportation is by motorbike or mini-van. Motorbikes are rigged up to carry huge loads of food, bamboo, plastic goods, whatever, while mini-vans are commonly used as the public transportation systems as well as for goods movement.

Yes, you do see mostly older men and children on bicycles and women walking short distances with loads on their heads, but this is less common.

Later in the day, we went wandering up the road and, after a few switchbacks, found ourselves on a path leading to a viewpoint over the entire valley. Still a bit cloudy for a full view, but a nice quiet spot to wonder at the near-vertical cultivation of cabbages on steep hillsides. Every scrap of the rich, volcanic soil is put to use here!

Another cool night in the mountains and we headed back down to a marathon bus journey to Yogyakarta and the race to get me out of Indonesia!

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Photos

Mount Bromo (left) beside Mount Batok
Java

Indonesian rust buckets
Lombok

Bromo's smokey core
Java

Bromo horses
Java

valley views
Java

valley view
Java