This is not your typical blog post! This is a full on personal, soaked in adventure and drizzled with excitement travel story of my visit of
There were a few things I was absolutely buzzing to go to Java for. Top of the list
And I gotta tell ya, if you had told me that this would be the most incredible adventure I would start my 3 months solo travelling with, literally 5 days into my trip, I would have totally told you to get lost and stop messing around
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A normal start to anything but a normal adventure
I had just finished my first few days in Yogyakarta when I decided it was time to get active and head south towards the tiny village Cemoro Lawang which is the base for visiting Bromo. That much I knew 😀
The plan was to get from Yogyakarta to Probolingo and once I make it there to find a bus that goes to Cemoro Lawang, all in one day! Now that was the real challenge.
But first things first, I had to figure out a way to get to Probolingo. I knew it was a long way to go and I knew I didn’t want some fancy organised tour to save me all the hassle. I wanted the hassle. I wanted to do it the local way, get lost if I have to
Gathering all the looks of the locals as the scooter was flying by as if rushing to get to the runway and take off, I could feel my excitement escalating. That little scooter was going so fast and within centimetres from all the bikes, cars, trucks, chicken and anything else that was on the road that I didn’t even have time to decide if I should be scared or just enjoy it. So with a somewhat ridiculous, super excited smile on my face, we drove across half of Yogyakarta and eventually made it to the train station.
As soon as I got off, I knew the adventure was on
Tip: Make sure you have your passport with you. Otherwise they won’t sell you a ticket.
Early in the morning the next day, I got on my first ever Indonesian train ride. And I must admit, I was impressed. The train was clean, reasonably comfy and even had a working AC 😀 Who would have thought! The
After a few lovely conversations with some locals, the occasional shoulder to shoulder squeeze on the more popular parts of the route and a quick stop at Surabaya to change trains and restock on food, I was finally in Probolingo. Finally getting closer!
It was about 7pm when I arrived and OMG! was it already pitch black everywhere. It’s not that I was worried about security or anything like that but finding the legendary bus that goes to Cemoro Lawang (when full) would have been a mission. And it sure was an unsuccessful one 😀
Luckily I wasn’t the only ambitious traveller trying to get to Cemoro Lawang at that time so I rushed to join a lovely French couple in the quest to find a way to get to Bromo. And I’m telling you, we tried everything! GoJeks, buses, trains, minivans, anything that could go faster than 20km p/h 😀 But there was nothing! Barely any people were around as well which made it even harder. We were walking aimlessly trying to follow some questionable Google Maps directions to the bus station but everything was pointless. There was no bus or any other public transport at that time!
You could say that we were getting slightly worried after an hour of wandering around, and still being stuck a few meters off the main station, with our backpacks on and no idea what else we could do! To top it all off, as lovely as the couple was, they had no Internet so it was all onto me to figure something out so the pressure was on 😀
As I later learnt, a person always comes out as if out of nowhere to help you out when you most need it. Just when we thought we would have to stay the night in Probolingo and head to Cemoro Lawang the next day, a lovely local appeared out of nowhere and clearly realising we needed help, he offered a friend of his to drive us all the way to Cemoro Lawang. I swear in Indonesia, there’s always someone who’s got a friend of a friend of a friend who can offer you a ride, always! Now the question is, how much for?
Before you get to Indonesia, or anywhere in Asia really, you gotta polish off your haggling skills. I know we have to support the local economy and as travellers we sure do but I gotta tell ya, people will try to proper rip you off. So I put my “cheap” mode on and managed to negotiate a drive to Cemoro Lawang that evening and return the following day for IDR600,000 or IDR200,000 per person. It still ain’t cheap but for a 1 hour and 30 min drive at 9 pm it was that or nothing so off we went!
Arriving at Cemoro Lawang
It must have been about 10:30 pm by the time we got to Cemoro Lawang and had to pull over, being stopped by some security guys asking us to pay an entrance fee. We couldn’t get what we were paying for?! The couple had luckily prebooked a homestay in the actual village but it seemed odd that to get there we had to pay. So, of course, we (I mean me) had to get to the bottom of it 😀 Indonesia is amazing but the scam is everywhere and I had the feeling that was one of it! After about 15min of the guys not being able to tell us what they’re charging us about IDR 250,000 each, we stubbornly said that we ain’t paying sh**. They could tell they picked the wrong fish to mess around with 😀 so they eventually showed us a little pathway off the main street that we had to take to get to our homestay without paying the “entrance” fee! MISSION SUCCESSFUL 😀
Cemoro Lawang is the tiniest place you can imagine, with very limited street lighting, so get your torch on if you also arrive at night! After a bit of a round trip to get to the homestay, exhausted, outraged by the scammers 😀 but happy we managed to save the dig into our pockets, we safely made it our homestay. And I say “our” but really it was the couple’s homestay. I luckily was able to crash with them and OMG what insane luck that was. There was literally no accommodation left when we arrived in the village so these guys literally saved me from sleeping on the streets 😀
I can’t remember the name of the homestay but even though it was as basic as you can imagine (think using a bucket to pour water over us when “taking a shower” 😀 ) the owner was lovely which made all the difference. He made us some noodles as soon as we arrived which was a lifesaver since all warungs (local restaurants) had already shut. So it was either instant noodles or going to bed and hiking in a few hours on an empty stomach.
Starting the trek
We woke up at around 2:30am and headed off to the hike start almost immediately as we wanted to get to the sunrise viewpoint for 4:30am. The aim of the game was to do the trek without paying the entrance fees though so we headed towards a little path which we checked on Maps.me. I swear all you need to hike Bromo without a tour is Maps me, a warm jacket, a torch and veeeery sturdy hiking boots. But download Maps.me before the trip 100%.
From the start, the path to the top is really clear. Unless you work really really hard on it, it’s impossible to get lost but again follow Maps.me to be sure you’re not drifting away.
Tip: On Maps.me set your destination as “Bromo sunrise viewpoint”. This will get you right below the asphalt road where you’ll luckily avoid the crowds of the many people who arrive with jeeps as opposed to hiking up. And of course, the views are the best.
To avoid any confusion, when you get to this viewpoint you will see the sunrise over mount Bromo, i.e. you will be standing across from the volcanos (yes, it’s not just mount Bromo, it’s just the most famous one hence we tend to refer to it). So don’t be disappointed if you hike up and don’t find yourself hiking up on a volcano because you’re not actually hiking a volcano on this part of the trip (that comes later).
The hike itself isn’t that difficult but it’s important that you have good hiking boots because there were a few places where we had to climb up and it was a bit slippery. However regardless of how active you are at the gym, this hike is totally doable by anyone. Just prep yourself and don’t rock in with flip flops like the locals 😀
When we got to the viewpoint, it was still really dark. The hike took about 2 hours so luckily we were right on time to see the sunrise. And I gotta tell ya, this is one of those moments that will stay with me for a very long time! The stars were lighting up the sky, giving just a bit of clue to spot where the village was within these mysteriously black views. The volcanoes were hiding away, making it impossible to even imagine what it would be like when the sun rises up and brightens up the horizon.
The curiosity was building up as the sun slowly started to make an appearance, revealing the layers of fluffy clouds diligently hiding the volcanos behind them. It was such an epic view, nothing I had ever seen before. But the real magic, as cheesy as it sounds, was when the sun rose up just enough for us to see the volcanos. Now I’ll let the pictures speak for me!!
Tip: You can’t put a price on these views but still, make sure to wrap up warmly when you get to the top. I did the hike in September and I froze my butt off 😀 It was so windy and chilly that my fingers were so frozen, I could barely hold my camera still (another reason carrying my tripod up the trail was 100% worth it 😀 )
By the way, did you know that Bromo isn’t actually the volcano that you see standing boldly in front of all the others? In fact, Bromo is the one with the ash coming out of it. Certainly not the biggest as I kinda expected it to be, I mean it’s the one that’s receiving all the praise right?!
After about an hour and a half at the top, we started to make our way down. By that time everyone who had come with an organised tour had gone because see, when you go with a tour they’d rush you so much you barely have time to just enjoy the moment so basically, screw the tours 😀
Hiking Bromo without a tour (or rather the mountain across from it) is a remarkable experience. It really is but what was even more otherworldly was the hike to the actual crater of Bromo. Yes, you read that right! To the very freaking crater.
Hiking to the Bromo crater
As soon as we got to this point (See photo below) which was pretty easy to reach without any directions, it was time to switch on Maps.me again to get on the shortcut for Mount Bromo (just put “Mount Bromo” in the search and Maps.me will do the rest). We had to find a very tiny path going through some fields to get to the bottom of the mountain on the correct side for Bromo. The hike down was so enjoyable because this time around we could actually take in the views (unlike on the way up) and it was BEAUTIFUL!
When we got to the bottom of the mountain, we could see Mount Bromo just a short distance away and I was starting to get excited. The views even from here were honestly like nothing I had seen before. It was kinda desert-y, with men on horses riding around in an almost film-like setting.
When we got to the base of the volcano, I could already smell the sulfur coming out of the volcano. Visible also was the smoke coming out of the crater which is when it hit me, we were just about to hike up to the very crater of an active volcano. Yes, an active volcano which if it decides can erupt any minute. I was buzzing 😀 The adrenaline was starting to build up the excitement and I gathered all the energy I had to go up the few hundreds of stairs up to the crater. Yeah, to my surprise as well, there were actual stairs going up. With the smell starting to get ever so stronger, it was actually not that easy to keep the pace going up but the real WOW moment for me was when I took the last step and saw the crater right in front and beneath me. It was INSANE. What was even more insane was that there was a local walking INSIDE the actual crater. What he was doing, I couldn’t quite tell but I guess he was collecting sulfur. Either way, HE WAS ABSOLUTELY CRAZY 😀 Even looking over into the crater was kinda terrifying, not to mention going inside.
If you love an adventure, the sort of moments that get you kinda scared but also buzzing with excitement, then hiking to the crater will top even the sunrise views you would start the Bromo self-guided tour with. So pack up a mask, don’t even think about going up on a horse (yes, this mental option is also there for those who can’t be bothered putting the work in) and go fill up your lungs with the “healthy” 😀 smoke from one of Indonesia’s most famous active volcanos. I don’t know how much the sulfur I breathed in has shortened my life 😀 but it was worth it 😀 I mean, it’s not every day that we get to peek inside a living monster crater like Bromo and its adventures like this one that I packed my bag and went on this crazy 3-month solo trip around Asia.
No paycheck, promotion or time spent in an office can ever make up for a crazy unforgettable adventure like this (if missed) so pack up a bag and go make some awesome memories! And of course, enjoy Bromo but please don’t go inside 😀
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Wow! You thoroughly covered all important points with your post. I would like to read more from you. Do you have any other blogs?