Bromo
After Yogya, I wanted to visit several volcanoes in Java, so I embarked on what I would call the “disaster ride”.
Several other tourists and I booked a bus to Bromo. The problem was that it was just the end of a holiday in Indonesia and therefore, there was a huge amount of traffic. Instead of a 7-9 hour ride, we ended up spending 16 hours in the car. At times, we barely advanced a few meters within an hour. Other times, the driver got creative and started driving half on the field and half on the bicycle line to get ahead. We also saw numerous traffic accidents on the way, which is not very surprising given how Indonesians drive…
When we finally arrived at midnight, we learned that we actually still need to take another bus up to Bromo. So 19 people squeezed into a small bus that was designed for 12. We finally arrived at 2am. However, my backpack was missing. When switching buses earlier in the day, they transferred my backpack to a different bus. This wouldn’t have been an issue if it wasn’t so cold in Bromo. It was close to 0 degrees Celsius and I was in my t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. Some guy really felt sorry for me, gave me a blanket and took me on his motorbike to find my bag. Many phone calls later, I learned that my bag would arrive on a later bus and indeed it did!
By now it was almost 3am and we had to leave for our hike at 3.30am. Our jeep picked us up and conveniently some guy was selling gloves and hats right by the jeep for 50 cents each. We then hiked on a mountain that was next to the Bromo volcano to see sunrise. The sunrise was indeed stunning. The landscape looked almost surreal. There used to be a larger volcano where Bromo is and its crater forms a ring around Bromo.
Bromo is still very much an active volcano and even erupted in 2010. However, it is safe to climb and that is what we did after sunrise. The climb to Bromo is an easy climb. But there is so much dust in that area that breathing becomes quite difficult. I had to have a scarf around my mouth at all times and at times I could not see 10 meters ahead of me. The conditions were quite harsh, but once at the top, we enjoyed a beautiful view of the crater and the surroundings. By then it was also warmer and I didn’t feel bad being in a t-shirt.
Back at the starting point, we were served one cooked egg and chocolate sprinkles (am I supposed to sprinkle the chocolate on my egg?!?) as breakfast. With a thick layer of dust on our skin, we then went off to our next destination: Ijen.
See more pictures here.