We landed at Surabaya airport shortly after 4pm and upon collecting my luggage noticed a red zip tie on the handle. Sure enough, I was pulled to the side at customs and had to open my bags for the K9 department to look through. Their English wasn’t great, but I think my bag had been flagged up for drugs as they were asking if I was carrying any medicines. Lucky they didn’t find anything as in Indonesia they operate the death penalty for drug smuggling. However, it was funny explaining what the diarrhoea tablets were and also what a tampon was – after he had given it a good sniff and Lisa was struggling to hold in her laughter! Our guide, Irul, met us at the airport with a driver and we jumped in the car for a 4 hour journey to our first stop, Cemero Lawang. On the way it was interesting to see that at the busy road junctions, local people stand in the road directing the traffic for tips. If you want your queue to move faster – wave some money out the window! We do still find some of the driving in SE Asia quite scary, and this was no different. They drive so fast, constantly overtaking on the wrong side of the road whilst traffic is coming the other way. And if it’s a motorbike oncoming they are expected to squeeze to the side as you rocket past in the opposite direction. I did giggle though when Lisa was asleep our driver went over a bump at about 60mph and I’m pretty sure we took off – Lisa woke up as her head hit the roof with her bum in the air! We arrived at about 7pm, had some dinner and headed straight to bed – we had to meet Irul in reception at 3am, so a very early start!
Mount Bromo
At 3am we walked into reception to meet Irul and a local man who would be taking us out in his jeep. It was cold so we were wearing plenty of layers as we travelled across the ‘sea of sand’ (a big area of sand/ash surrounding the volcano and the reason a jeep was needed) and up to the viewpoint for sunrise. It was quite incredible to see a continuous row of jeep headlights in the pitch black traversing across the sea of sand! It was nearing 4am by the time we arrived at the view point and there were jeeps parked everywhere. There are 3 viewpoints in total and I think there was probably about 500 people waiting for the sunrise. We went to the top view point and stopped in a cafe for a coffee and some fried banana to keep us warm. We also bought a couple of Bromo wooly hats – only 75p each! I couldn’t believe how busy it was outside, there was even a big area of banked seating so people could view the sunrise. People were waiting outside in the cold saving their spots while we stayed warm in the cafe – Irul knows the secret spots so no rush for us! Shortly before sunrise Irul led us to a fence, sneaked us underneath and to a spot just in front and below of everyone, so we had the perfect view. The sunrise was actually incredible, words and photos cannot do it justice. I could have spent all day sat here looking over the sea of sand to the volcanos. Mount Bromo is active and is the one covered in ash to the left (nothing can grow on that), to the right is Mount Batok which is inactive, and in the background is Mount Semeru which is active and the largest volcano on the island – it erupts a plume of smoke fairly regularly which you can just about see in one of the photos.
After sunset we jumped back on the jeep (yes, on – we travelled on the roof which was great fun!) and travelled across the sea of sand to the base of Bromo. The trek up to the crater didn’t take too long, but it was very dusty! At the top it was just amazing to look straight down into the depths of a volcano and see the smoke coming out. We spent a bit of time up here, then walked back to the jeep and back to the hotel for breakfast.
From here we had about a 4 hour drive to Bondowoso which is where we’d spend the night. On arrival we stopped at a warung for lunch, and had rice with a mix of local foods. A warung is a small indonesian restuarant which commonly serves rice along with a buffet of foods. We then checked in to our hotel, did a bit of admin and then went to bed at about 6.30pm (we had to be checked out of our hotel by midnight!).
Kawah Ijen
We checked out of our hotel at midnight (it was like adjusting to a different timezone) and had a 2 hour car journey to the base of Kawah Ijen (Ijen Crater). At 2am we started our trek up to the crater ridge, it was dark, but the path was clear and we had head torches. It was quite a long trek up a very steep path, but at the half way point there is a cafe we stopped at for a short rest. The rest of the path was not quite as steep, but winded its way up to the top, it took about an hour and 20 mins in total to get up there. It was still pitch black, but there were plenty of people with head torches and we could see the blue lake at the bottom of the crater covered in smoke.
We then started our decent into the crater, which was very rocky and steep in places. At the bottom it was very smokey and we could smell the sulphur in the air, so put on the gas masks Irul had given us. The crater in Ijen is extremely toxic, lots of smoke with sulphur gas in the air and an acidic lake (nearly PH zero). The flames of the volcano lit up bright blue due to the sulphur, which I believe is one of only two places in the world with this phenomenon. There is a group of miners working in the volcano for a local company, the conditions are horrific for them. They don’t wear protective gear and stand right in the smoke/gasses chiselling sulphur from the outlet, then carrying it up to the crater edge and then down to the bottom on trolleys. They carry approx 80KG each time, in two baskets balanced on some bamboo across their backs. I understand they earn about $5 per load and have an average life expectancy of about 50 years. Again, it’s hard to put in to words how hard they work and how terrible the conditions are for them, but you can see for yourself in this clip from the BBC’s Human Planet. Even being down there a short time with gas marks, and not standing right in the thick of the smoke, our throats were still sore afterwards. The miners are all so friendly, which makes seeing the horrific environment they are working in even more heartbreaking.
We then climbed back up to the crater ridge for sunrise. The views were so impressive, with the bright turquoise lake in the crater bursting with smoke on one side, and amazing landscape with a beautiful sunrise on the other. It was so cool to see the lake in the crater, it reminded me of being a child in awe of Blofeld’s lair in You Only Live Twice! We spent some time on the ridge enjoying the view, after which we started the trek back down. We stopped back at the halfway point cafe and I popped to the toilets, for which you have to pay a man first. He looked at me and said ‘Number 2’, I thought that was a bit strange and replied ‘no, just a number 1’, to which he looked at me even more strangely. I then realised he was telling me to go to cubicle 2, and I’m not sure he understood why I then thought that was really funny!
At the bottom we had a coffee at a local cafe and breakfast which our hotel had boxed for us. Irul said we didn’t beat the record for the fastest trek, but that I had fallen over more times than anyone else he’s taken! We then had another couple of hours drive to the harbour where we’d say goodbye to Irul and our driver and catch a ferry to Bali for some relaxation after a busy few days in Java. This has been one of the highlights of the trip for both of us, the volcanos were both so different and just breathtaking to see up close. We’d seen a volcano from a distance before in Iceland, but to stand on the crater edge and climb right down to the pit was something else! The views were also amazing, and the whole experience was so much fun.
Chris and Lisa x
Crunks and Dunks on tour 