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Published: November 29th 2007
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Why did the chicken cross the road?
To help us fix our flat tire, of course. It took 12 hours to get to Mount Bromo from Yogyakarta. It was a long ride, with 2 long stops due to multiple flat tires...but we are pretty much immune to being annoyed by all of that stuff anymore. Delays just don't bother us one bit, we know we will get there...eventually. We were just happy that we didn't have to do the same, return trip, back to Yogyakarta the next day like all the other tourists in the van. Phew.
The sceanary was great at times but for the most part the journey was spent driving in and out of the never ending urban sprawl that is Java.
Mount Bromo is one of Javas biggest tourist attractions, truly one of the worlds most magnificent volcanic landscapes.
And to see this landscape in all its glory you must bite the bullet and visit the famous lookout at sunrise.
Most people choose to have a jeep come and pick them up in the wee hours of the morning to drive them up the steep mountain to get to the lookout point...but we, intrepid souls we are, decided to go on our own, using our own feet to get us to the top.
Finally, Mount Bromo
In all its lovliness. To achieve this we had to set the alarm on my watch to wake us at 2:30am. Oh how the arms of sleep do not wish to let go at such an hour. It was a struggle, but we are fighters and we had to do it...to see our third sunrise in Java. Though this one promised to be the most rewarding.
After a 2 hour trek through a trail that looked like it hadn't been used since the birth of the volcano (which included us getting lost and finding ourselves practically hanging onto the edge of the mountain and then Jen refusing to take another step backwards or forwards for quite a while)....
we DID eventually arrive at the top...in time for the sunrise.
We were unwarmly welcomed by at least 50 well rested and toasty tourists who had been escorted up to the lookout in the comfort of their hired 4WD vehicles. ("Those suckers paid $10 for that ride!!").
We haven't even mentioned yet how cold it was up there. We were told that the temperature was hovering somewhere around 4 degrees....quite a shock indeed. Needless to say, we have been tropicalized and are total weenies now when
it comes to weather...and our hands were frozen for two hours after we left the top.
The sunrise was just as spectacular as we had imagined it to be...and even more so. We stayed at the top for a good long while, it may have been loud and jam packed with local and foreign tourist, singing and screaming, though it just didn't matter, it was just such an amazing sight that we could just block it all out and enjoy.
Even though we had many offers to take a jeep down to the "sand sea" below we INSISTED upon walking down ourselves, and we were rewarded, once again, by the amazing sceanary around us. The Indonesian scouts troop walking down with us agreed as well.
We made it down to the bottom where the sceanary was completely surreal. We were surrounded by miniature sand dunes, 2 smoking volcanoes and encircled by steep cliffs.
We walked across the "sand sea" and felt like we were in another world.
Bromo certainly met all of our expectations, it kicked ass.
When we left Bromo we knew that we had another long and strenuous bus journey ahead.
Moving East, to the small town of
Oh, wait..it gets better
Every twenty minutes the volcano in the back puffs out a cloud of smoke. Kalibaru, we had to transfer buses about a gazillion times an were really quite thrilled when we actually arrived in the correct town.
We weren't quite sure how the accommodation would fare since we chose it from the Lonely Planets "Our Pick"...which doesn't always turn out to be OUR pick
But...this one was a WINNER!!
A wee bit out of our price range ($20 per night) but a taste of colonial grandeur every once in a while never tainted a backpacker (or did it?).
It was lovely. Set upon a coffee and spice plantation. We spent 2 quiet, peaceful and relaxing nights there. To pass the time between reading, eating and naps we swam in the pool and mingled with the elderly European guests that frequent this establishment.
We did a few low-key tourist activities such as visiting a tempeh factory, visiting a tofu factory, touring the plantation and playing with the resorts pet...bat.
After 2 days enough was enough. It was time to get back on that highway and try to flag down any bus going West, towards Malang.
As always, on Java, the public bus system pains and confuses us. With frequent transfers, random delays, endless buskers boarding
Takin' a stroll
and no better place to do it. to win over some rupiahs and death defying evil-conevil road stunts from the drivers. All for one low, low price.
Malang is the small town (2 million) that could. There was alot on offer. Too bad that Guillaume and I were so worn out by the previous two weeks in Java that all we could muster up the strength to do was go to the mall and eat at great restaurants.
We stayed a good five days or so in Malang. On the last day we were both starting to feel under the weather. So, one FINAL bus ride in Java later and we arrived in the historical city of Solo.
Guillaume was becoming more and more sick, with never ending bouts of diarrhea and fever ridden nights. Jen was left to explore the city on her own and to retrieve specific items on behalf of her mother and Guillaume.
She also took a one day Batik painting class that she was a bit disappointed with. It was mostly due to the fact that she was alone in the class and had an instructor who was incredibly dopey and sleepy, since it was Ramadan and he was fasting, and then
Now time for a pose
Strike it, Guibsies. went ahead and botched up her piece of artwork.
Finally the day was upon us...our last day in Indonesia (for this year anyways...). We were very sad, understandably, but mainly just worried because Jen didn't have any luck finding Adult Diapers in the grocery store the previous day and with Guillaume still sick we didn't know how that flight would turn out without them...
next stop KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA...AGAIN!
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François Gohier
non-member comment
Dinner for two!
Le rituel repas asiatique! J'espère visiter ces endroits paradisiaques un jour. Vous êtes chanceux de pouvoir le faire étant jeunes. Amitiés. François