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Asia » Indonesia » Java » Mount Bromo
August 22nd 2009
Published: September 8th 2009
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1: Bromo sunrise view... 17 secs
As we said we had shunned the tourist bus trip to Mt Bromo in favour of doing it ourselves for less money so we had a target to reach and there was no way we were going to be beaten! Our night train from Yogya reached Surabaya at 7am, from there we needed to get to Probolinggo, the nearest main town to the Mount Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park.

From the station we got a bemo which we thought would take us to the main bus station but he clearly had other ideas and we were dropped in the middle of nowhere with him just pointing to another road and us having no idea what he was trying to tell us. Thankfully there was a policeman on a pedestal directing traffic so we waved him down with no care that he was in the middle of his job! He was most helpful and led us to another bus which took us to the bus station. We will come onto our thoughts on the Indonesian Transport system in future blogs but lets just say that this was an easy situation compared to some we have encountered! We managed to get onto the cheapo public bus much to the confusion of the bus man who thought we'd only want to travel in the air con bus and got to Probolinggo in around 3 hours.

Our journey was not yet over though.. from Probilinggo we had to get another Bemo to Cemoro Lawang the village which is where you base yourself to see the volcanos. This is also no mean feat when there is a Bemo mafia crew waiting for any Western people at the station. As with most of these situations they try to force you onto their buses making out that there is no other option than to pay the overpriced fee they are asking. We have now grown quite accustomed to these scams so walked past them ignoring their cries and headed another 200m up the road to wait for a public bus. Sure enough one passed by before we knew it and we got our final ride there for the normal price of 15,000Rp (rather than the 25,000Rp the Mafia people were asking!). We had to feel sorry for the people who did catch the mafia bus though when they reported later that they were left sitting in there for 1 hour waiting for it to fill up in the soaring heat while they watched us sail off into the distance.

After all this we had indeed made it here for less than the tourist bus so we were feeling pretty smug with ourselves even though it had been hard work. Sophie was feeling a bit nervous as we got there because she'd made enquiries from Yogya about accommodation only to be told that everywhere was fully booked that evening. Dale had insisted we came anyway as we've always managed to find something and we were both glad he had as we got a room in the first place we tried. Ok so it was 100,000Rp ($10) which is the most we'd paid to date and the room was pretty much a prison cell but it included breakfast and we'd only be here for one night anyway so we gritted our teeth and took it.

The guesthouse had the prime spot in the village sitting right on the crater wall with postcard views of smoking Bromo and Batok in front of you.. it was just breathtaking. We spent our afternoon enjoying cold Bintangs (the local Indonesian brew) and cups of tea taking in the views and exploring the very small village of Cemoro Lawang. After a sleepless night on the train and with the prospect of a 2am start ahead of us we had our dinner and went to bed at 7pm! For the first time in around 7 months we had to sleep in our fleeces and jackets as it was freezing, something we really aren't used to these days!

In our usual style we planned to enjoy the sunrise over the volcanos by using our own transport.. our feet! We were up at 2.30am for our 3am start and the 2 hour walk up to the viewpoint on Gunung Penanjakan in the pitch black. We had a vague idea of where we needed to go but were happy when we met up with a French couple who were equally as unsure and we made the journey there together. The walk up there is actually quite difficult but in the dark you can't see how steep it is so we just kept on going with the hope that we'd get there in time. In the distance we could see the convoy of jeeps making their way across the sand sea to the viewpoint, convoy is probably an understatement.. what we actually saw was a constant stream of headlights and were amazed at just how many there were. The previous day we'd laughed at the seemingly excess of jeeps but now we realised that they were actually all used every day!

We reached the top at 5.00am sweating away and were greeted by a car park of jeeps all crammed along the small roads and hundreds of people all crammed into the viewpoint! It was incredible that we'd been so alone in the quiet walking up there and it was like walking into a concert there were so many people all jostling for a space! We got a good spot on the railings and took in the amazing views as the sun came up spreading light over the volcano group. To date our favourite scenes had been those in Bolivia's Salt Flats but this rivalled those and we'd struggle to choose our favourite now!

After an hour or so taking in the scenes it was nearly full daylight so we started our way back down again to the village for a much needed breakfast. In daylight we could see just how steep it had been to get up there and both agreed that it's actually better to trek in the dark so you don't get disillusioned when you keep seeing how far the top actually is. Again we were amazed when we witnessed the jeep convoy making their next stop to drop people off to visit Bromo itself, the area in front of it resembled Silverstone carpark once they'd all parked up and we were glad we weren't going to have to fight to get a view along with the crowds! We made a few photo stops on the way back down taking in for the last time the amazing views from above the volcano heights and enjoyed a good breakfast in our hostel before venturing out yet again.. this time to trek across the sand sea and up to Bromo itself.

It didn't look that far to get there but these things are more often than not deceiving and we were quite exhausted by the time we walked the 45 minutes there.. then we had the uphill bit with the 250 steps to the top! We were just glad we were doing it at 8am before the sun was at it's hottest as it would have been too much with no shade at all. It's quite something to walk up to an active volcano rim and look down into the smoke, even more exciting when you pass the safety barriers and have nothing to stop you rolling right down if you trip or there's a landslide! As per usual Sophie walked round a bit, came to a difficult part, got scared and turned back. Meanwhile Dale strode on ahead walking half way round the crater and back.. he's very brave! You get suffocated a bit if the wind blows the sulphurous fumes the wrong way so we didn't linger up there too long and after we'd had our fill of our first smoking volcano we walked back to the village to wait for our afternoon ride back to Probolinggo and onto Bali again sitting outside to enjoy the amazing views.. it really doesn't get better than this for making us realise just how lucky we are to be able to do things like this.

Mount Bromo and it's accompanying volcanoes were every bit and more fantastic than we'd hoped. The photos and pictures we'd seen of it just don't do it justice and to see sunrise over this landscape really will stay a highlight for us, we will never tire of seeing views like this and we do have to pinch ourselves when we get to have these experiences. For anyone heading to Indonesia we would highly recommend this trip.. if you don't fancy doing it the hard way like we did you can always opt for the package tour and take it easy in a jeep ride there and back!


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Prison cellPrison cell
Prison cell

aka our room in Cemoro Lawang
JeepsJeeps
Jeeps

There were millions of them!


9th September 2009

Wow
Hiya! Your photos of Indonesia/Mt. Bromo/Borobudur are Amazin. I've never seen anything like them before! Supercalifraj! Take care Love Hxx

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