Visited: September 22 – 28, 2024
From Java Turtle Lodge, we made the long journey to our next volcano: Mount Bromo. It was too expensive to take a private car directly to Mount Bromo. So we first made our way back to Ijen Backpackers in Bayuwangi via a private transfer (2.5-hr) and then took a shared shuttle arranged by the hostel to Cemoro Lewang, a small village located at the foot of Mount Bromo. The ride to Cemoro Lewang was a miserable 8-9 hours in a stuffy van with non-existent AC. But we finally arrived at our homestay in the village around 8pm and immediately went to sleep.
We woke up at 3am to hike Mount Bromo and watch the sunrise. Instead of joining a sunrise jeep tour, we decided to hike it by ourselves. We left our homestay at 3:30am with our headlamps and followed the main road going through the village which turns into a path up a mountain with great views of Mount Bromo. There were some steep sections and a lot of stairs. Objectively, it was not too difficult, but the early morning hike with a lack of sleep made it feel very difficult. By 5am, we reached a spot with a clear view of Mount Bromo and we decided to stop there. There are multiple viewpoints and we could have climbed higher, but we didn’t think it was worth the additional effort. Like at Ijen, it was cold waiting for sunrise even though I had been much better prepared with more layers and gloves.
It was a cloudy morning so as the sun rose, we were not able to get a clear view of Bromo. But the clouds and steam continued to shift so we stayed watching for a while. Eventually, the clouds disappeared and we finally got a beautiful, clear view. It was amazing to see how much smoke was coming out of the crater.
We eventually started making our way down and stopped at a lower viewpoint where people were eating cup noodles. I was hungry and the smell of instant noodles was too enticing so we took a break to have breakfast ramen. It is probably the most scenic place I have ever had ramen.
By the time we got back to our homestay, it was very cloudy and looked like it would start raining at any minute. We wanted to go climb the Bromo crater, but since it looked like it was about to rain, we decided to rest and sleep a bit first. We woke up around lunchtime and it was indeed raining and we had lost power. Hungry, we went to eat lunch at a nearby Warung.
The rain was slowing down and the weather forecast for the next day was not looking any better. So we decided to try our luck climbing the crater. We chose the “secret” path through the Sea of Sands surrounding the crater as the entrance to the path was right next to our homestay. As the name suggests, we had to walk about 40-minutes through a very dusty and sandy terrain to arrive at the long stairway to the crater rim.
Once we reached the top, we had the rim mostly to ourselves. Due to the weather, there were few other tourists. It was amazing to see the huge plume of smoke being emitted and seeing the colors change, which I think reflects the different gasses being released. We walked along the rim for as much as we could – it is forbidden to walk all the way around. It felt awe-inspiring to look into the crater and think about how powerful this volcano is and how inconsequential I was in comparison. We didn’t spend too long at the rim because Nate was starting to feel nervous.
The next morning we took a cramped shuttle van to Probolinggo where we caught a high-speed train to Yogyakarta. Before boarding the train, we went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch to give ourselves a break from Indonesian food. The food was pretty good, but unfortunately, I think it made me sick… As we neared Yogyakarta, I started to feel weird and chilly. By the time we reached our hotel, I was feeling quite unwell. So far, I had been lucky enough to avoid being very ill and it was finally my turn.
Nate’s Solo Adventures in Yogyakarta
I had been excited to explore Yogyakarta and see the famous Borobudur and Prambanan temples. Unfortunately, I missed out on everything recovering in the hotel. Nate was left to explore alone.
The first day, he went to visit the Water Castle of Royal Jogjakarta and walked around the neighborhood. He said the area was artsy and hip.
The second day, he went on an all-day tour to visit Prambanan and Borobudur. Here are some pics from Prambanan:
It started pouring suddenly at Borobudur where he got soaked and dampened (no pun intended) the experience. And here are pics from Borobudur:
The tour also included a stop to try Indonesian kopi lewak, also known as civet coffee. This is coffee made from partially digested coffee cherries by the Asian Palm Civet. It is one of the most expensive coffees in the world but is ethically questionable which Nate did not know until after the tour when he googled it on the bus ride back.
Fortunately, I was feeling a lot better by the time he returned so I was able to finally leave the hotel and at least experience Jogja for dinner. We went to a fancy warung (what local restaurants are called) and had the best Indonesian food to date. I had Soto Ayam, a chicken noodle soup, and Nate had Rawon, a flavorful Javanese beef soup. I only got to experience this one street full of restaurants by our hotel, but I really liked the vibe and was disappointed to not have been able to see explore Yogyakarta.
A Quick Stop in Surabaya
From Yogyakarta, we took the high-speed train to Surabaya, the second largest city in Java. There were no direct or convenient flights from Yogyakarta to Labuan Bajo on Flores Island so we decided to go to Surabaya where we could take a direct flight. Labuan Bajo is the jumping off point to explore Komodo National Park, a collection of islands off of the western coast of Flores where you can see Komodo Dragons. We had met several people in Indonesia that said Komodo was their favorite part of Indonesia so we decided to go.
We had one night in Surabaya and we spent it as a rest and regrouping day to restock on supplies. We went to the fancy mall near our hotel and to our surprise, found a Marugame Udon! We were introduced to Marugame in Hawaii where we learned it was a very popular udon place always with a line out the door. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance to try it there, so we tried it in Surabaya. The udon wasn’t piping hot (what I prefer), but the flavors were delicious. I was glad to have tried what I wasn’t able to to Hawaii. This was the highlight of our short time in Surabaya.
The next morning, we sought out food before heading to the airport in the mall our hotel was located in (different from the fancy mall). There was an A&W (another surprise) so Nate, of course, went there to try two different burgers and curly fries. I had never had A&W before and have to say, their curly fries are delicious! Nate says the burgers are just “fine.” I ate a fluffy Japanese soufflé pancake instead and after tasting the curly fries, got an order for myself. Then we rushed on over to the airport. To Flores!
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