To get to the famous Bromo volcano hike I had to first get
to Malang to catch a bus to Probolinggo and then catch a mini bus to bromo town
and national park. So I got all my gear
together and got a night train to Malang.
I booked accommodations, so I could sleep as soon as I got in. I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping on the
train. I got in at 5:30 am and my hotel
was really close so I just walked over and then took a good long nap. The hotel was an old Dutch villa and supplied
a wonderful breakfast option of eggs and toast or nasi gorang. I opted for the Indonesian breakfast then
headed out to see the town.
My main goal
was to book a tour to a Bromo and Ijen trip by myself. This was hard to do. Basicly being a lone traveler means that you
spend heaps and heaps to do the tours and because it was the off season I
couldn’t even join another tour group. There just weren’t any. Oh well.
I guess I’ll just have to figure it out on my own. I ended up taking the early morning bus to Probolinggo.
Nothing leaves on time in this country, when they fill up,
that’s when things leave. I got to the
bus station around 7 and waited a half an hour for the bus to leave. When I got to Probolinggo, I was asked by everyone and
their mother if I was going to Bromo and if I wanted a ride. I knew they
would charge outrageous prices to get up the mountain, so instead I found the cheap semi-public
minibuses. For these we had to wait two
more hours until the minibus was almost full to leave and then got charged
extra on top of the fair because it wasn’t completely full.
The drive up the mountain was beautiful. Along the way we went through so many little
towns and saw rice patties on the sides of mountains. It looked almost impossible to get to the crops
let alone tend them. Indonesian people
are quite innovative.
When we got to Bromo
there was a surprise entrance fee of 75,000, about 15 USD. Come on man! I and the other foreigners went to the park
office instead of paying the driver for a ticket, just in case we were getting
ripped off. That irritated the driver,
but he eventually took us and we got an official looking entrance pass. After that bit of hub bub I checked guest
house prices and found café lava. I had
been looking online about how to do Bromo without a tour and this place had turned
up quite a bit in blogs and general discussions. It was a cute little guesthouse with
internet, western food and informative representatives that told me the best
time to go up the mountain and about how long it would take. I decided on the sunrise hike, so going to
bed early was essential.
I thought maybe I would need a flashlight, but the general
store in town was closed. I found out in
the morning that my cell phone light worked well and didn’t drain my battery. The hike was only about an hour. So I woke up at four and followed the path
everyone seemed to be taking. Everyone,
again, asked if I needed a ride, but I politely refused. An hour hike is nothing, but it was off
season. I’m sure these guys needed the
money.
The walk was pretty interesting. The first part of the walk was just a dirt
road that led down into sand dunes or, I guess, you could even call it a
dessert. Walking through the dessert was
peaceful. It was a wide expanse of
nothing. At this time in the morning you
could see the grey of the false dawn a speckling of stars and little else. I also saw motorbike lights and 4x4 coming
down different paths to go to Bromo. At
the end of the dessert walk was where I met a little scariness. I could hear a pack of dogs in the distance,
but not too far, barking. I thought it
was probably wild dogs, but then I reminded myself that people walk through
here all the time and there are tons of people traveling to Bromo first thing in the
morning. They probably belong to one of
the natives who live out here. Once I got
past that bit of scariness I had to walk across old river beds and up a windy
path to the base of the volcano. Here
people were selling coffee, snacks and ramen.
I also was asked if I wanted to ride a horse up the rest of the
way. I knew it wasn’t far, and also the
guide would be walking as I was riding.
To me that seemed a bit silly. I
know how to ride a horse without a guide and also how to walk.
After a bit I got to base of the volcano and
the stairway up to the rim, the hardest part of the hike, and climbed my way up. It was just about dawn and there were about a
dozen people who had gathered. The sunrise
was pretty, even if it was a tad bit cloudy. The view, on the other hand, was stunning. You could see for miles and the terraine was beautiful as it was diverse. I am glad I woke up early.
The crater was steaming, but not glowing. The fumes were noxious when the wind was
blowing in the right direction. I
coughed and didn’t want to look in to the wind, it stung my eyes a little until
I figured out where to stand. The way
back was much less exciting. I saw more
of the Indonesian horseback riders though, and they seemed pretty nifty.
To get back down to Probolinggo I had to pay more than when
I came up, because we had less people on the bus. From there it was easy to get a bus to Surabaya. I got a bit lost coming out of bus station
and then the, o-jeck didn’t take me to right Dunkin Donuts that was next to my
hostel. This was totally my fault; I should have
looked up my directions better. The
o-jek driver also seemed like he had cerebral palsy… twitchy, but got me where
I told him to go.
In the end I got a taxi
and again we went completely in the wrong direction, but I did get there
eventually. I got irritated with the taxi
driver, but we ended up being friends. The
hostel, Da Rifi, was quite nice. It had a cluttered but homey, defiantly lived in, feel.
It seemed like the son pretty much ran the show. He was nice and full of conversation. Also super cheap!
Surabaya is boring, but not as boring as Malang. It had a lot of shopping and a cigarette
museum. I did need to pick up a few
things for myself, so I went shopping for a bit and then tried to figure out
how to get to the Sampoerna factory.
Sampoerna cigarettes are probably the most popular cigarettes in
Indonesia. They are a version of a clove
cigarette, but I would say a bit milder.
I personally don’t like them.
Clove cigarettes give me headaches.
The factory was pretty sweet and free. I even got a tour guide to show me around for
a bit. She showed me the first store
that the creator had, and then the slow process to him becoming a cigarette giant. They even showed me the making of boxes and
if I had been there during the day, the factory floor in full swing. It was pretty cool and I wished Evey had come
with me. She loves those cigarettes and
would have enjoyed to trip to their factory.
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