Yesterday I took a van ride for 14 hours from Yogyakarta to the foot of Mount Bromo, an active volcano in eastern Java. It's 2,329 metres tall, so not the tallest, but certainly one of the most visited. I made friends with a Dutchman along the way and we chatted for much of the ride. We arrived at our hotel around 9pm. Somehow we (having booked the same place) were at one hotel and everyone else was further up the mountain. We paid more. We found out later that our hotel was far better, being clean, and having luxuries like hot water, warm blankets, onsight restaurant, and locatable staff. We were up at 3:30am for our 3:40 pick-up time. One person in our group was late or overslept, but our jeep driver refused to leave him
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