All On Board The Javanese Express

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Geo: -7.29709, 109.929

Java is big, especially coming from Bali. Upon arrival we had hoped to get a package by car from Bali to Yogjakarta via Mount Bromo (as people we met seemed to be able to do it the other way around) but once we off the ferry there was nothing, barely a taxi around. We had to settle for a full day of buses to Malang.
We came to realise that our brief one week in Java was going to be spent catching transport to places.
Visiting the active volcano Mount Bromo at sunrise seems to be the most popular thing to do in Java but it's not a cheap or straight forward excursion. There are a few places that you can leave from. We chose to base ourselves in Malang. It's possible to stay a lot closer. However basing ourselves in Malang meant we had to be picked up at 1am.
We booked the tour at one of the travel agents in town. Joined by full of life Christian from France, we set of in a jeep for three hours and arrived to the view point. It's busy there, with foreigners and locals. Unfortunately it was quite misty and we couldn't see the extent of the view. We did get treated to a couple of ash puffs from the distant volcano. It's also cold up there so having good warm clothes is advised, we had forgotten what cold felt like after a month in heat.
From the top you head down across the sand to Bromo itself. There you can walk to the crater rim or have a horse take you. The crater is impressive and you can hear the deep growling from within. We were forced to go down after a cloud from the volcano came at us which made difficult to breathe.
We then headed back, exhausted and sleep deprived but we still had a 8 hr train to Yogjakarta to catch soon after arriving back from the tour.
We arrived in Yogjakarta later than planned after taking the wrong train in the wrong direction due to a train station lady telling us the wrong platform. A bit of stress, a two hour taxi back to Malang and another train ticket later we managed to get to Yogjakarta at 6am instead of midnight.
We based ourselves there and visited Prambanan and Borobudur temples, both accessible by local bus. Borobudur was very impressive with great views. Yogjakarta was nice but we didn't really visit the sights in town.
Our one week fly through tour of Java ended with yet another long train journey and a night in Jakarta ready for our flight to Myanmar!
From what we saw in Java it appeared nice. We didn't see the whole island but we liked it all the same. We preferred Bali though. I guess we didn't have the time to appreciate it fully.

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