Elizabeth Ward

After about two hours sleep the alarm went off at 11:45pm and we got ready to set off for Mt Bromo.
We jumped in our jeep with our driver and headed to pick up 3 Spanish guys from another hostel.
4 of us crammed sideways into the back of the jeep we set off on our very bumpy ride to Mt Bromo.
After 2 and half hours we arrived at the top of a very steep road. We’d driven up and down steep cliff paths of a once massive volcano crater and traveled across the ‘sea of sands’ the old lake bed in the crater. Our driver along with around 1000 others raced to get the best parking spot and the best sunrise stop. This included some mad max esc overtaking on the sea of sands.
We waited in a small cafe, met up with my friend Zoe from uni and had a cup of black coffee and a deep fried battered banana- actually really nice and I don’t like bananas. We then set off to the view point and managed to force our way to front barrier for the best view. We then waited for 2 hours for the sun to come up.
We took photos of the stars, the moon and the dark smoking volcano in the distance. We were wrapped up in multiple layers but as the sun began to rise the wind started and it became quite chilly.
But the early start and the cold was 100% worth the view. We could see the smoking crater of Mt Bromo, the dormant Mt Batok and the huge Mt Semeru which was puffing out clouds of smoke for our entertainment.
We then headed for Mt Bromo itself but not before getting stuck in lots of traffic. stopping off at more view points and eating our brioche + cheese and brioche + chocolate. We also saw a group of monkeys along the side of the road!
We arrived in the middle of the sea of sands and started the hike up the crater of Mt Bromo. We climbed up the steps to the crater edge, protected only by a crumbling concrete wall, to look down into the smoking crater. You could see the sulfur coming through weak points in the crust of the crater while others threw offerings into the volcano. Taking care of our footings and always choosing the most stable looking barriers we took some photos before heading back down the jeep.
Our driver then took us for a 45 minute photo shoot with the jeep and the volcanoes- he’d obviously done this before, sam and I were not great models. We then headed back on our bumpy 2 and half hour journey back to the hostel, all of us slightly snoozing but hitting our heads every two seconds.
I had my eyes shut for a large portion but Sam reported beautiful jungle scenery and a road only just wide enough for 2 cars to path along a shard ridge for miles and miles.
We finally got back to the hostel had a shower, said bye to Zoe even tho we are seeing her tomorrow in Ubud and headed out to find some food. Sam had Mie Goreng- Fried Chicken noodles- and I had Chicken sate and rice.
We then thought we would explore Malang and head to the Rainbow village however quickly gave up on that because we couldn’t get across the busy road and needed food for our train journey later.
After sorting out our snacks, we grabbed our bags and headed to the airport style train station.
We got on our train which is super uncomfortable but does have a windows. Seeing as it only cost us £3.27 each for the 7 and half hour journey I’d say it’s pretty good- Sam disagrees. The seats are like church pews and you are touching knees with the people across from you. I think we were just spoilt on our bus and on our last train. We got a weird pot noodle thing from the train shop which had beef meatballs in it, looked strange but tasted okay.
Luckily the people across from us have gotten off and we have stretched out slightly. We have 3hrs left, wish us luck!

Edit never mind people have just sat across from usLæs mere