Mount Bromo

25.10.11

The alarm went off at 3am and we scrambled around putting on as many layers as possible

and fell out the door to wait for our lift a couple of kms down the road to Cemara

Lewang, which of course was half an hour late! Anyway he dropped the four of us,

including Pierre and Charlotte, off at about 4.15am and it was still dark. We had then

opted to walk the few km's to the crater of Mt. Bromo and then climb up the crater

in time for sunrise. Willhem and co. had opted to pay more to be taken by jeep to a

viewpoint for sunrise and then to the foot of Mt.Bromo so they could climb it.

The first km was down hill on the road, it wound down in to a valley and we could barely

see 10 foot in front of us! All we saw and heard was the occasional motorbike driving

past trying to sell us a ride to the crater. As we got in to the valley we could see

the dark sihouette of what we assumed was Mt Bromo ahead of us and other hills surrounding

us. The walk across the valley was hard. We were walking on deep ash or sand and

there was quite a breeze. As it got lighter, everything took on a mellow grey/yellow

light. It felt like we were on another planet or in the midst of a desert some where.

There were rolling dunes ahead of us gently being absorbed in to Mount Bromo which

we realised was actually to the left of us. During the 35 minute walk across the valley

to the foot of Mt Bromo we must have only seen 2 or 3 mopeds, a man on horseback and of

course a few vendors when we got to the foot of the mountain!

We hadn't realised how hard the short walk to the base of the crater would be, but the last 500m took

us a long time as it was all up hill in deep sand. We were also facing the wind

that was constantly blowing sand in to our faces. However we had the excuse of stopping

to admire the increasingly light view behind us. Eventually we reached, what had been

described as steps to us, but were more of a sand slide! There must have been about

150 steps and they were a struggle and we were racing against the sunrise!

But we made it and it was definitely worth it! Now, we did get bit of a shock when we

reached the top. We had been told that when we reached the crater we could walk around

it. However when we reached the final step, there was barely room for the 4 of us at

the top. From the top step to the edge of the crater, and a disintegrating 2 foot

'safety' barrier, was about 6 feet! You could move left or right from the steps up hill

on very slippery ground if you were careful. But apart from the 10 foot of flimsy

fence as you arrived there was nothing to stop you falling in to the smoking crater!

It was quite sensational being perched precariously at the mouth of a volcano watching

it gently smoke below. The actual crater was probably only about 300 metres across.

The views from the crater were amazing, all the way across the undulating waves of

grey, brown dunes, creating striped patterns across the valley floor. It was quite

misty as the sun rose, which must have been bad news for people at the viewpoint

but actually created more atmosphere for us!

Pierre and Charlotte were a very interesting couple. Charlotte lived and worked in

Hue, Vietnam for a French equivalent of the British Council. She is the Director of

programmes there, so she organised the lessons etc. for mainly adult students, working

alongside local and French teachers. Pierre had been living there with her but now

was back in France. Before that she had worked in Ho Chi Minh, and she had also worked in

Senegal and Tanzania (i think it was). What a fascinating life! I'm quite jealous, but

I suppose my job can give me similar opportunities if that's what I choose.

The walk back to our pick up point was easier and absolutely stunning!

We got back to our hotel at about 7am. We had time for breakfast and a lovely hot

shower, which was needed as we covered in ash (my face was black!) and it was still

pretty chilly!

We were picked up by the minibus at 9.30am. This time our travel companions were

Willhem, ----, Charlotte and Pierre, the 5 Indonesian tourists and an English

guy called Tim, back to Probollingo.

At Probollingo, the group of Indonesians all got out as they were going on back to

Jogja. So we had 2 German girls join us instead, however we didn't get to chat to them

as much as they were in the front seats. The French ladies also rejoined us.

We drove another 3 hours to the harbour, Ketapang, mainly chatting to Tim. Tim was from

York, a Religious Studies/Philosophy teacher who had travelled extensively around Asia.

So we were quizing him for places to stay around Malaysia and Asia.

We were hurried off the bus as the ferry was waiting. Our driver introduced

us to another man who we were to follow. We walked through the harbour and up the

gang plank, being beeped at by cars following us on, then up the steep stairs (trying not

to fall backwards on to my backpack!). The deck was much like a ferry to the Isle of

Wight, but a litle worse for wear, with rows of plastic chairs.

As we chugged out of the harbour the sun was beginning to get low and clouds were

gathering over the volcano backing the harbour. It probably only took 40 minutes across

to Gilimanuk, Bali. However as we approached the harbour we seemed to drift/bob around

just looking at the harbour for about 20 minutes. But this was fine as we got to watch

the sunset, a beautiful pale orange.

Once off the boat and on another minibus it took us another 5 hours to get to Denpasar.

We were dropped off at a small bus station, where we all hopped in Bluebird taxis, which

had been recommended to us as being the most legitimate taxi to get - they will always

put the meter on. We took our taxi directly to the hotel we had booked, part of the Pop

chain. We were really excited about this hotel! We had paid a bit more, as we couldn't

find anything cheaper that the reviews said weren't dirty! The hotel was very bright

with white walls and then neon coloured furniture and feature walls. Our room was along

a corridor of multicoloured doors. Inside our room was so clean, the linen white and soft

and our nice hot shower was in a little pod! We were so happy. It was half past ten, but

before we could fall in to bed we made a quick outing to Circle K to get some roti for

tea! The bread here comes in rolls and is soft,white and sweet, often you can get it

with something inside, maybe with chocolate or banana or cheese. It's good!