Trekking in East Java: Mount Bromo

Sunrise view of Mount Bromo: Sunrise on the left and Mt. Bromo on the right

Dates of Travel: 

02-03 April 2015

Itinerary: 

02 April - Surabaya to Mt. Bromo

03 April - Climb Mt. Bromo & travel to Kawah Ijen

04 April - Climb Kawah Ijen & travel to Bali

05 April - Bali

06 April - Bali

07 April - Bali to Singapore

Rough estimate for the entire trip:

Not inclusive of food and shopping

--------------------------------------

I would also like to give a shout-out to my friend, Kenneth, for taking and providing me with wonderful shots during our trip! All those photos you see that are done professionally and waaaaay above average shots were beautifully taken by him. Please do go to his Instagram or website and check out his photos!

--------------------------------------

Taking advantage of the Good Friday/Easter Sunday long weekend, my friends and I headed to East Java for a mini hiking expedition. Considering that among us, two of the guys in our group has been to Mount Everest base camp, Mt. Rinjani, African mountains, etc. This is nothing but child's play to them. Of course you need some level of fitness or you'll be left huffing and puffing behind.

I booked the tour from Singapore and for Rp1,080,625 (Approx. S$112) per person, the entire tour includes the transfer from Surabaya Airport - Mt. Bromo - Kawah Ijen - Ferry across Java Strait - Villa in Bali. It also includes a guide to bring us up and down both volcanoes, jeep for Mt. Bromo and water for each day.

I booked with the agency, Wisata Alam Tours and had to pay a deposit of 20% to secure the tour. That is understandable, however the tour agency insisted that I had to pay the 4.5% handling fee charged by Paypal. Although it was not a lot, the agency inflated the exchange rate to quite a ridiculous amount. After clarifying, the agency relented and gave me a proper and acceptable exchange rate.

Things that were NOT included were: entrance tickets for both volcanoes, lunch & dinner during the trip, horse riding at Mt. Bromo & accommodation.

As for lodging, I booked all accommodations on my own as the price quoted by the agency was rather ridiculous. We stayed at Cafe Lava Hostel at Mt. Bromo & Arabica Homestay at Kawah Ijen.

If you're interested to hike up Mt. Bromo or Kawah Ijen, you can contact my guide, Miko, directly. He will be able to arrange something similar but at a lower cost. He is also a fabulous guide with a wealth of knowledge and even helped me massage my leg when I missed a footing and twisted my ankle.
Tel: +62 81336162411
Email: javatourholidays@gmail.com
Website: http://javatourholidays.blogspot.com

--------------------------------------

We were picked up at Surabaya airport by Miko and loaded into a mini van where we traveled about 3 hours to the base camp of Mt. Bromo. On the way up the mountain, we stopped for a photo session and next to our van was this guy who was selling really awesome mie bakso (meatball noodles)!

mie bakso

It cost us only Rp8,000. (S$0.80) and it comes with two baksos, one bakso with egg inside, a few fried tofu and fried noodles wrapped in beancurd skin.

mie wrapped in beancurd skin

It was a really hearty dish with the view and cool wind blowing. At first we bought one bowl, and then a second bowl, and we ended up with five bowls I think.

enjoying the view while eating bakso

Cafe Lava Hostel

Cafe Lava Hostel

Address: Cemorolawang Sukapura Probolinggo, East Java, Indonesia
Tel: +62 335 541020
Fax: +62 335 541147
Email: cafelavarsvn@gmail.com

Room: Economy Room - shared bathroom with hot shower
Price: Rp150,000 per room - double sharing

Despite the room being small, there was a beautiful garden outside our rooms and benches for us to chill. The weather was nice and sunny and the wind was cool! We had a shared toilet of two cubicles with intermittent hot water. At night, it was such a struggle to shower with the intermittent hot water and I had to soap my entire body and pray the hot water lasts enough to rinse all the suds away.

Silient Hill

The photo above was taken opposite Cafe Lava Hostel on an empty field when the fog rolled in. It looks like the making of a horror film. Cafe Lava Hostel is also situated at the entrance of the road leading to the sand sea and Mt. Bromo. So we would have a good view if the fog didn't come in.

Local trying to sell us beanies

Also, outside Cafe Lava will be some locals trying to sell you handmade beanies. They'll try to charge you Rp30,000 for each hat/beanie, however, if you walk further down the road into the convenience stores/shops, they're only selling the beanies at Rp10,000! We all purchased one beanie for ourselves and it was a good cover for you hair from the sand. Sadly, it only occurred to me to take our my beanie when it was already too late.

Catching the Sunrise at Mount Penanjakan

Elevation: 2,770 m
Temperature: 5-8 Degree Celsius
Things to bring: Proper shoes (running shoes will do), jackets (I layered with heatech for both top and bottom, dry-fit shirt, sweater & a windbreaker), gloves (if you're really afraid of the cold), headlamps and a camera!!

Catching the sunrise 

We woke up at 2.45am and left about 3.30am from the hostel just to catch this sunrise view on Mount Penanjakan! We actually had to take a jeep and travel under the blanket of darkness across a portion of the sand sea where the jeep will bring us 3/4 of the way up to catch the sunrise. Where the jeep can no longer go, we alighted a traveled by foot with hasten steps in the hopes of getting a good view.

Catching the sunrise!

Instead of going the usual view point, Miko brought us to another view point which is slightly lower, as there's too many tourists (like us) trying to get a glimpse of the sunrise! Although it may be lower, there's lesser people and we're thankful for that. Also, the fog rolled in and totally covered the upper view point. About 30 mins later, we could see the sun rays breaking the horizon and the riot of colours lighting up the sky. It was worth however early we woke up and however tired we were.

At the viewpoint, there were locals selling coffee, tea and even Pop Mie (cup noodles) which my hungry monkey friends quickly gobbled up.

Sunrise

We followed a track out from the view point where we could get a better glimpse of Mt. Bromo. Miko said that he has brought many tours here and each time is different. Even he is awed.

Mt. Bromo in the background!

Sunrise view of Mt. Bromo

After spending lots of time taking photos and admiring the view, we were on our way back down to the jeep to cross the sand sea.

4WD Jeep

Inside the jeep!

 We had to take the jeep down Mt. Penanjakan and cross a part of the sea sand. Of course, we stopped for photos! It was much warmer now that the sun had risen, but the sand was flying everywhere! Into my eyes, my mouth, and even my ears!

It's soooo sandy!

Piling onto the jeep!

Jumpshots!

Mt Bromo at the back!

Mount Bromo

Elevation: 2,329 m
Last eruption: January 28, 2011
Temperature: 15-20 Degree Celsius (will be quite hot when the sun shines on you)
Things to bring: Scarf/Mask, beanie/hat (if you're afraid of sand getting in your hair and ears), proper shoes (running shoes will do), sunglasses, windbreaker at least, plenty of water.

Crossing the sand sea

Riders of Bromo!

 To get to Mt. Bromo, you have to walk through the sand sea. Basically, it's just a patch of sand and you have to walk about 10 mins to the base of Mt. Bromo itself. Being lazy me, I opted for the horse to bring me across instead. Standard rates would be about Rp50,000 per way.Once the horse owners bring you to the base of the stairs, they'll ask you if you want to go back down on the horse, if yes, they'll wait for you, if not, they'll head back to the jeeps and try to get new customers.

It was a good call to take the horse because right at the base, there's this part where it's really steep with holes and valleys. I may not have made it if I traveled on foot.

very steep hill!

The horse will bring you right to the bottom of the steps where you'll have to ascend on your own. It's pretty easy considering its just a flight of stairs about 8-10 stories high. Also, there'll be human traffic so the climb although tedious and slippery (from the sand), it's actually pretty OK as there's a lot of stops along the way.

Stairs leading up to the crater

 It really is quite touristy as there's a ton of people and the locals actually built stairs to bring you UP to the crater rim.

Crater of Mt. Bromo

 The path of the crater is narrow and rocky, you really have to watch your step or you'll either roll down the hill or into the crater. Mt. Bromo is still an active volcano and you can see steam/smoke rising from the depths of the crater. The culture of the East Javanese people forbids them to speak anything ill of the volcano/natural disasters. So when you're there, please do not say something like Mt. Bromo might errupt.

Crater Rim on Mt. Bromo

At the bottom of the stairs, there are plently of tents and locals selling coffee, tea, Pop Mie, and even the really awesome (Instant Noodle) Indo Mie Goreng (Rp10,000)!! There were locals selling bouquets of flowers as offerings to the volcano Gods. We bought two for Rp40,000, but I felt that it could have been cheaper if G was there. My bargaining skills are not as fantastic as his.

throwing the flowers in and making a wish

I look really gleeful as I threw my flowers into the crater and made my wish. From here, we walked back down the stairs, climbed onto our horse for the 10 min ride to the jeep and from the parking lot, it was a 10 mins jeep ride to our hostel. We even had time to slowly pack up, shower and even went for lunch!

-------------------------------------------

Check out my other post on Kawah Ijen!

Or what we did & where we stayed in Bali!