Java: Mount Bromo

Mount Bromo is not particularly accessible, but I suppose that is largely what keeps it looking like this.

To get there we flew into Surabaya, a bustling port metropolis of nearly 5 million people about three hours drive away. It's the kind of city you bypass entirely or get the hell out of as quickly as possible.  We saw the airport.

After you escape the sprawl of the cities and began the nearly 8,000 foot ascent to Bromo the landscape becomes increasingly beautiful and the temperature increasingly drops.

Leaving behind rice paddies and banana plantations, steep hillside areas of rainforest and jungle have been cleared to make way for meticulously terraced hillside crops.  There is more than one white-knuckle hairpin turn on the steep road up - but, we've lived to tell about it.

Perched right on the edge of the caldera, we arrived in Cemoro Lawang in late afternoon and the town had more or less already gone to bed.

Cemoro Lawang doesn't have a lot to offer beyond multiple variations on fried rice and a few cold beers in the sprinkling of sterile hotels whose inhabitants at any given time probably account for at least 50% of the town's population. 

A few sherpa-like men potter about selling warm wooly hats (you inevitably forgot yours or got a bit smug and dismissed the possibility that anywhere this close to the equator could conceivably be cold).  Two minutes later (and after the man has abused your husband for having a large head) you fork over $4 for two hats and revel in their warm embrace.

Even though it's virtually right in your face, Bromo is all but invisible by late afternoon as the fog and cloud set in hours ago.  This was our first view of Bromo.

We had a few Bintangs and bundled up for a cold night in our unheated hotel room and prepared for the 3:30am wake-up call so we could do the hour and half hike up a neighbouring hill to be in place for sunrise. Sunrise is the the best, and often only time in the day, when you can get a clear view of Bromo.

3:30am is not a pleasant time to get up. Waking Ian up at 3:30 is even less pleasant, but we pulled on our boots, sweaters and hats and set off in the pitch black (thank goodness for cell phone flashlights).

The walk was predictably, dark and cold.  The occasional jeep would rumble past ferrying visitors less adventurous than ourselves but otherwise it was just us - and the dogs.  The failure to anticipate the stray dogs was a rookie mistake - but there they were howling away, barking and creeping around making us a tad uncomfortable.  Needless to say neither of us are missing any chunks from our legs or is in need of a rabies shot, but I could have done without them.

Towards the end, the walk gets steep enough that the jeeps can go no further.  From there you can carry on walking - or as we had already been hoofing it at a steady clip for over an hour - hop on a horse for the last kilometer and a bit.  For $2 it was the obvious choice, and a little bit fun. 

We were in place just as the sun was starting to peek through and it really was magnificent - worth the hassle of getting there and the 3:30am wake-up ten times over. Neither of us had ever seen anything like it, we lingered until well after sunrise and were nearly the last to leave.

The views over the surrounding area are nearly as breath-taking as Bromo itself.  As the sun rises the fog thins out moving away from the volcano and creeping over the surrounding fields.

 

We had a less eventful (and much easier) descent, the strays were far less fearsome in the harsh light of day.  We treated ourselves to an enormous breakfast and set off for part two of the Bromo adventure - climbing the volcano itself.

Bromo is a steep but swift climb, you can be at the top in 20 minutes easily.  The views are less impressive than from a distance, but the chance to peer right down into the depths of a volcano is not an opportunity to pass up.

It's a little unnerving too, the guardrails have all but disappeared and volcanic ash makes for a fine and slippery surface - falling into a pit of bubbling sulphur would not be an ideal way to kick off (or end) a holiday. To hedge our bets, we purchased a small bouquet to toss in to appease the volcano gods and said goodbye to Bromo.

We've gone a bit soft and it was well past time to be getting back down to the warmth of the tropics.