Mt. Bromo Volcano Excursion

While I loved partaking in high tea in the Hotel Majapahit Lobby, reading Indonesian poetry, and eating curried crab sandwiches, I like to occasionally try something on the slightly more adventurous side.  That's why I signed up for the midnight departure to watch the sunrise on Mt. Penanjakan as it illuminated the Mt. Bromo volcano group.

I left the Majapahit at the stroke of midnight for the three-hour trip to the tourist village near Mt. Bromo to get picked up by a Toyota Land Cruiser for the arduous trek up the mountains to see the sunrise.

We arrived at the village just before three and pulled to the side of the road, but no one showed up to meet us.  We were at a place that had no phone signal, so my driver was reduced to simply staring into the dark, looking to the stars in vain for the lost Land Cruiser Driver.  Luckily, three teenagers selling warm weather gear happened by and said they knew where they could get us a driver.

We ended up driving to someone's house.  The teenagers started screaming and ended up waking up a random Land Cruiser driver they knew who was fast asleep and who hadn't been planning on working this morning.  He came outside, groggy and bleary-eyed in his pajamas, but when he learned that money was at stake, he finally did agree to take me up the mountains for my tour.

My driver turned out to be a wild man who couldn't bear to have any vehicle stand in his way between his Land Cruiser and the Summit.  We ended up racing the several hundred other Land Cruisers over the winding roads and through the "Sea of Sand," speeding recklessly through a rough patch of volcanic sand and ash as rugged and bumpy as the Pamiri Highway. Just after 3 we ended up at the viewpoint and sat drinking tea in a plywood hut, while my driver sat shivering.

This was the first place in Indonesia I could say was actually cold--about 13 degrees Celsius.  Glad I bought the scarf, hat, and gloves from the teenagers who roused my driver out of bed.  While it was a bit chilly, most of the Indonesian tourists were dressed as though they were in the Yukon in 20 below weather, waiting for a blizzard to hit.  

Finally just before 5, I hiked up to the viewpoint to watch the sunrise. Sadly, it was excessively cloudy for a good sunrise, but it was great to watch the light dawn over the large peak called Semuru, a small and symmetric cinder cone named Botok, and the infamous Bromo, which was spewing fairly copious quantities of volcanic steam.

When I was finished watching, we took the Land Cruiser directly down to Bromo.  Where I walked 2 km to the base of the volcano and then climbed the dozens and dozens of steps to the rim of the crater where I watch Bromo expel its smelly emissions of sulfurous vapors and gas.  I certainly understand how our ancestors considered these volcanoes to be portals to hell.  

Hired a horse for my journey back to the land cruiser, then back to the SUV, and finally back to my hotel by noon for a bit of high tea to offset the effects of zipping around in a Land Cruiser at 3 a.m.




Inside the Mt. Bromo crater as it spews volcanic steam.



Mt. Bromo from a distance with an abandoned Hindu temple in the foreground.



Iwan, my wild man Land Cruiser driver with his baby, and the extinct Mt. Batok in the background.  Bromo is behind Batok, creating the optical illusion that Batok is erupting, when it is not.  




Just after sunrise.  Mt. Semuru is the tallest volcano in the background.  It can be dangerous too.  This past December, it erupted, killing several people nearby. Bromo is erupting on the left and the extinct cone, Batok, is on the right.




Sadly, not much of a sunrise today.  Weather was a bit cloudy, but still a wonderful sight. 



Another view of the three peaks from the top of Mt. Penanjakan.

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